14 Dec The two Grahams – the kindness of strangers
Graham (76 years) phoned the Hotline to say he is tutoring Graeme (74 years) and helping him to read. They both attended Lions Club and Graham noticed Graeme struggling to fill in a form. Graham offered to help and contacted his local Community Centre who gave him the Hotline’s number.
Graham says the tutoring is going well. ‘Without your help and your workbooks, we’d have been stuck. Your worksheets have been an absolute godsend! I’m sending an email to a fella in Canberra, called Morrison, and tell them you get a gold star! Graeme can read road signs, little bits and pieces, and his aim is to go with a team and read a menu.’
Graeme said ‘My father was reading to me when he had a heart attack and died. I was 8 years old and I have always associated reading with that trauma.
‘Years later, I went into the doctor, he said, “Here, fill this form out”. In those days, there was no help whatsoever. My wife used to help with the reading but she died some years ago. Now I don’t care who knows about my reading anymore, bugger it. So I asked Graham to help teach me to read’.
Both men are grateful to RWH and really happy about the progress. ‘The main thing is to get him going.’