Transformative Journal of Lim Soo Xian

Reflective Journal. Lim Soo Xian (CIA 160057).

The course Social Engagement is a university course that was being implemented by University of Malaya a few years ago. Therefore, it is a subject that is quite new for the students. The main objective of this subject is to encourage university students in fulfilling their social responsibilities towards the society as well as open their eyes to the problems faced by the society. This course was made mandatory for all first year students. Me, as a first year freshman who is currently studying Bachelor of Degree in Accounting, has took this course to fulfil minimum requirement of 18 credit hours for this semester. I am well aware of my role as a part of society so I was quite excited when we were told to take this subject. Moreover, I did not have any experience in volunteering and serving the society. Therefore, I believed that I will learn a lot of new experiences and knowledge through this project.

During the first meeting, I was eager to meet our group members. Besides the 11 members presented the meeting, Dr. Yazkhiruni binti Yahya also attended as our group’s supervisor. She briefed us about the main purpose of University of Malaya in introducing this course and the expected outcome to the students as well as to the society. After that was the group committee selection. Muhamad Ashraaf bin Mohd Asri is appointed to become the Group Leader. At the same time, I was proud to become the group’s Secretary and Treasurer because I was able to learn how to prepare written proposal and report. After Dr. Yazkhiruni explained the job scope of each position, we started our discussion to list out about what project are we going to do and the project theme. In the end, volunteering project at special school was selected and we came out our project theme as “UM cares, enhancing humanity”.

Before we decide on our proposed date, we faced difficulties in finding a special school that we can carry out our project as many of them have their own events throughout the year. Luckily, Sekolah Kebangsaan Pendidikan Khas (SKPK) located at Shah Alam agreed on our proposal. After we negotiate with the management team at SKPK, we set our proposed period at 1^st April and 2^nd April. We held a few meetings amongst the members to discuss the implementation method of the project so that our project will flow smoothly. In the meetings, the members brainstormed activities and games that can be carried out during the field work. We listed out the materials that will be needed in the games and the transportation fee for a round trip to avoid over budget.  We also surveyed the place before the project.

On the 1^st April, we have gathered around early in the morning at 8a.m. at Dataran Za’ba of Faculty of Business and Accounting. Before we depart from University of Malaya, we were briefed by Asyraff to ensure every group member understand their role during the field work. After we checked all the needed materials were being brought, we started our journey to SKPK. It was a thirty minutes car ride from UM. When we reached the school, the high management team of SKPK welcomed us with their warm regards. They introduced us to the participants and I can see the excitement showed by the children. Initially, I was quite nervous because none of us understand sign language. Luckily, the staff in SKPK accompanied us throughout the programme and translated what the children were trying to convey. We made self-introduction to the kid as well as they made theirs. After we distributed the children in four groups, each group was led by two volunteers and I was assigned to be the facilitator of group. We carried on with ice breaking session where we communicate with the children during the game. I was relieved as the children were quite energetic and active throughout the game. They would not shy away from us even though we came from different background and large age gap. However, we it was quite challenging for us to conduct the game because we could not understand what are they trying to tell us as they could not speak. We tried to solve the problem by providing a small whiteboard for each group to let the children to write down their thoughts. Other than that, the project flowed quite smoothly however at times we felt that the children were out of control due to their overexcitement. We carried out a few activities until late night such as games and sports, movie session and study session. As the volunteers, we also participated in the games to foster relationship with the children. The first day ended with exhaustion. After the children went back to their rooms, we had a short post mortem session to reflect the difficulties we have faced and might face on the second day and come out suggestions that might be helpful. After we planned the program flow for the next day we went to bed tiredly.

On the second day, we woke up early morning to prepare the materials needed on that day.  We continued our programme with aerobics and explorace. Under the guidance of the staff of SKPK in these two days, we had learnt some simple sign language and how to handle the children. I started to understand my group’s children thoughts and was able to communicate with them with simple hand signal. I felt a closer relationship amongst us compared to the previous day. Through the activities and games, we aimed to encourage creativity, teamwork, and optimism among the children. The project ended as a success after the closing ceremony. I felt sad as we were going to leave the children. Although it was a short period but we had created a lot of memories together. I felt grateful to SKPK’s staffs that have assisted us throughout the project even during the weekends which they do not need to go to work. They even provided us food and accommodation in these two days. I also realised that these people sacrifices their time and efforts in educating and showing their care and love towards the disadvantaged children. Also, I was grateful that our group members always show their enthusiasm as we worked together and not forgetting Dr. Yazkhiruni assistance and guidance throughout the project.

After the project, I realised that each of us have our responsibilities towards the society including those disadvantaged children. In the modern era, most of us obsess in chasing wealth and success. Therefore, people often show their ignorance towards the needy in the society due to their materialism and busy in work. I hope that after this project, the society could see the effort that we have done in playing our role in helping the society and take it as inevitable value in their life.