AMBIGA A/P KRISHNAN CEB150003         



               I am Ambiga A/P Krishnan, a first year student from Bachelor of Business Administration, University Malaya.  First of all, I would like to thank our group supervisor lecturer Dr. Zalfa Laili Binti Hamzah, who gave a lot of support and advises to help us in carrying out our social engagement.

             As a human being, it’s our responsibility to serve for the community, help people and make people’s life happy.  That was the main mind concept that I developed within me during the entire social engagement course.  People might think that, helping people depends on personal interest and from my view, it’s not a personal interest, it’s a must.  First when we were signing up for the two main events as our 30 hours social engagement service, I was worried about that 30 hours.  I might use that 30 hours for movies and hangout with friend instead of helping others.  All these perception and worry changed when we started to engage more in this course.

         So,our first volunteering programme is Dapurjalanan.Dapur Jalanan is a volunteer-based soup kitchen services operate every Sunday which is located at Jalan Panggong, Bangsar. They offer free food and drinks to some people who live in the city known as ‘’urban poor’’. Dapur Jalanan does not refer all of them as homeless because some of them have job and shelter but they are lack of financial support. On 20th of March 2016,my  fellow  course mates from Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya being accompanied by our lecturer Dr. Zalfa Laili Binti Hamzah went to Dapurjalanan.   

          We managed to arrive there early in the morning at Bangsar.Then,ice breaking session took place.Later on,the person in charge told, we need to help to prepare simple meals only which are  sandwiches and fruit salad for the food distribution activity  later in the evening as there a food sponsored by a restaurateur. Without any hesitation,we all  started to do our preparation right after the briefing session. 

 

      We decided to finish the food preparation earlier than we expected since we have distributed the tasks efficiently. We then get an opportunity  to get more and various information about Dapur Jalanan Kuala Lumpur from the club members.

       We had  small break  after the sharing session ended. Then, we moved together to the food distribution location which is located at Jalan Panggong by LRT. We  managed to set up the food station before the food distribution activity takes place.

 We then decided to distribute the food to the people who are already waiting for our presence at the venue.It was a heartbreaking situation actually to see so many of them who are financially down and are suffering to get a meal of the day. We also managed to chat with them to know more about them. I have a nice time with them as they are approachable and friendly too. Time flew so fast that day as we all fully engaged in serving the community there.A group photo is a must when  good times happen so here it is: 

          For me ,I was really satisfied with our entire teamwork on the day.I had the chance to see and experience myself what it really takes to be a volunteer in any project or events.And the thing  that most strikes me on that day and make me feel devastated was the fact that, there are so many of them out there who don't get food and I don't think twice to waste my food if i don't finish them.I realised that 

thank you for the exposure Dapur Jalanan :)

The next event was in Sekolah Jalinan Bimbingan Kasih

25th of March 2016, Friday. 

                                      curiosity that deepens in me to know more about the school( screenshot of headline of the school in newspaper-source internet)

        Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih (SBJK) is one of the initiatives by Malaysia Education Ministry as the access for the street children around Kuala Lumpur that are abandoned in this country to get better education.The school, set up by the Education Ministry  years ago as part of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025, is aimed towards helping street children and undocumented children get proper schooling. This special school is located in the centre of the city, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, Kuala Lumpur. The school is not the same at all  as other government schools. They are not just focusing on academic and the students are free to wear any attire because they do not have uniform.We decided to go to SBJK for social engagement project as prescribed by our lecturer Dr. Zalfa Laili Binti Hamzah.

          We were briefed by the honorable principal of SBJK shortly about the school. I personally felt very anxious and happy  to meet the principal, the teachers and the lovely children for the first time.My team members and I were already  assigned to carry out  various types of games and activities which we earlier planned for our event. We had aerobics session, filling water game, eagle game and so on. I was assigned for the game "dance with video songs".  Also, I noticed that whatever the situation is,the teachers are so patient with the kids no matter what.They are really dedicated to their  work and responsibility.    

         I realized that I should be positive and be responsible with my task or work after noticing the teachers.And at the same ,experience with these kids really made me to appreciate my life better as i  always differentiate my situation with those people who  have more than me. But after seeing those under-privileged children in person, I realized that I should always be really grateful for everything i have been provided.  In  a nutshell,spending a day with the kids with various games and activities really give me a wider look on how noble is our government in initiating such school for these underprivileged children.I learned alot from the children and teachers itself.This experience also opens a different perception  for me to more engage with the community and try to lend a helping hand in anyway possible in the future.

      The first value that I learned in these entire social engagement events is teamwork.  We as a team ,worked hard to make sure all our duties that  being delivered to us during the events run smoothly.  We started to understand each other, communicating with each other more often.  Via this, I was able to identify various personality people with various character.  As an assistant leader,I managed to  help my team leader  and learn how to divide different task to different people based on their character and style.  Giving the right task to the right person developed the teamwork value among us. From this 30 hours of Social Engagement, I've realised that they are so many people need our kindness and our help.However, the benefits of volunteering are enormous to us, family and community.     

        The right matches that can help us to find friends, reach out the community, learn new skills and even advance our career. Volunteering can also help protect our mental and physical health. Time management is another good value that I learned through out the entire semester.  Dealing with studies, collage activity and social engagement preparation taught me how to organize time with all this activity and at the same time spending a good time with studies and family.It has opened my mind and I gained a new perspective in my future life.

          Thanks to my teammates who taught me so many things during the Social Engagement.

This was a great experiences and i'm sure that i will continue to involve myself in social volunteering.

Experience is the best teacher.

Reflection
By: Mohd Zafran Qayyum Bin Mohd Zaki
CEB 150085

Phase 1

Our first Grand Meeting

            It was never easy to be a leader as the responsibility held is big and I am worried that I might do mistakes. Eventually I accepted to be the leader of the group and I tried to improve myself everyday especially in communication skill. Gladly, our supervisor, Dr. Zalfa helped me a lot in giving advises and ideas on what program and activities we should do. Like any other program that I had joined as committee member before, first of all I need to construct a proper and detailed planning regarding on the program. If I had overlooked, the entire program may be affected in term of the duration and activities thus, a backup plan is a must. Due to my previous experience, I learnt that I have problem in delegating tasks, ultimately, I am doing tasks outside of my position. There is a quote saying that “experience is the best teacher” which I fully agree on this quote. Preparation is the most difficult part after the implementation, meetings after meetings and discussions after discussions. Thankfully, all of the committee member are giving their full cooperation and brainstorming ideas to make the program in the course of what it should be. Finally, we agreed on doing our Social Engagement with Dapur Jalanan Kuala Lumpur and visiting Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih.

Phase 2

Day 1
(20/3/2016)

Small place yet comfortable for food prepping

Beautiful mural

            20^th March was the first day with Dapur Jalanan Kuala Lumpur of with their taglines “Makanan adalah hak anak semua bangsa”. In collaboration with the organizer this activities will be involving feeding the homeless people in Kuala Lumpur. I have reached there 2 hours earlier before the program starts and had our breakfast there because I thought I can have a little sightseeing before 1 pm but there is nothing interesting to see. I have reached the Dapur Jalanan club which located on the 3^rd floor of shop lot which are hard to find but the logistic team already done their part to find the place a week before. 

Sliced-up fruits

It was fun preparing the food because personally I look to cook myself and I helped in cutting the fruits and preparing the sandwiches. I can see how the bond of friendship created by helping out each other. The organizer want to make sure that their food prepared are hygienic and healthy for the homeless people. I am amazed how they are very passionate in helping the homeless people and giving them the best food they can offer to them. Dapur Jalanan also have a ‘favourite menu’ for them which shows how caring they are to the homeless people and want them to eat even they are not blood-related or a family to them. 

Recycling in progress

After the food preparation and prayer, I head to Jalan Kemuja where I will be helping them distributing the food. Well that what I was thought but then I got into the hygiene team. I was told that we are going to make sure the place are clean, separate plastic container, and keep their leftovers to be recycled. It was a great idea besides feeding the homeless while conserving the environment at the same time. 

Having a small chit-chat

After that, I had small conversation with one of the homeless people, he had a family in Kedah and he was fired as a security guard of a bank for no clear reason. Unemployed yet he love to be homeless and carefree. Time flies, I had short sharing session with the organizer and they want some feedback from us and helped them to grow but promoting their cause.

A job well done!

Day 2
(21/3/2016 – 23/3/2016)

            The day where we started our fundraising which I have sold 13 muffins which cost RM2.00 per piece. The profits we gain from this fundraising activities will be used to buy presents and rewards for the children in Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih. It was fairly quick to sell all the muffins because of my supporting friends at college. I am thankful that I have a friends who are willing to help out in my fundraising without expecting to get back something in return. This activity gives me the reason to work harder to give something to reward the children for participating in our activities and for behaving as well.

 Day 2
(25/3/2016)

A unique school it is

            25^th of March, it was my first time visiting Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih. I was surprised how small the school is and it was secluded as well. I was told that the students from that school come from a dysfunctional family which some of them are abused and some of them are child out of wedlock. It was unexpected to see how well they are behaving compared to my own school. The school is very clean and well maintained with zero vandalism which was unexpected. 

A short introduction by the SBJK Headmaster

So on that day I will be conducting program for the preschoolers. In my family I am the youngest and getting along with children was hard. But then I am getting better at teaching as well giving them the brotherly love. At first, I felt the feeling having a little brother while doing so. It was fun because every one of them have a different attitudes but they are not rude or naughty that I could not control when they are misbehaving. 

Enjoying the dance

What I learned from this activity is that how sensitive children can be especially with their different background and I am not asking any questions that are related to their families. Other than that, I can understand how children behaving and their learning stage so I can implement this knowledge in the future.

Movie time

We will come back again!

Day 3
(17/4/2016)

The same briefing

Now with RTM Crew recording us!

            17^th of April, it was the second time I visited Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih. After a short briefing by the headmaster and aerobic session, we started our program namely Explorace. This activity was my idea because it should be fun to a have some competition in the school. It is a race but there are challenges to overcome which consists of 8 different stations throughout the school. My station was ‘Build a Tower’ by using 30 straws with two other friends which located in their class. It is easy for children to build a tower but ensuring the tower to stand still is another different story. They have to use their creativity while maintaining the structure of the tower. I can see how their creativity and a good teamwork among the children overcoming the challenge together. 

Simple yet sturdy

Moreover, some of them already have a strong leadership skill and it should be polished more to become a potential leader. After Friday prayer, the winner for the game is announced and the ceremony continues even some of them already went back to their home. To be fair among the children, each and every one of them will be getting prizes even they are in the last places so none of them felt they had lost.

Congrats!

Day 4
6/5/2016

It is coming to an end where today is the day we had a closing ceremony with SBJK. Today is the day where we are going to have some fun with the children with drawing and decorating the canteen with it. So as our morning routine, we are going to start our activities with a little exercise and ends with a swift moving zumba dance. I can see how the children enjoyed the session but the conducter for that session had to do it under the hot sun. I'm thankful to them for conducting this session and I never heard a single whined from them. The first part of the session we had a warm up session and for the zumba dance we played a "Merdeka" song by Faizul Sani with a dancing choreograph from our past MHS. It was hard for the children to follow our moves at first but we did change the choreograph to make it simpler. So it does takes sometimes for the children to get the moves but they still are having fun.

Then we move to our next session where the children are told to draw anything they like. A piece of small coloured papers were given to them while the teachers provides them the colour pencils. Some of them is good at drawing even I have problem drawing until now. Their creativity are shown in that piece of paper and some of them draws house. It made me think for awhile that maybe he wanted to have a comfortable place to stay with his family. Maybe he do not even own a house to stay currently. I should be more grateful because I was pretty a spoiled son back then when I was little. Time flies, the children still have not finish with their drawing and insist to pass it up to front. Obviously, most of them really do like drawing so we gave them some times to finish their drawing. After that we, start to decorate the canteen with their drawing.

After the recess we continue our program with speeches. I know how it feels what you are in your audience shoes especially when you are still a children and listening to speech is the most boring thing you ever did. But still a proper closing should have a formal thanks speeches from our lecturer represent as Faculty of Business and Accountancy UM and me representing as one of the group leaders. Before we start our closing ceremony we had a 'cheers battle' with the school and it is the most fun part for that day. I had to shout and I did it. It felt weird shouting like that because I never did that before in my life in front of many people. Still we had a lot of fun during that time. 

I had to make a text speech because I always have this problem talking in public where I always stutter when I have no idea what to say during the speech. I even lacking of presentation skills where I am still learning how to get audience attention. So speech after speech, it came to my turn to talk where I am not nervous but I am afraid that I failed to attract the audience. I did it anyway, I tried to get their attention by shouting 'Tepuk 1.. Tepuk 2". I continue my speech and it takes time because of my 2 pages text. We ended our closing ceremony with photo session.

 After prayer and lunch, we had a little party where we bought them 2 cakes. We called up the children who is May babies to the front. We sang a happy birthday song to them and we managed to make them smile. Then we had live band performing from our group and the SBJK Buskers. Both of the performance was amazing. It's the time to say farewell it was sad to leave them and I really do hope to see them to be successful person in the future. I can still remember where this kid keep hugging me and it made heart sunks to leave him.


Phase 3

What I learnt from this course is that there are 2 types of people, inward mindset and outward mindset. People with outward mindset tend to do the task in any way they can and focused on the effort given to get the best result, while the inward mindset are more focused in accomplishing the objective only. Some of us have an outward mindset which I am truly grateful to have them in the team. Still the other are giving their full commitment contribution in finishing the job. I learnt that communication is the utmost important element in an organization. Every time I send a message to the group messaging, I was very particular in each and every word I said because I wanted to make sure they will understand. The last thing I want is miscommunication in an organization’s committees. The effect from miscommunication can be deep where everyone will get confused and do their task wrongly. So every problem I made from the past I able to make it right, as there are saying “experience is the best teacher”. But there one problem that I am facing from which is my personality. I am an introverted person and I do not like to talk unless I have to. Speaking can be exhausting for me especially during the meetings. Stepping out of the comfort zone is a difficult things to do. But I managed to do so because I have will to change myself. Lastly, I learn from Dr. Zalfa that I must be more firm. It is true that sometimes we have to be stricter in certain situation. For example, when they are reluctant to do their assigned task. For the conclusion there are still more gaps to improve for myself to be a better person.

Reflection of Social Engagement by Cai Ting

Name: Kam Cai Ting 

Matrix number : CEB 150050 

     
Beginning Phrase
          I had been placed in the first group under the supervision of Dr. Zalfa Laili Hamzah. On the first day I am quite nervous when I saw those unfamiliar names in my group list. However, I felt quite happy as I can make more friends in my faculty and know them deeper in that sense. We introduced ourselves when we first met each other. I found out that there was only this one girl staying at the same college with me. Most of them are from college 9.

           After a short briefing about the course and jobs that need to be done from Dr.Zalfa, we started our discussion from dividing job and position based on proficiency so that job can be done easily. I chose to be the secretary in this group, because I have experience in writing letters and minutes meeting. 

            I recorded every details that we had discussed in the meetings. Besides that, I shared my ideas and opinions and solved the problems together with my group members when problem occurred. Unfortunately, most of the activities that we had came up earlier did not meet the requirement of the course. After we have met up a few times to discuss the activities with the consultation and advises from Dr Zalfa, we decided to go Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih and Dapur Jalanan which I think that they are the most suitable community works because we can interact with people from different backgrounds and yet they are challenging. Especially conducting the games for children and entertained them. We were required to plan many activities that are suitable for them and we even rehearsed it before going to the school to avoid any unwanted stuff happened and get ready all the time. Moreover, I am happy that I can get along with my group members very well in this meeting. I hoped we could get closer after we had done all the community activities.

During Phrase

Fund Raising  ( 15/3- 17/3 )

          We planned to hand out presents to all of the children in the school. In order for us to do that, we decided we could do a fund-raising in our college for us to collect some money to buy the presents. The fund raising activity was selling muffins. There were variety of muffins available and the most popular is the chocolate muffins. Each muffin cost Rm 2.00 and if you bought 3 it will be RM 5.

          It is not easy to sell the muffins. However we managed to sell quite a lot because I kept on persuading my friends and the other passer by and inform them that when they buy the muffins, the money we collected will help to make the unfortunate children happy. After hearing that, they will buy 1 muffin and sometimes some even bought 3 of it but there were some who didn’t want to buy it but gave us some money for donation instead. At the end of the day, we managed to raise Rm 25 and we were very happy about it.

          With the money collected, we will need to plan properly on the suitable gift for the children. It should be something that will benefits them in their study and at the same time can make them happy. It is such a wonderful event and really beneficial for me in terms of waking me up and see how lucky I am to be able to live happily while some unfortunate kids are struggling to be happy. Now that I am able to help them, I felt proud of myself and touched that my friends are giving me support throughout the event. I’m really satisfied with the outcome of this meaningful charity event.  

Dapur Jalanan (20/3) 

           Dapur jalanan is a non-government organization (NGO), a voluntary group that serves people with free food and drinks every Sunday at Jalan Panggong. The unique thing about them is that they do not only serve food to the homeless people but they also offers food to anyone who came toward them which is the needy.

        We need to prepare the food at Kelab Bangsar before going to Jalan Panggong. My group members and I went to Kelab Bangsar around 2pm and started to introduce ourselves to the members of Dapur Jalanan. First of all, Abang Husin, the chief in Dapur Jalanan briefly introduce about themselves and the organisation. He then told us what’s on the menu for the day. The menu was fruits salad, egg mayo bread and chicken rice.

           He then placed all the fruits and ingredients on the table. We divided the job among ourselves. My friend and I washed the plates, kitchen appliances and fruits. After washing them, I arranged the fruits nicely while the others peeled and cut the fruits. We alternately took turns to do each other task and chit chatting while doing the chores. I realised many of my friends didn’t know how to remove seeds from the apples, pears and guava. I taught them how to remove and cut the fruits by showing them the way. 

            Next, my favourite part is spreading the egg mayo evenly on the bread. I spread a nice amount of the egg mayo on the bread. Since there will be another NGO providing chicken rice for the people, we managed to finish the preparation of the food earlier and listened to their introduction in detail.

         They told us about their history, mission, objectives and their experiences in doing Dapur Jalanan and other volunteer job. They also reminded us not to do any sensitive things like taking their photos without their permission and avoid asking them where they live directly because it might hurt their feeling.

           After that, we went to Jalan Panggong by lrt and walk a distance to reach the destination. It was raining during the time, so we can only distribute the food at a narrow corridor. By 6pm, the place was crowded with the needy. We then divided ourselves into 3 groups. The 1^st group was preparing the juices, 2^nd group was arranging and distributing the food and the 3^rd group was washing plates. I am in the 1^st group and we started to prepare and distribute the drinks.

           After distributing the food, I managed to talk to 3 people. 1^st person was an aunty and the other 2 was uncles. The aunty is very skinny. When I talked with the aunty, I realised she can understand English. I thought most of them are illiterate, so I am quite surprised she can understand when I spoke to my friends. I will not simply judge anyone before interact with them next time.

       

              I am quite enjoying talking with the 2^nd uncle because he is quite open minded. We interview him and he told us everything nicely. He does not have a permanent home. He always sits in the lrt to enjoyed the air condition and sleep at lrt station every night. I knew he is a frequent client in Dapur Jalanan, He is satisfied with every food they provided especially “Tomyam”. He also shared many things with me. He even asked me to approach his friend, the 3^rd uncle who has a permanent house near Jalan Panggong. At the same time, I learned how to talk with people in a special way without hurting their feeling.

After that we gave some feedback to Dapur Jalanan volunteers and dismissed.

                     After that we gave some feedback to Dapur Jalanan volunteers and dismissed.

There will always have pros and cons in certain activities. Things I remembered the most was these uncles told me the same thing. They said “Malaysian is very lucky, because there are many helpful people helping all the needy by providing clothes and foods. Malaysian will not die because of hunger.” It is good to share food with the people, help and care about them. The government has too much too care about, so we as a citizen should help out the less fortunate people. However in my opinion, it might lead them to be dependent on others. Besides that, I felt that we had done a great job. This activity gives me an immense satisfaction to serve people. The feeling of being able to help other people is very special. I enjoy interact with new people. I will always improve myself to make my family’s life better and provide shelter for my parents.

Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih (25/3)

          Waking up on a splendid Friday morning 25^th of March, and prepared myself to Sekolah Bimbingan jalinan Kasih which is located in Chow Kit for the second volunteering job. Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih is a free school that provides education and food for the unprivileged students like the homeless, abandoned and dropped out students. Personally, I’d rather called it as a caring school where they accept and treat all the students equally regardless their background and provide hope for their future.

          My group and the other groups which are under the Dr Zalfa supervision are going together. We gather at UM central at 7.00a.m., we took the bus, lrt and monorail to get top the destination. By the time we arrived, it was already around 8.30a.m. We then went into the room and listened to the principal briefing about the school.

          After the briefing was over, we went out from the room and I saw a bunch of students coming out. Before going to this school, our supervisor always reminded us to be alert and ready at all times because they are special, the way they behave are slightly different and they are hyperactive. So, what is on my mind is that they might be naughty and uncontrollable. However, that’s not the reality.  They were cute and full of manners. Each one of them gave salam (greet us) and shake hands with us once they came out of the room. . I am amazed with the teachers because there are good in educate the children and transform them into an individual with high morality.

          On that day, there were a few issue arise, but we managed to solve it in smoothly. Firstly, we started late, so we have to cancel aerobic section. Secondly, there are 8 pre-school students who came, but there were 22 of us. We divided our group members to help out other groups that in charge of the primary school students.

          Around 10a.m., we introduced ourselves to the teachers and the adorable students. I still remembered they were shy, sitting nicely and quietly on the carpet. In order to get ourselves closer to the students, we started the first game with eagle and hen.

          They showed their friendliness once they started to run. I also realized that we can easily approached them when we squatted down to talk to them instead of standing up when I was conducting moral value section. The kids saw us as if we are one of them when we squatted. There was a kid that wrapped me and my friend’s neck with his arm behind us and they talked comfortably to us too.

          They are just too cute to handle, I showed all my love equally to every one of them when conducting the activities. I even searched in the internet on how to teach them and comprehend them.

We must praise them suitably so they will not have a feeling of ego and at the same time feel the job they have accomplished are being appreciated. We must also treat everyone equally so they won’t felt being left out. I hug them, gave them rewards and presents at suitable time. I praised them and pat their heads nicely whenever they did a great, talked to them personally and even pinched their beautiful faces softly. Besides that, when I saw some kids hitting each other badly, I will stopped them immediately and taught them to apologize and be nice to each other. Other than that, I am happy to work with my friends. Our friendship had improved throughout this activity. We helped and encouraged each other when conducting games to the children. Since I can’t speak fluent Bahasa Melayu, my malay friends are there to help me and correct my sentences. I really appreciate their kindness and promise that I will work on my Malay language

          This is the first time I felt how it was to be a teacher. We need to have patience, knowledge, communication skills and the most of all, love. They are considered fortunate because they managed to enroll in this school. However, I always felt like crying because they were so innocent and pity them, they shouldn’t been treated in this kind of way. I make sure I always give them my best to make them happy and at the same time taught them to behave well.

          This is such a priceless experience in my life. I felt a sense of fulfillment. I enjoyed my time spent with these children and interaction with the teachers. I am very happy that I can get away from my busy college routine and indulge in teaching children and surprisingly, it helps me to relax.The best teacher is the experience in your life. They are my teacher at the same time, teaching me to appreciate what I have now, and should not hesitate to grab the opportunity that come towards me in the future that will make my life better and happier. I can’t wait to meet them again.

Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih (15/4)

         Today, my friend and I reached the school at 8.30a.m. As usual we went to the principal meeting room for a short briefing. There were journalist came over to record our activities on it and they might aired it on rtm2 this coming few days. So I make sure I did well since I am carrying UM’s name.

            After the short briefing from the principal, I prepared the stuff for my game station and waited for the children to come over. My game station is called “Joint the rope”. They are required to find things that are removable from their body yet can be join together. After joining the rope, it must be very firm and long too.

          The children ran to my station. They looked super excited. Every time I ask them “sihat tak?”, then they will surely replied full of anxiety “sihat!” at the top of their voice. After I explained the rule of the games, they started to joint all the things together in 5 minutes. Sometimes I gave them hints, so that they are able to make a longer line. Every group managed to pass this game except for 1 group because their rope was not stable. I can see that they really enjoyed this game.

          I still remember there was a group, a guy wore a shoelace- shoe and he didn’t want to take off his shoes even though his group really needs it to make the line longer. Seeing this, I started to encourage him. I told him how important it was for him to lend his shoelace to his group. I said “your members really want to win this game, you don’t feel like winning this game?” Finally after words of encouragement, he then took off his shoelace and his group won. I am so happy when he took off his shoelace and lent it to his team to help them win the game. From here I really felt that I have improved, I am able to convince them.

          There is one thing we could learn from them and it is listened to others. They always stop and listen to people’s opinion even if they have lots of ideas in their mind. Besides, I am proud of Ying Ying as she willing to take turn speaking in front of the children even though she was shy and afraid at the first time. We must have courage and take the challenge to improved ourselves all the time.

       We ended the day by giving out prizes to the winners and also consolation prizes. Another meaningful day was well spent.  

Sekoah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih (6/5)

Last Friday, we prepared a farewell party to those children. As usual, we had aerobic as our first section to warm up our bodies. I realized there were few new students that I never met before, so I tried to approach them and ask them to line up properly so that they won’t accidentally hurt each other during aerobic section. 

After that, we prepared a lot of colour papers for them to write down anything such as their wishes, ambition, appreciation words and so on. Some of the children have a lot of ideas on what to write and draw on the paper but some of them tend to follow the style of their friends’ drawing. They are just a typical young kids. I did remember some scenes when I was in primary school. I used to struggle what I have to write about my feeling and ambition and there were always have some friends hand in the similar drawing and writing.

             After 30 minutes, we collected the papers from the kids and pasted it on the strings.

                     We are trying to develop their creativity thru drawing and writing.

            After that we began our farewell party, my best friend, Marzlyqa was MC of the day. She was great. She managed to interact with those children so well that beyond my imagination. The children were singing and making cheers happily with the lead of Marzlyqa. I wished someday I will have the courage to be MC. Because I think we need to have strong communication skills in workplace.

          I think the happiest and touchiest part is when some children did recognize you after so many weeks. One of this little boy named Akhim recognized me. He hold my hands excitedly and asked me to guess which his drawing is. He is so cute. After chatting so many things with him, I realized he was actually drew on 3 pieces of paper and he has a brother study in this school too. 

          We gave presents, made drinks and cut cakes for the children before we ended the farewell. I saw the children were enjoying the cake so much and I felt happy.

This is the last day we can officially plan activities for them. It’s with a heavy heart that I must say Goodbye to them. I started to miss them.

Talent are everywhere, however seldom can they be recognized. Through those activities we had planned, I saw most of them are actually quite talented. They are good in drawing, solving problem and creative.  Besides that, some of them had become more active and brave. They also slowly enhanced their soft skills such as communication skills, leadership and teamwork. I wished they will be successful one day and make their teachers proud. I wished to say thank you to the teachers and the students in Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih because they indirectly taught me a lot of things like tolerance, patience, stay positive as those values are the keys of success. I am glad I have the opportunity to conduct and learn so many things in this programme.

Ending phrase

              This volunteering works really transformed me into a better person. I enjoyed helping people especially teaching kids. Those volunteering experience taught me to be grateful with everything I have now as there are so many people out there are less fortunate than me. I gained a lot of experiences like how to coexist with my groupmates, NGO as well as the children and how to plan yet carry out the activities. Bring joy to others is actually bringing joy to myself. Other than that, I had volunteered to give an opening speech for my religion event recently because I wanted to be as good as my friend. I surely can do what she can do. This activity motivated me to take the first step to improve and outshine myself. Lastly, I wished to thank University of Malaya who gave me the chance to experience such a priceless and unforgettable volunteering activities in social engagement course. I will join volunteering job in semester break to gain more experience that never taught in school.