Choo Li Yuan (MIC170011)

GIG1005 SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

REFLECTIVE WRITING

VISIT TO ORANG ASLI VILLAGE AT DESA TEMUAN

CHOO LI YUAN (MIC170011)                                                                                       5^th MAY 2018

“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” A very well said quotes by John Holmes which make me to think twice about how I can contribute to the society and help the unable. I am very grateful that with the opportunity of doing social work under the project of GIG 1005 Social Engagement Course , I was finally able to expose myself to the vulnerable group who is often being neglected by the society to lend them my helping hand.

            Before we ended our first semester, Dr Puah who is our instructor of the SE course already have a first meeting with us to discuss about the charity project that we were going to conduct during second semester. Finally, we decided to carry out a long term charity project in Orang Asli village which our effort in helping the Orang Asli will be continued by our junior in the future. Then, it came to the time when the high committee of the project were being selected. I was quite nervous and worried at the moment when I was announced as the head of the bureau activity and protocol since I have no experience in planning activity for such a big project. However, I was very thankful to those who trust on me and willing to give me a chance to try on it.

            There are a lot of challenges we faced during the planning of the charity project. The biggest problem we had at the beginning of the project was choosing the suitable village to visit and we failed to get any contact of the head of the village. However, these did not stop us from moving forward because success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life, failure comes when we shrink from them. Our bureau external relations and transportation were able to solve this issue by getting in touch with JAKOA. Second challenge came when there were some miscommunication between us and the person-in charge of the village,En. Azman. He approved the date of our activity in fact it was clashing with the activity conducted by the students from Faculty of Law every Sunday. These could affect the number of our participant as the kids already knew all of them and will be more likely to join their activity rather than get the first approach to us. Fortunately, the law students were very open-minded and generous to collaborate with us and let us to be the main conductor of the activity on that day. When everything was almost on the track, we were suddenly be informed that En Azman requested to invite 150 children instead of 60 children. Our planning was again being disrupted. Whenever there was a problem , Dr Puah always  guided us patiently and never leave us alone to face the obstacles. I also feel very thankful to work with a group of good teammates who played important role in succeeding the project.

            After going through so many challenges and problems during the preparation for the project, finally came to 29 April 2018 which was the day of our charity project in Taman Desa Temuan Bukit Lanjan. We left at 7.45 am from University Malaya and reached there at 8.10 am. Since there was a bit delay, we quickly unloaded all the food and hampers from the bus and started to set up for the station games as well as the PA system. We also met the Law student for the first time there. They were very friendly and helpful as they willing to volunteer themselves as the facilitators since we were really lack of manpower.  We were quite worried as there was less children who came than we expected when we reached there. The children also seemed reluctant to join the Zumba which was led by the Laws student. I tried to approach a few little boys who were sitting beside the crowd that were having the Zumba. I felt relieved when I knew that they were not really ignoring us but they were just too shy to dance. Luckily when it came to the registration time for the explore race, all the kids were very responsive and excited to join our activity. We had around 50 children who participated our explore race which the size of the crowd was just nice for our initial plan of the grouping. At first we had no idea how to settle down the kids because they were extremely active and energetic. However, everything was still going on well and smooth with the cooperation of the facilitators and the members of bureau activity. All of our hard work was worthy when we saw all those smiles on the children’s face.

            “Love is not patronizing and charity isn't about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same -- with charity you give love, so don't just give money but reach out your hand instead.”, said by Mother Teresa. I am very glad to join this meaningful charity project with the aim of changing the quality of life of the indigenous society by giving exposure to the children about the importance of education instead of just giving them aids in terms of money. Although our objective was not really fulfilled, at least we get our first step to approach to the Orang Asli who is underprivileged and impoverished. I hope that our junior can continue and improve our effort to accomplished the objective of our project.

(919 words)