Official Opening
REACH Senior Café officially launched before our Final Year Project commences. When we were researching about our industry partner, we came across this article while discussing about our project plans. This helped us to look out for the things that REACH may want us to work on.
The café is a replicate of a Japanese café, called Ibasho Café, where seniors give instead of receive (Tan, 2017, para. 9).
With the project details, this article serve as a reminder to us that there is a need to gather more information from the seniors at REACH, and not anyone else beyond our targeted group. As Dr Khor mentioned (Tan, 2017), “the constituency hopes to start 2 of these café in the area. Engagement is key, and finding out what they like to do and turning it into a programme which they would participate in, is the first step to engagement”.
Our takeaways
According to REACH, they wanted seniors who patronise the café to “make new friends, enjoy a meal and learn together” (Tan, 2017, para. 5). From this statement, we have realised that our purpose must be in line with what REACH wants to meet both ends. With reference to their last point regarding learning, we can consider coming up with programmes or activities that could satisfy the needs and interest of seniors and REACH.
For REACH, their vision is to witness seniors embracing learning through their cafe visit. Madam Tan Keok, an senior who partonises the cafe, mentioned that it was the desire to spend time with her friends that made her come. She was delighted to meet new friends at time and enjoy the food and drinks served. It was a better alternative than staying at home alone (Tan, 2017, para. 12). Since the seniors are keen to patronize the cafe to their company, food and drinks, our group sees the potential of serving more seniors and providing them with increased engagement through activities that promote “learning together”.
Reference
Tan, S. (2017, October 06). Cafe run by seniors, for seniors, opens in Bukit Batok. Retrieved October 7, 2017, from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/cafe-run-by-seniors-for-seniors-opens-in-bukit-batok
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