Name: Abdulla Ali From : United Arab Emirates
I knew a bit about Corvallis Manor nursing home that we worked with in English class before going there. I had heard that anyone can go there and talk or visit elderly people. I have been taking care of them many times in my country, but I had never done it in the United States. I thought this would be a good experience for me. I had heard that there are many things that everyone can do there such as, talking, supporting, helping and asking. We went as group to help and support the employees and the senior people there. We thought maybe we would feed them or clean the area from pollution to keep them safe and healthy. We knew we would be listening to the supervisor’s instructions first, after that we would do what they recommended to us. I was looking forward to knowing deeply about Corvallis Manor nursing home. In addition, I wanted to know how they organized their work individually and collectively and how they could control the people there because it’s very difficult to engage with them. I was quite nervous about how we would mange this work successfully, because this was the first time for me visiting Corvallis manor nursing home in the United States, along with the majority of my group. However, I expected our work would be easy because we would be working as group, and that makes the work lighter and faster.
After visiting Corvallis manor nursing home, I really feel proud to have helped and supported the seniors there. It was my fifth volunteering program that I have had in the United States. Thanks OSU for giving me this opportunity to be a volunteer in the United States. At the beginning I was nervous about how to engage with seniors there, but when I went there everything went well. Our role there was to talk and support elderly people. We made a circle and we introduced ourselves to them. We also talked about our background, which was really interesting, and we heard their background as well . I showed them some pictures about Kalifa tower and they loved them. We learned many things today especially, how can we make a conversation with seniors. In addition, they were happy, and the most interesting thing that there was was a lady who couldn’t see but she opened her eyes when we came. I personally was struggling at the beginning with how to engage with them. However, I fixed this issue when the supervisor explained to us how we would adjust to them. I got some feedback from my friends and our instructor, which helped me to improve my communication skills. When we were done with this conversation, I felt sad because I left them but I saw their faces were really happy.