PSSA 2002 - Formal Group / Non-Profit or Public Sector Organisation Category Award Winner

The Japanese Association - Group of Volunteers Serving at Assisi Home and Hospice

Japanese Association - Group of Volunteers Serving at Assisi Home and Hospice

A group of Japanese women living in Singapore have organised themselves into a volunteer group serving the patients of Assisi Home and Hospice.

The group has been holding activities at the Home since 1995, providing cancer patients with twice-weekly leg massages and exercises to music.

The women had to overcome language barriers when they first started out volunteering. They speak little English, whereas most patients speak only dialect. However, the volunteer group still managed to communicate effectively to the patients that they are there to help.

Sometimes, members have to return to Japan, and new volunteers have to be recruited and trained. However, the group remains very united, displaying great teamwork and team spirit. Furthermore, it even has its own appointed leaders!

The group is very effective at turning rejects into useful musical accompaniments for the patients to make sounds with while doing their exercises to music. It even sources from Japanese experts to learn how they can improve on their programme, and arranges for guest performers to entertain the patients, who can also learn from them at the same time.

Both the women and the activities they organise are very popular with both day care patients and in-patients. It has been said, "all sickness and discomfort disappear when the Japanese ladies come".

These women from Japan have brought with them a ray of sunshine into the Assisi Home and Hospice, soothing aches and pains away from the patients and bringing some cheer into their lives.

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