“I approach seniors and give them encouragement and trust to use our machines,” shared Philip, who works as an ‘Active Neighbour’ in POSB Kampong Ubi. The 68-year old directs queues and guides seniors on how to withdraw and deposit money, and do Internet banking through ATMs. Although the job requires him to stand for six hours each day, Philip is not about to complain – he has learnt how to work around the situation with simple movements such as walking around and stretching his toes. Yet his day doesn’t end when he gets off from work at 4.30pm; Philip is a part-time line-dancing instructor, and has been doing it for more than 15 years!
What initially sparked his interest in line-dancing was a curiosity to learn, a passion to exercise and an opportunity to know more people. He shared that he took five to seven years to tackle the “hard learning” of the dance before becoming an instructor. He currently teaches at five Residents’ Committees (RC) and one Community Centre (CC) from Mondays to Saturdays, for two-and-a-half hours each time! Philip shared that one of the greatest things on doing this is the chance to see new and old faces every three to four months. “I teach both beginner and intermediate classes. The first hour would be the beginner class and immediately after that, I teach the intermediate class for one-and-a-half hours.” And the teaching does not stop there. “We will bring students to Malaysia such as Malacca, Penang and Kuala Lumpur to share dances and build relationships.” Working both at POSB and as a line-dance teacher keeps him happy and he strives to be active “until I cannot work anymore". |