787 Ty Family’s Singing Workshop with Hospicio de San Jose

Written by Board Member, Ate Charmain Tan
We had five events last Saturday and we had the opportunity to visit Hospicio de San Jose once again. As the first social welfare agency in the country, it has provided shelter for infants, children, and the elderly who are in need of care. It is located by the Pasig River, has been in this location since 1810. We have partnered with Hospicio de San Jose since 2012 and this was our 11th event with them to date.
The event was a thanksgiving celebration of the Ty family. It was the 13th wedding anniversary of Kuya Anthony and Ate Divina. They have two lovely children, Ate Erin and Kuya Gabriel. They have done these kinds of events previously with children but this is the first time with the elderly.
We welcomed the lolos and lolas as the starred to arrive. Some of them were dancing as they came in as they were looking forward to the dancing workshop. Some of them came from far places such as Iloilo and others have been living there for 30 years already. They were looking forward to our visit as they were talking to us and getting to know us.
The Ty family introduced themselves to our lolos and lolas and each of them showed their dance moves. They then got to join the group of lolos for the next activities. We grouped them into three and they came up with groups names like Beautiful Ladies, The Young Ones, and the Lolo Pogi group. We played Name that Tune as the lolos and lolas eagerly guessed the title of the songs. We played the songs by singers like Frank Sinatra and Tom Jones. They were able to name the title of the songs My Way, Only You, From Russia with Love, and others. To top it off the the lolas and lolos even sang a verse of the songs.
We then headed on to our next program, the Singing Workshop. Singer and vocal coach Jordan Bautista gave some tips in singing. He started singing when he was seven in their church choir in Cavite and he’s been singing since then. Kuya Jordan taught them the proper breathing through the diaphragm and he also taught them how to do vocal exercises. After that Kuya Jordan asked some of the elders to hum some songs while the others guessed. As we were all from different generations, Kuya Jordan picked a universal theme for the songs: Christmas. Everyone knows christmas songs from the young to the old. They took turns humming while the rest guessed the title. A couple of elders volunteered to do a solo sining performance. Some of the lolos and lolas were indeed great singers. One of the lolas even sang in Spanish. Kuya Jordan then did an acapella of The Way You Look Tonight.
We then moved on to our next program, the Dancing Workshop. Kuya Japox Baturiano of Brewing Point Dance Studio is a professional dance instructor whom we have invited for the afternoon. He started off with some warm up exercises as the lolos and lolas eagerly stood up as they stretched with Kuya Japox. He jokingly did some hip hop moves and everyone laughed as the elders knew they were not able to follow the moves. Kuya Japox encouraged them to do the warm up daily as it can be a form of exercise. After that everyone got the opportunity to dance with each other as we tried to do some Cha Cha. I am not a dancer myself so it was fun to be able to dance with some of the lolas. It was nice to see the elders happily dancing with the volunteers and with each other.
After a while it was time for the lolos and lolas to rest while they had their meriendas. The Ty family also brought some desserts to the delight to the lolos and lolas. We then had our gift giving for the elders. The Ty family went around and gave out pillows for everyone. They also gave out colorful pillbox organizer for them to put their medicines. The lolos and lolas sang a thank you song for the family. They were very happy and appreciative to everyone for coming to visit them. They hugged us and said they hope for us to come back again to visit them. It was heartwarming to see them so happy with the small gesture that we did for them.
Some of the elderly do not have families and some have been living there for decades. Despite that they have happy disposition, appreciating everything that comes to them. All of us will grow old someday and seeing them made me realize more that life is short and we should appreciate everything we have at the moment.

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