It must have been 5 years ago when I first volunteered for the annual ACNielsen Community Day. I have chosen a local community care group for the elderly. My assignment was Mona Heard. She lives alone in a house in Iris Street, North Ryde. My task was to help her clean up her cup board.
I arrived at around 9:30 am after a briefing in Nielsen. I was told that some of these elders may be a bit unsure or even scared letting other people in their house. If ever, we are to keep our distance, even try to work outside of their house instead. At first, Mona have shown some uncertainty but after we had a bit of chat she seem to have eased a bit. We talk about a lot of things. She’s a retired school teacher and married to a policeman. They have a beautiful wedding photo in the living room (I’m always a sucker for old photos). I learned that she had intelligent children all doctors in their field. After her husband passed away, she choose to be independent and joined the local community for a bit of socialisation.
Anyway, I must have unloaded her whole cupboard when she only intended for me to dust it off. I removed even the cup board liners and she was not prepared to replace them – it would be a shame to return the old liners. So I had a quick dash to Woolworths to get some. I returned with some magazine and flowers too. She was genuinely appreciative. I started fixing back the cupboard but like everything you do the first time – it looked a bit shabby. The liners were not cut right and looked like a rush job. So I suggested that we do it all over again. She was enjoying our conversation which I think has already turned into the scouting movement, ice skating and marching band.
After a week, I received a thank you letter from Mona sent to HR – I thought it was nice. Then she also sent me a Christmas card. Being a regular run-of-the-mill bloke, I never called or written back to Mona. It was always at the back of my mind to do it but never got around to it.
The following year – I volunteered for the Starlight Foundation. A bunch of us went to the Children’s Hospital in Westmead and did Karaoke for the children. The following day, I got a message from Barbara Hepburn from Operations. She left a cryptic message asking me to see her at once which is a surprise to me because I don’t interface with Barbara at all. As it turned out – she is the Nielsen Community Day coordinator for that year and told me that she worked at Mona’s house as her assignment. She told me how fondly Mona talked about me and that they haven’t talk about anything but me. I had no idea that it will be remembered. The following day, I took some time off and went to visit Mona and just had a chat for the whole morning. It was great to sit and talk to her although sometimes we had opposing views. When I left her place – I looked back and she was standing on the door. I saw sadness in her eyes and I felt the same – I wanted to stay longer but I know I’d still feel the same when I leave her. For the rest of the year I’ve been telling myself to drop in and surprise her – but I never did.
There were no Community Day the following year – no one volunteered to set it up.
Last year I learned about the Community Day too late – it has come and gone during a day I was not at work. But the reason why I learned about it was because Jo Cook, our reception, worked at Mona’s house that day. Surely enough Mona talked about me that Jo got it. Jo left a note, email and a phone message to see her and told me all about Mona. After 2 years of no contact, I felt that I had turned my back to a fellow human being who genuinely enjoy my company and I felt terrible. I know that if I leave it too long – days would turn into weeks then months then I’ll not come and see her again.
I gave her a call and we planned to go out for dinner with my family in Parramatta. She has not seen Parramatta in years – so it was a real treat. We had one photo and the battery died in our camera. Later that evening, we also brought her to Max Brenner, a trendy chocolate parlour. It was way pass her bed time but she did not want to disappoint Celine and Jessica (my kids). We brought home a very tired but happy Mona.
This year, when Celine played as Tuptim in ‘King and I’, she told me to invite Mona. As usual – I left it to the very last day to tell Mona. When I phoned her place, I discovered that her telephone has been disconnected, and it made me really concerned. I drove to her place the following day and has found her house deserted. My heart sank and had expected the worst. I decided to knock on the neighbors, to my delight – they told me that I just missed her by a week. She moved in with her son who lives in Gosford. I left my number to the neighbor and ask them to pass it on to Mona. And that night Mona called me. I drove to Gosford that weekend to pick up Mona so that she could watch Celine.
This Christmas (2007), her family had arrange a get together party in Gosford and invited all of Mona’s neighbors in Iris Street. My family was also invited and I’m sure we’ll have a great time – all this because one day five years ago, I decided to spend my morning cleaning up a strangers cupboard 🙂
This was originally intended as a facebook message to Liz La Scala as we talk about the Nielsen Community Day. I quickly realize it was too long so I made it a wiki entry instead having the title – The Story of Mona. However, the blog is perhaps its rightful place.
Rommel – January 2008
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