Iffatulhusna Binti Ahmad Shahrir (MIC170016)

GIG1005 SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

Reflective Writing

Kampung Desa Temuan Visiting

Iffatulhusna Binti Ahmad Shahrir (MIC170016)                                                                 3 May 2018

I came across this one article one day. It literally caught my eyes and somehow making me fall into a deep, black hole of wonder. Well, it was pitch black and seem to be endless to me as I thought I could never discover what is the significant of all of the thinking. The article that I saw on the net was all about this one guy who is a huge Youtube sensation as well as social media celebrity. As I thought he was the individual who got idolize by so many people especially the young generation for his swag personality and cool videos online. How he blew up the internet was not a surprise for me as he own tonnes of dollars in his pockets but what genuinely baffling me was the way he spent his bucks in the most ungrateful way as you could ever imagine. His recordings of how he was living his wealthy, rich life and most of the time, being so selfish and obnoxious by wasting food and breaking stuff all over his house were not really an appropriate way to thank god for what he had in front of his table. I was absolutely disguised by his action as I thought why would God gave so much prosperity to this man as there is lot more needy people all over the world who would use his luxury for good. At this juncture, I thought this random thought of mine would never attain its answer.

          Until this one day, where all my perception towards life changed in a blink of an eye. The day where I got to meet so many lucky children who been showered with much love, passion and simply joyful. The imperfection in their families especially in financial seem to not bother them even a bit as they were beyond doubt, happy as the way they are. That was truly amazing for me. Initially when I get to know that I will be involving myself in this social engagement activities, I thought it would be just a random volunteering work like perhaps a gotong-royong around town. But, for God’s sake, I was so surprised that we got to engage ourselves with the poor Orang Asli Community and that would be my very first time, making my steps into a whole new and different horizon. I chose myself to be in the ‘hubungan luar’ bureau where we got to be the first representative to make contact with the Orang Asli community. That was an exciting ride for me as we were hustling in building networks with so many people and also making the paperwork, a pile of official letters and all. What a rewarding experience as all of our hardwork was paid off at the end.

          I still vividly remember how I got myself into games with kids that eventually turned out to be impromptu babysitting, which i was absolutely loving it. They were all smart kids and very active in whatever they were doing. As for my group, the kids that being recruited into be with me were from 7 to 12 years old. They were so clingy to me as if they never meet an outsider before. I was quite surprised by the acceptance that I received by them that making me feel so much appreciated and honoured to be surrounded by them. Moreover, the Orang Asli community was very close to each other as they remember every single one of their neighbour and where they live. That was surprising as I could barely know my next door neighbour. When it comes to financial aspect, they were all living in a moderate lifestyle as they received many helps including their houses, school and food. There was one time when one of the kids asking me about how my life was. She asked, ‘Cikgu, are you rich?’ I was completely stunted by the bombarded question and eventually replied to her by saying, ‘ nah, I’m just like the rest of you.’ She stopped for a minute and responded, ‘That’s mean you are poor people’. My heart skipped a few beats and my eyes started watery. I never thought I would encounter such moment ever in my entire life which really touched my inner soul of how fine she reacted to this. As if being poor was meaningless to her. Likewise to me, I was never felt enough of what I have and even complaining for more. The kids were all seem so vibrant despite the imperfection in how they dress, what they eat and never even bother of not having any cool gadgets like kids nowadays. At that moment, I realised that God was being fair to His creation as money is not everything. Regardless where your position are in the society, as long as you are being grateful of what you have had, that was all enough to mould your life into a complete paradise.

          By the end of the day, my group managed to get the first place among the 8 other groups. I could see a huge smile, from ear to ear, when they received the big hamper of foods and candies. They were all so delighted. The experience that I got from this fruitful event was nothing compared to anything I ever encounter in life. Lots of important life lessons I seized by engaging with them, with the families. I was having the best time of my life whenever I got to feed them food, putting on make ups on girls there and even dancing all day during the Zumba session. Not to forget, my friends who worked so hard in managing this huge, exciting event. We had a very strong bonding at the end and we were all over the moon knowing that we could actually handle things on our own. Now I realised that, I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

(1000 words)