1. Summary of project goals with two sentences.
   Echoes of Wisdom aimed at promoting intergenerational connection between youngsters and elderly residents in St. Mary's Nursing Home, targetting to enhance their social well-being.
    
2. Did other fund-raising efforts contribute to your projects? What were they?
   Yes, as part of fundraising for Echoes of Wisdom, the team executed "Leave a message" booths for the elderly, reaching out to students in Asia Pacific University by collecting messages they would like to share to the residents in St. Mary's Nursing Home and allowing them to contribute any amount they wish for the project's fundraising. The team had also organised a pickleball game as part of the fundraising efforts. 
    
3. Provide details about how your project actually worked.
   As part of Echoes of Wisdom's implementation, our team along with interested volunteers visited St. Mary's Nursing Home weekly, taking part in their routine activities and forming connections through conversations from August till October. Gradually, post-rapport building, by visiting the home every week, we compiled videos of their experience and messages they wished to share to today's youngsters. We posted these videos on our social media pages (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok), to encourage intergenerational connections. We had additionally filmed with the support of a professional media house and are working on editing a documentary to increase the project impact. Despite facing difficulties with the project execution, our project's strength and success lies in the connections we have built with the residents of St. Mary's Nursing Home.
    
4. Were there unanticipated difficulties? Budget constraints?
   Yes. The project grant of RM 3,000 were not utilised due to financial processing difficulties, hampering our timeline and project plan.
    
5. Language or cultural barriers?
   Yes. Due to a majority of Chinese speaking residents in the home and a lack of the same among our team members, we initially had difficulties in effective communication with elderly residents. 
    
6. What worked well? What didn’t work well?
   Our efforts in visiting the home every week, allowed us to form authentic connections with the elderly residents and organise fun activities that they enjoyed. We were able to identify more interested youngsters, successfully promoting our goal of intergenerational connections.
   However, the difficulties of fund processing hampered our project's plan of running social media ads, which would have enabled a wider reach to youths in Malaysia, making Echoes of Wisdom more impactful.
    
7. How many people benefited or will benefit from your project? Who are these people?
   Approximately, around 20+ elders from St. Mary's Nursing Home and 10 students from Asia Pacific University benefitted from Echoes of Wisdom due to the authentic connections they were able to form and the lessons they were able to learn from the elderly residents' experiences.
    
8. What is the long-term impact and sustainability of this project? Is there a future for your project?
   Yes, Echoes of Wisdom remains a sustainable project. With a long term execution, the impact and sustainability of this project increases as it would allow youth and elderly to form better relationships that would span longer than few months. Echoes of Wisdom additionally enables abandoned elderly and residents who are not in communication with their family, to form bonds with youth, supporting lonliness and facilitating social connectivity. In long-term, Echoes of Wisdom can expand its impact by including multiple elderly homes, forming a bigger team of students and youth to reach to greater number of elders, potentially facing lonliness; combatting elderly loneliness by fostering authentic connections.

Echoes of Wisdom has contributed to happiness by creating opportunities for meaningful human connections, particularly between generations that may not otherwise have many opportunities to interact. In the short term, the project brought moments of joy, excitement and companionship to the elderly residents by giving them a space to share their life experiences, revisit cherished memories and feel genuinely listened to. Seeing their enthusiasm each time we visited, and how eagerly they welcomed conversations, reminded us that even simple interactions could make someone's day a little brighter.

In the long term, we hope the project will encourage greater appreciation for older generations and the stories, experiences and wisdom they carry. By documenting and sharing their stories, we hope to preserve a part of their lives that might otherwise go unheard, while inspiring younger generations to build meaningful relationships with the elderly. Ultimately, we hope the project reminds people that happiness is not always created through grand gestures, but can also be found in the time, attention and companionship we offer one another.

This project has changed the way we look at human connections and the value of time. Before this experience, we understood the importance of engaging with the elderly, but we did not fully realise just how much a simple conversation or a little companionship could mean to someone. Listening to the residents share their stories, often with the same excitement each time we spoke, made us realise how important it is for people to have someone who is willing to listen, without rushing them or making them feel that their stories are insignificant.

Personally, this project has taught us to be more intentional about the time we give to others. Beyond the responsibilities of leading a project, coordinating activities and seeing it through to completion, we gained something far more valuable: authentic connections and bonds with people whose lives and experiences are so different from ours. It reminded us that meaningful impact does not always have to be measured by the number of activities conducted or milestones achieved. Sometimes, it lies in the small moments when someone feels heard, remembered and valued.

"Echoes of Wisdom gave me something far more precious than I could have anticipated: authentic connections and bonds. Being able to listen to the elders share their stories with excitement reminded me why this project mattered. It taught me that sometimes, a little of your time means more than you realise, and that simply being present and willing to listen can make someone feel valued." ~Ashwathy Sathish

"This project contributes to happiness in short term by being present for them and just listening to them and relieving their loneliness even for a little while. And in long term there will be meaningful connection with the elderly residents and making them feel valued and heard.
This project changed the way I view the world by teaching me, through the elderly residents’ stories, that sometimes the simplest act of kindness is giving someone your time and making them feel heard. Their stories reminded me that everyone has a lifetime of experiences worth listening to and learning from." ~Jaseela 

"This project contributes to short-term happiness by easing the loneliness and depression of elderly residents in old homes. They enjoyed our visits, waited for us each weekend, and shared joyful activities and life stories. We gained wisdom in return. Long-term, by continuing visits and sharing their stories on social media, it builds lasting connections that foster greater happiness in society. It changed me: old homes were once just a concept; now I see them as a final destination for people who lived full lives. Their advice, to do your best with what you have, express yourself freely, start from the bottom and rise, and find happiness within yourself, reshaped how I view the world." ~Syeda Tasnim Tumu

"What makes Echoes of Wisdom so meaningful to me is the opportunity to turn what I study in psychology into genuine human connection. Seeing how much elderly individuals have to share reminded me that happiness can begin with simply feeling heard, valued, and remembered. This project reminded me why I chose psychology in the first place. I learned that meaningful change doesn’t always require grand gestures but sometimes genuinely listening to someone’s story can make them feel that they still matter!" ~Salman Sami Munim