Church of the Risen Christ

The Catholic News - October 25, 2009

SINGAPORE – It is speaking the language of love and not necessary one’s linguistic ability that matters in hospice care.

This is the lesson that three Korean students Joseph Kim Do-Woo, 25, Gloria Lee Sarang, 24, and Colbe Kim Tae-Heon, 20, (photo), Catholic South Korean students from the Kkottongnae Hyundo University of Social Welfare in Cheongju, learnt while on attachment at Assisi Home and Hospice.

The attachment was arranged by SACCRE (Singapore Archdiocesan Catholic Charismatic Renewal), whose members had gone to South Korea for an international charismatic conference in June where they were approached by staff and religious Sisters of the university for such an attachment. Arrangements were made with Assisi Home and Hospice, and the three students, who are more proficient in English, received their attachment.

It was initially difficult for the Korean volunteers to care for and interact with the patients as the volunteers are not fluent in English, and it didn’t help much that some of the patients didn’t understand English, but rather Mandarin or dialects which the Koreans could not speak.

But the interns overcame the communication barrier through actions and gesturing, and Joseph added, through giving love to the patients and taking care of them, in the three weeks they spent there.

Due to an illness, Anne (not her real name), a patient at the hospice, is dependent for self-care and unable to speak. But Joseph communicated to her in a mix of Korean and English, and through her eyes, he could see that they were connected by love, he shared.

“If we show love to the patients, they understand the love, and we are connected in love. So you’re Jesus to them,” he said, adding that “It’s important in a hospice that the volunteers give their love to the patients, and the patients feel that comfort in their own lives.”

The inability to speak Mandarin didn’t hinder Gloria from befriending “the cute and lovely” 95 year-old Madam Ho who could only speak Mandarin.

Wanting Madam Ho to have something from Korea, Gloria gave her one of her hairpins, and helped wear it on for the elderly lady whom she spent quite a lot of time with.

Touched, Madam Ho started to use the hairpin daily, and tried to offer Gloria one of her rings as a gift and memento, to which Gloria declined to accept as the gift was too expensive.

The Catholic youth spent three weeks interacting with the residents – talking to them, feeding them, assisting in the residents’ physiotherapy, and praying together with the Catholic patients.

They had even brought a guitar to the hospice to sing for the patients, and together with the patients and a regular Korean volunteer, made some traditional Korean pancakes.

The bond forged between the volunteers and patients was evident when according to Joseph, some of the patients cried on the last day of the volunteers’ attachment.

The volunteers also benefited from some practical tips in hospice care from the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood (FMDM) Sisters who work in the hospice they own, including paying attention to the smallest detail such as changing the water in the vases in the patients’ rooms daily.

This simple gesture is significant because it allows for patients to have daily contact with people through even a simple “Hello”. To them, this means they have not been forgotten.

Reflecting upon the Singapore trip, Gloria said she has been lifted out of her “spiritual dryness” through this attachment, Colbe has started to consider more on what hospice workers can do to comfort dying patients while Joseph said he learnt that Christians are the same throughout the world – they sacrifice and devote themselves to other people.

The attachment was made possible under the arrangement of the SACCRE Council (Singapore) along with Kkottongnae Hyundo University with support from the Singapore Catholic Korean community and Assisi Home and Hospice. This attachment marks the start of regular exchange programmes between the Korean and Singapore social welfare services.

By Darren Boon
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