Reflection 1

Community service is performed by a person or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions. Many universities require that their students perform community service for some specific number of hours to graduate in the form of a service-learning course. Our university, Brickfields Asia College, has made community service a compulsory subject as well.

Eight of my classmates and I formed a group with the name 'HTN (Helping the Needy)'. As the name suggests, we wish to provide what we can to aid those who are in need. Before coming to our final decision, we held several meetings to suggest, discuss and to do research on the tasks were to conduct. We originally planned to volunteer in a soup kitchen organisation to help distribute food to the homeless people on the streets but eventually rejected the idea as several problems arose, mainly concerning our transportation and safety as some of our members do not drive (the activity requires flexible transportation) and the activity is to be performed late at night (most of our members are female).

We finally made a decision to provide our service at an orphanage as the International Children’s Day was just around the corner. We wish to bring as much happiness as possible to the abandoned and the neglected children, so that they can understand that they are not alone or left behind and the society actually cares for them and they are still loved. Through this task, we also wish to raise public awareness concerning these groups of children in the society and encourage people to participate in community services as well.

We started to communicate with several welfare organizations for the permission to conduct community service at their centre. Eventually, one of the welfare societies responded to us. It was Ti-Ratana Welfare Society, one of the largest NGOs in Malaysia based in Desa Petaling, Kuala Lumpur which is a charitable organization that runs three children homes with over 250 children, two seniors' residences with about 50 senior citizens, a shelter home for women, and mobile clinics to provide free medical services to the people in the rural areas. Their mission is to provide shelter, education and care to the underprivileged members of the community, i.e. children or orphans, women and senior citizen. Their slogan is "Lift a hand, light a heart".

We were required by Ti-Ratana to submit a detailed program layout. A verbal permission was given and we had to make further discussions on the date of our visit. In the meantime, we had started writing a proposal to our university to acquire permission for the task that we are going to conduct. A blog has also been created to raise public awareness and is currently under construction. We had also started raising funds and looking for sponsorships. We presented our proposal to our university and an approval letter was later granted along with an official letter from BAC to Ti-Ratana, to seek final approval from the welfare society. A final approval was granted by the organisation soon after. We will be visiting Ti-Ratana Welfare Society on the 23rd and 29th of October 2015.

I am pleased with the decision our group has made. Despite being hesitant initially, I did not change my mind once the decision was made. My expectations were made as the task allows me to do my best and provide what I can to help those who are in need. Through this I would also gain precious social experiences that I would not be able to gain elsewhere and to be involved with the world around me. I would be able to get a glimpse of the lives of the unfortunate and to observe how they cope with their less fortunate circumstances. At this stage of our community service subject, I have learned to be more grateful to what I have as there are many more who are not as fortunate as me. Also, being the group leader of HTN, I have learned that there will be a great amount of responsibility ahead for me to bear and I will have to work hard. I will also have to look out for my members and respect each and every one of their opinions. I have to be rational and firm with my future decisions for the group and work well with everyone so that our mission can be successful. 

(Discussing the task of our community service.)

(Fellow group members presenting the proposal.)

On the 23rd of October, we are planning to have a breakfast DIY session with the children in order to educate them of the importance of having a healthy breakfast to start off a new day. We will be providing the ingredients such as bread, tuna, cucumber, ham, cheese, etc. For the safety of the children, they will only have to put the ready-made ingredients together and no cutting or any dangerous act is required. We will guide the children while referring to and explaining the food pyramid. After the breakfast session, our group will be separated into two teams. There will be one team to help with the cleaning and another team to act as tutors as to help the children with their studies.

On the 29th of October, some gifts will be given out to the children when we arrive in the morning to lighten up the mood. This is also to celebrate the Universal Children's Day in advance. The gifts will be school stationary. After that, there will be some games and activities that we have organized for the children. The activities include hand-painting, drawing class, singing and dancing, treasure-hunt and straw-building.

This is the first time any of us has ever organised a community service event. On normal occasions, I would merely take part as a member and go along with what the higher-ups decide. This is definitely a fresh new experience for me and although I am still lacking in the knowledge of certain formal procedures, I receive lot of help from those around me which I really appreciate. I anticipate the experience and the lessons I will learn throughout this event. I look forward to the days of the visit and I hope that everything will go well as planned.