2012 L.A. River CleanUp

惜大地阿母
清河壩全家參與
作環保社區合力

Continuously, our Hakka Toastmasters Meeting group has dedicated our monthly meeting for this outdoor community activity.  This is our 136th monthly meeting and we do it at Lower Compton Creek again on 4/28/2012.  In the past, we need to have big pulling from our Taiwanese American community to get this event going.  After a few years' persistence...we know that fermentation is on... Besides our Hakka Taiwanese, there are so many volunteers already committed to this meaningful event, they will quietly chip in, and be there on time.  We salute to these friends for their being so supportive:  Dr. KK Hsu and Dr. Hsieh from North Ridge, each has car-full volunteers... Friends from 西北區同鄉會 are such a wonderful group. 
Last year, we got over-crowded in this site, which might scare away many long time partners, such as Kaiser Permanente group and also Starbucks...  Yet, we have seen so many local Compton residents stepped forward...plus a group of teems that organized by Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) Junior Rangers...  This is something we have been waiting to happen --- the local community's involvement.  Maybe it is just a few hours' trash picking...yet it will change our minds and understanding what kind of practice should be done in our daily life to keep this earth clean.
I hope next year, we will have more people come forward....


4.27.12 James Leu  
環保公益事 
洛城清河年年有 
客人帶頭功德修

135th Hakka Toastmasters Meeting (3/31/2012)

3/31/2012, our 135th meeting at Baldwain Park.
Ivan Huang is the MC., Yuan-Hsiang Peng is evaluator., Thomas Shu controls time.
Lisa Wu has prepared well for her presentation...sharing own experience always easy to touch others' hearts. This topic: Taking care of senior family members  is a very practical one.  Everyone has been dealing with different situations, and the discussion and sharing session is also highly responsive.
I received email from 溫英樹老師 to echo this topic, he asked me to have his comments during the sharing session, so I did.

"為免打擾Lisa演講起見,煩請將拙見留到座談會尾聲- "心得分享"時,再代為報告為荷.相信Lisa演講的內容更充實.
   我的經驗談(為節省時間,以條列式表達)如下:
1.多陪老人家講話或散步
2.浴室內或走道要開燈(20-30燭光的即可),地板鋪設 "止滑板"為佳
3.設備坐式馬桶,讓男性老者也以坐姿如廁
4.老者出門時,建議他們著淺色衣服
5.老者上下車或爬小坡時要攙扶
6.老者胃口欠佳時多順其意願
7.和顏悅色對待老人家
以上諸點,大都為老人家生活起居設想(未盡事宜請大家補充),為人子女者應盡孝順之責."

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During the sharing session, there is an topic - 認識老人癡呆...  Hui-Yuan did mention one book "Still Alice" that she thought will be useful to help us understand this disease.  We all want to know more about it... Here is the information from Hui-Yuan.
"The author of the 'Still Alice' is Lisa Genova; 中文本譯名為 '我想念我自己', 由穆卓芸翻譯,遠流出版事業股份有限公司發行,譯本封面上寫道：我想不起自己的家該怎麼回去，連在家裡都會迷路。我想不起眼前叫自己'媽'的女孩是誰，丈夫的面貌也逐漸模糊。我的昨天消失了，明天還是未知數，我該為了什麼而活？記憶不斷消退，僅存的一點點'自己'也不斷隨風而逝。我想念曾經精彩的生命與摯愛的家人。我想念，我自己。
正如一書評家所言，這本書讓我們一窺阿玆海默症病患者的人生故事，不管是心智健全、失智症患者或家屬，都能在書中找到共鳴、印證、新觀念，体會到失智症患者對一個友善社會的渴望與需求。"
希望透過本書，能讓朋友們對失智症患者的行為有些許的認識與包容。
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Our next month meeting will be an outdoor activity - Los Angeles River Clean-Up on 4/28/2012.