GIG 1005 SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
Reflective Writing Interaction Program at Desa Temuan
Norsyamira binti Rahimi (MIC 170026) Date: 5 May 2018
‘Orang Asli’ used to be an alien term to me. Not because I have never heard of it, but because I feel as if I am not cultured enough with the community to comment on anything. However, I have recently taken part in an event that took up an entire day at Desa Temuan village. My experience in the interaction program at Desa Temuan Village in Damansara on the 29 May 2018 has given me the opportunity to communicate with the children of the indigenous people firsthand. The program aims to educate primary children of the indigenous people. The various activities carried out throughout the day has its own purpose that would benefit the children in terms of knowledge gain.
Prior to the event day, I was a member in the external relations bureau, lead by Alice. I was initially unclear of my job scope despite given the description early on. I voluntarily joined whichever bureau that needed spaces to fill because I was willing to work with anyone to do anything. My team members divided among ourselves the workload required in our bureau. I was in charge of capturing photos, videos and editing the final video along with Sarah. I had no experience in editing videos but Alice and the rest of my members assured me that they would help out.
During the event day, I brought along my DSLR camera to ensure that I will have enough components to form a video that would represent my bureau. I was also one of the facilitators for the explore race we had with the children. The children are very young, eccentric and hyperactive. Personally, rewarding them with candies was not such a bright idea because it really contributed to their sugar rush which made them slightly difficult to handle, but with the help of my classmates, we manage to overcome the problems and go through with our activities for those 50 children.
At the end of the event, I filmed my bureau’s collaboration with the UM law students and our last settlement with Mr Hashim, our kind bus driver. My camera was used to capture all the necessary, formal photos that will be needed after the event ended for documentary purposes. The overall experience for me was fun although it was quite tiring. It was also my first time really handling an event and being a facilitator. I learned not only how to be more responsible and quick on my feet, just incase something goes wrong, but also how to be a teacher and a proper leader. The children were a joy to have met and mingled with as they were very enthusiastic and cooperative which helped in the flow of the activities. Thanks to the Social Engagement course, our batch did something different as compared to the previous batch where they only did a ‘touch’ and ‘go’ program, we had to fully handle and execute a plan entirely of our own with the help of Dr Puah, our lecturer incharge. (501 words)
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