Introduction:
As part of Nan Fung Group’s “In Time Of” community initiative, the “Co-Learning Squad” is now marching into its second edition. While the last edition focused on interfacing secondary school students with the nature in its exploration of coexistence, the current edition seeks to explore its vast possibilities through a monthly exchange of visual diary-journals between ten pairs of individuals, each with a creatively inspired youth and an elderly person living with dementia. The first phase of this edition has already been completed. “Interdisciplinary collaboration is a major feature of the project, as the youth and the elderly possess strikingly contrasting qualities,” said Sandy Chan Man Yee, curator of the project and an interdisciplinary individual with a background in social work, who has worked for many years in the fields of art, the community-work, and education. “The execution of this round is much more flexible. By letting go of preconceived framework, we understand and adapt to each other’s needs better.” It is exactly the ability for a group of people to work with continuously towards a project, that the possibility of human coexistence is demonstrated, exemplifying the notion that “coexistence is the foundation of sustainability”.
Content:
Relationship with Another Life
At the project’s outset, the “Mind Delight Online Store” – operated by the Mind Delight Memory & Cognitive Training Centre (Mind Delight in short) – came to Sandy’s attention when she was researching for the project. Greatly impressed by how the store supports elderly people with dementia by selling products produced by them, and even inviting them to serve in turns as the “store manager of the day”, she reached out to the store and discovered that they were keen to help enrich the daily lives of the elderly by providing them with more opportunities in learning and work. This led Sandy to conceive the “Visual Diary-Journals Monthly Exchange Project” by connecting the elderly with the youth. “Young people will eventually grow old, and the elderly were once young; as they’re sharing this timeline of life, a natural affinity is formed between them.”
Ten young fellows, all of whom already acquainted with Sandy, are not only eager to try their creativity, but also curious about these elderly people: the issue of dementia is personal to everyone, and they wish to know more. “I wanted to give these young artists an opportunity and motivation to be up close and personal with their relationship with creativity,” said Sandy. Coexistence is the exchange and learning between different communities which is, in essence, “your relationship with another life”. How does one cope when the relationship isn’t compatible with coexistence? How does one come to understanding oneself under such circumstances? On the other hand, art is about creativity and breaking boundaries. “These elderly people are living with dementia and can’t even remember a thing, so the young people have to face this inherently limiting factor. Can we unleash a channel of communication through exchanging journals, so that we may respond with the limiting scenario through creativity?” Through this project, these young people have gained a brand-new perspective as “they’ve looked at their own creations from a different angle.”
Before pairing the young participants with the ten elderly participants (elderly are all selected by Mind Delight), Sandy studied their personality, age and course of dementia-background. She relied on both intuition and the participants’ backgrounds in making these pairings. “There is a young artist who has experience interacting with individuals living with mental–challenge at work and is more patient in nature, and was therefore paired with an elderly person who is not as sharp as the others.” She also intentionally avoids addressing elderly participants as dementia patients – instead, she calls them people with “characteristics” of dementia. This is a necessary measure to avoid stigmatization, “because the elderly and the youth are of equal standing, connected through different “characteristics”. The ‘Visual Diary-Journals Monthly Exchange Project’ is a community exchange programme, not a social service. Hearing the word ‘dementia’, outsiders might identify them as a vulnerable group, and think that these young people are there to offer them help, which is not the case.” Instead, this project is about learning to co–learn and coexist.
Encouraging the Elderly to Express Themselves
The “Visual Diary-Journals Monthly Exchange Project” took place from September 2024 to April 2025. Spanning such holidays as Christmas, New Year’s Day and Lunar New Year, the participants had much to talk about during the project period. Each of them created a journal (to be exchanged monthly) with which to share feelings through words and drawings. Elderly participants took their part at Mind Delight, assisted by their staff under Sandy’s leadership. “I have to introduce myself and go through what we’re doing every time,” explains Sandy, whose monthly appearance was evidently inadequate to leave a mark in the elderly’s minds. She made good use of images during the process, and would lead them in warm-ups and clapping exercises with their hands. “One uncle has since started using clapping to express happiness and enjoyment.” The young participants were nowhere to be seen until the final session, when they emerged as mysterious pen pals of the elderly.
These monthly diary-journals were filled with simple content about everyday life. Sandy would assist at the side: to introduce themselves, “why not share about a park or a fruit that you like?” Our elderly participants would draw their fruits and cut them out, to be put into mesh bags taped on pages of the journals. “Their eyes lit up as they took out the fruits from the mesh bags like treasures. These were little surprises to them.” As a response to the elderly and a way of sharing, the youngsters would in turn draw fruits on the received journals. Sandy and the centre’s staff would read their words aloud, ask the elderly some simple questions – such as “Is this a tree?” – and observe their reactions. “After showing them the tree, we learned that one participant used to enjoy hiking very much. We managed to connect these images to their past memories.”
Regaining Confidence through Self-Affirmation (or simply Affirmation)
Initially, the received diary-journals fell short of the young people’s expectations. “They thought the elderly would answer their questions directly.” As a facilitator, Sandy had to remind them about the communicative challenges and abilities of these elderly participants. “So don’t write long essays! Make sure all words are written big and neatly,” Sandy would remind them. A gradual change in their creative language was noted. “By communicating with elderly people living with dementia characteristics, they’ve gained a better understanding of what communication is all about, and rediscovered creativity.” To make it easier for the elderly people to understand and remember, activities were conducted in the same style or form, such as drawing different flowers each time. Through monthly exchanges of journals, young participants gradually discovered that their elderly partners could perceive certain elements, such as textures, colours and imageries. “One young person felt like some secret codes have been cracked when the same symbol was repeatedly noticed in a journal! This has become their shared language of communication.”
Sandy said that at the beginning, the difference between these elderly participants and other senior people might not be perceivable during a 90-minute group session. But as she returned to Mind Delight every month, their dementia characteristics became increasingly apparent, for they would never remember you. Very often, there is no take two to the art creation; once the chance is gone, it’s gone. “The same applies to this elderly group: it’s like reading a new book every time I flip open a journal.” Also, you may not be able to tell whether an elderly person with dementia characteristics is receiving something positively. “You need to have this mindset when you meet these friends or approach them in activities.” A young participant commented that they have pure and simple minds resembling children, and they would express emotions very directly, enjoying those moments. The creative perspective of these young people is thus broadened through these experiences. “It’s like a ‘wake-up call’ to them. Sometimes things are just very simple.”
As the project’s culminating session, all young participants finally showed up on the heartwarming “Meet-up Day”. Each of them brought two self-designed name tags which are identical in shape yet of different sizes. They wrote their names onto the large ones, and gave the small ones to the elderly friends. These name tags became the means for the youth and the elderly to recognise each other. Did our old friends remember about exchanging diary-journals? Did they realise that these young people had been their mysterious pen pals for half a year? It didn’t really matter. “What really counts is that they’re enjoying the process, regaining confidence, and affirming themselves.”
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