The Memory Keepers consists of seven first year students from Singapore Management University (SMU). Project: Unwritten serves as part of the community service project component to be undertaken under the module, Leadership and Team Building.
The purpose of Project: Unwritten is to firstly, seek out patients with life stories to share, secondly, create personal tributes for their loved ones to remember them by, and thirdly, share our experience with future volunteers and families of terminally ill patients to help them better understand the process of interacting with these patients.

These objectives are accomplished through the publication of a book, also titled Project: Unwritten, to immortalize the patients’ lives. We understand that this may be a difficult time for the patients; therefore, unlike previous endeavors which aim to chronicle the last stages of the patients’ lives, we focused on documenting their positive, past experiences and stories, especially of those with their families. Through this, we hope to encourage the patients to focus recalling their happier memories, as well as to leave behind a meaningful memento for the patients’ families to remember them by.

The main challenge that the team faced was time constraint. With a stringent timeline to adhere to and also the patients’ fluctuating conditions, there was a constant need to plan ahead and make frequent trips to meet the patients. That said, the team came to a unanimous consensus that we have gained much more from the patients than what we have given them.

One of the hospice that participated in this project was Bright Vision Hospital palliative ward. It was heartening to see the hospital patients’ (Mr Toh and Mdm Ng) receptiveness toward us from the beginning of the project. Both Mr Toh and Mdm Ng were always very welcoming and jovial, and what delighted us was how we were able to get along so well with both patients. Additionally, as we increased our visit frequency, we gradually began interacting with other patients and it was heartwarming to see the wards becoming livelier.

Most importantly, the patients have imparted in us invaluable life lessons which cannot be learned in the classroom. These include the importance of kinship, friendship and one’s outlook in life. The team was able to pick up such knowledge from the interactions with Mr Toh and Mdm Ng. These have greatly inspired us to reflect and think about our own lives, such as how to strike a better balance between schoolwork and family commitments.

Lastly, what inspired us the most was Mr Toh and Mdm Ng’s positive attitude in terms of coming to terms with their illnesses. To them, everyday is a blessing and they live each day with happiness and contentment. And this, we feel, should be everyone’s motto too.

By  Xiong Yihui/ SMU volunteer of Project: Unwritten at Bright Vision Hospital