'Izzah Syahmina binti Za'im (MIC170001)

GIG 1005 SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

Reflective Writing

Visit to Orang Asli Village in Desa Temuan

‘Izzah Syahmina binti Za’im (MIC170001)                                                             Date: 5th May 2018

Sunday, 29^th of April 2018; a remarkable day for me, and I’m sure for all my friends too. It was the day we conducted our Social Engagement activity at Desa Temuan, Bukit Lanjan. A day that I never thought would give me memories that I wish to cherish forever.

I still remember during semester 1, the first time Dr. Puah Suat Moi came to tell us about Social Engagement course that we were going to take in semester 2. At first, I had no idea about it at all. Only during the first class of it that I managed to get the rough idea on what was it all about. But still, I thought it’s just merely a subject that we need to take, so basically we’re just going to do some activities with the society, make videos to wrap everything up, do a report and that’s it, the end. But, little did I know, it’s actually more than that. As we progressed week by week, I began to understand the main objectives of this subject which are to promote volunteerism among students and develop the students’ professional skills. Throughout the preparation for the activity we were going to carry out, we experienced and learnt a lot of things. First of all, Dr. Puah said that this year was the first time the amendment of this subject format was made, so we need to help each other out so that the requirements can be fulfilled. We faced some problems initially such as regarding the contact of the Orang Asli village we were going to conduct our activity at. Fortunately, we have a great external relations team as well as our high commissioners that had successfully handled the problems that arose along the way we were dealing with the related parties. I managed to learn from them a bit regarding this as we would always discuss about this together despite of coming from different bureaus. Thankfully, we managed to settle everything up. Then, we also earned the funds together. One of the ways was through the carwash. It was really fun doing it together. This is because we know that each and every of us shared the same aim; which is to offer as much as we could for the children there through the funds we collected. The last preparation we did together was the test run on the night before the actual day as well as the hampers packaging. We had a great time playing all the games prepared by the activity bureau. We also helped the food bureau to pack the hampers for the kids. I really love these moments we had as they strengthened our friendship as we worked and spent our time together.

When the actual day finally came, I could see how everyone was so excited for it. Initially, the kids there were still shy to approach us but as time went by, the kids became very clingy to us. They were lovely and had so much things to share with us. I learnt to approach different kids with different ways since everyone has a different personality. We conducted the activities as planned but there were some unexpected things that happened on that day. A fight had occurred among the kids there and caused an accident. It was a chaos at first since who would’ve expected it, right? Gladly, the victim was safe after Dr. Puah took him to the hospital, accompanied by some of my friends. While Dr. Puah brought the kid for the treatment, we were informed that an activity was cancelled by the villagers, so we had to replace a one-hour slot with other activities. We were quite worried that time, fortunately, we managed to control the situation by conducting a few activities which are dancing and musical chairs on the spot with the kids. Everyone from every bureau came to help the activity bureau for that. I am super proud of us because I think we had made a really good job and showed our unity as one.

Since I’m from the publicity and multimedia bureau, I was assigned to be the photographer. It was completely a new experience for me since I had never done this task before. I was quite nervous at first. I tried to search the tips of photographing online so that I could do my job well. For me, the best thing about being a photographer is that I could witness a lot of things happening around me as I moved from one place to another and captured the moments. I couldn't describe the feeling as I looked through the pictures that I had taken. It’s like I’m rewinding every moment I’ve witnessed. When people uploaded the pictures that I took, it gives me the feeling of satisfaction because I feel like I’ve at least made them happy by having their pictures taken for them to cherish the moments they had. There’s only one thing that I can say about my job; I really love it!

When it was finally time to say goodbye, I couldn’t deny that it was very sad to do so. It was hard to let them go. They’re nice and very smart. The only thing that they need is an opportunity. I hope that our effort will somehow give positive impacts on them, even if it's not much. They teach me a lot about life. I learn to be more grateful with the privilege I have compared to them. Nevertheless, I wish them all the best in their life. I really want them to be as successful as other people too because we’re all Malaysians and we should help each other. Lastly, I want to thank Dr. Puah for guiding us throughout the process of carrying out this activity, as well as my friends who were together in this from the start. I really look forward to this kind of activity again in the future. Social Engagement, thank you for everything!

(998 words)