Our Elderly's Stories (#1)

In the process of teaching the elderly various skills, our volunteers also learn from their wealth of experiences. Such are the stories of 1 of our elderly: Uncle Lim.

Uncle Lim

A snapshot of our volunteers with Uncle Lim during one of our befriending sessions at his home.

Mr Lim Ngak Boon, or “Uncle Lim”, as we affectionately call him, is an endearing and affable octogenarian whom we always look forward to visiting in Toa Payoh. From the very first time we visited him, Uncle Lim, the ever-enthralling storyteller that he is, would always regale us with stories from a treasure-trove of memories and experiences that he still vividly recalls. From anecdotes about his quirky school art lessons in the 1940s; his first business venture as a retailer of beautiful textiles to the British Army in colonial Singapore; his bittersweet matchmaking experience; his work in post-independence Singapore at a German-owned warehouse; to his amazingly detailed insight on the Korean war, Uncle Lim gave us a front-row glimpse of Singapore’s early history.

He even showed us his carefully preserved graduation certificate from the illustrious Chung Cheng High School!

"Learning is a treasure that will always follow its owner" ~ Uncle Lim

But beyond a walk down memory lane, Uncle Lim helps us to understand our past to appreciate the future challenges we face. He is amazingly au courant with current affairs, candidly sharing his perspectives and opinions, and encouraging us to be well-informed of

global matters by reading widely. He constantly reminds us of the concept of stewardship, exhorting us to maximise our learning opportunities in school now so that we can give back to our society in the future. Each interaction with uncle Lim always leaves us not only feeling deeply inspired and reflective, but also grateful for the nuggets of wisdom that he effuses.

Throughout all our visits, Uncle Lim’s friendliness has always moved us and we are blessed to have encountered such a lovely elderly!