Young children bring joy to elderly living in homes

When four-year-old Li Hei-yi was one, she would visit her great-grandfather in a residential home. He'd had a stroke, suffered from diabetes and had had the lower part of one leg amputated. He had outbursts, said Hei-yi's father, social worker Li Koon-kiu, and refused to eat or take his medicine.

But with the child, there was a bond. The one-year-old would interact with her late great-grandfather, oblivious to his ailments, and in between her visits he began to eat again and have a more hopeful outlook.

Both Li and his wife, Vicki Poon Ka-lee, are social workers and they observed how their daughter would roam around the home for the elderly, the residents delighting in watching the little girl.

"You could see the spark in their eyes," says Li, 33, "and how they yearned for some interaction with her."

At the time, Li was working with teenagers through the Young Women's Christian Association, taking the children camping and offering careers advice. Two years ago, he and his wife decided to create a programme for children between the ages of six months and six years to visit homes for the elderly. The programme, called Dr BB, operates across Hong Kong.

Li posts suitable locations on his Facebook page and parents sign up with their children, paying a HK$100 fee, which Li uses to run the project. The families attend a briefing and some of the hundreds of children who have subsequently become involved visit the homes several times.

"At that age, all you have to do is let the children be themselves," Li said. "They are at their most pleasing when you just let them do their own thing. Sadly, adults are unable just to be themselves in such an unguarded way."