Implementation Phase: Day 3 _ We love you all, children @ NURI!

[25 March 2018 (Sunday)] 

‘We love because He [God] first loved us.’ – I John 4:19 

Finally, we had come to the third day of event. As I knew this would be the last day meeting the children, I was quite sad, just wished to be able to spend more time with them. 😢

     They sensed our arrival and we were so relieved to see them waiting for us in anticipation. Again, this morning, the Zumba exercise session led by Nazrul entertained the children. They were so joyfully amused by the fast rhythm of the music and the peculiar actions that were taught to dance to. 😄

     In that morning, we did some origami, which were meant to serve as decoration. We also had a simple English session, in which Sin Hui taught simple words encapsulating expressions, feelings and descriptive phrases. Later then, majority of the children went for the nasyid and dikir barat for a competition. Believe me or not, they won the first prize in it! 👏👏

▲Figure 1: Simple English session

     Almost the rest of the day became soundless, and most of us were not used to it. The remaining children played some chilled-out games with us. Later then, we had ‘Mystery Box’ session – considered to be one of the highlights of the day – whereby facilitators pretended to frighten the children with strange sounds while the children with their eyes closed, stretching out their hands to reach into the box. Some of them were really afraid and quickly ran away. After a while, we also had some casual outdoor games with the children and put up decorations for the closing ceremony.💚

▲Figure 1: Casual outdoor games with the children

     At the same time, Adilah, Solihin, Putri and Arif went to Batu Caves Giant Hypermarket nearby with Dr Arpah to buy Pusat Jagaan NURI some food, drink, clothing and suchlike provisions. 💜

     However, it rained in the evening while we were all prepared for our closing ceremony. Therefore, we were coerced to have the closing ceremony indoor instead of having it at the garage. Mama Nora came, and our programme coordinator Dr Sarinder was invited. The high point of the ceremony came when the facilitators, together with the kids, gave performances. It was a thrilling finale to the days’ events. The birthday surprise marked the successful culmination of our entire 3-day-2-night social engagement programme at Pusat Jagaan NURI. 3 birthday cakes were prepared for anyone whose birthday falls in February, March and April. When the cakes were sliced, there came the children back from the competition. Their faces fell, probably they were greatly downcast and disappointed because they had missed the celebration and the happy moments with us. 😡

     As time silently passed by, it was time for us committee members to bid farewell to the kids. However, we were so unwilling and reluctant to leave this shelter home. We burst into tears in that rainy evening. The children waved their hands with their tears rolling down their faces / welled up in their eyes as the vans we were in cruised past the house and the compound. Some of us, even cried their eyes out as we headed back to KK 5 for post-mortem. See you, children! It was such a great and fun time with all of you! May our moments with the children lie within their minds forever. 💞

     And here we are. We had come to the end of our social engagement programme. This programme, which was initially unexciting to me, turned out to be one of my unforgettable moments, filled with bittersweet memories with the children.😆

Posted by: Lee Jian Di

Implementation Phase: Day 2 _ Amendments and the concomitant expectations

[24 March 2018 (Saturday)] 

‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters … It is the Lord you are serving, giving thanks to God the Father.’ – Colossians 3:23, 17 

My second day started off quite punctually. This second day’s pick-up point is at KK 5. Being nervous we arrived Pusat Jagaan NURI in good time around 7:30 a.m. To our astonishment, the children were waiting for us eagerly at the gate. 😍

     Nazrul led the morning Zumba exercise very well, successfully lifting the children’s spirits Almost all the activities were carried out as planned punctually. Seeing the children dancing merrily cast away all our wearies and fears. The children were so enjoyed in trying hard to follow the steps. 👏

     We had many indoor activities, including art and craft, guessing pictures and committee members’ sharing of experience to the kids. We also introduced star counts as a means to attract their interests. A star will be awarded to be pasted on the board for every single win. This, indirectly, stirred up their competitiveness among themselves. 👍

     The highlight of the day was also the Mandarin session in which simple greetings, expressions and descriptive phrases were taught. I was really impressed by the inquisitiveness of the children. Their curiosity led them in asking many questions. I was really delighted we hear them raising their doubts and questions. As the group 3’s facilitator, with patience I helped the children in the pronunciation as well as explaining the meanings of certain Chinese words. Glad to see them putting the words correctly in speech. Hope that these words may help them in the future and that they may apply them. 😄

     Thank God that we manage to entertain the children vindicated by the full involvement and cooperation given that had eluded us on the first day. Relief surged through us. We soon were able to capture their attention and interest by introducing an array of engaging activities and games to them. They were all excited for the activities especially ‘Explorace’ station games session which was also the climax of the day. The earliest group to pass all 5 stations will win the race. The game seemed to be easier for my group due to the presence of Kamil and Syakir who are the eldest among all children in Pusat Jagaan NURI. They took the roles of leaders in the group in finishing the game. I hope they can all get the lessons from this game, i.e. to be able to cooperate well, effective communications among themselves and to be able to bound and listen to the leader’s instruction as they solved the problems in each station. What’s more, hampers were given away to Group 3 and Group 1, if I’m not mistaken for winning the explore race. 👏👐

     In the evening we had outdoor games which were dodgeball for girls and futsal for the boys. We also practised for cheer performance. The whole practice was really a relaxing enjoyment as we kept the children amused by inserting humorous elements in the cheer. It was truly a pleasing moment with the children. The day then ended with the children’s dikir barat performance. Again, I would like to say that it was a conflation of their personal yearnings of love, thanksgivings and forgiveness. I was totally touched by the lyrics. Meanwhile, my thoughts flashed back to my early schooling days and childhood. Seeing them reminds of embracing and appreciating the values in life and to give thanks to God for all His wondrous gifts. 💗

     It can be clearly seen that we had improved ourselves in many aspects. Everyone had better communication and interaction with the kids which is our main purpose of having social engagement. We also made sure that the flow is kept in an orderly manner without further hesitation. We had really done a good job this second day of event! 👍

Posted by: Lee Jian Di

Implementation Phase: Day 1 _ Plans thrown into chaos and disarray

[23 March 2018 (Friday)]

‘Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from Him.’ – Psalm 127:3

I woke up late around 7:00 a.m. as I just slept for about 2 hours the night before. I quickly rushed to the pick-up point in front of the UM Bioinformatics Building. Everyone has already gathered waiting for me. Really sorry for being so late. What a bad start of the day! Because of me, we departed a bit late, about half an hour behind time, to Pusat Jagaan NURI in Setapak which took around 30 minutes from UM by the ISB van. 😟

     Upon reaching our destination, we were warmly welcomed by the person in charge, Tok Mek. All of us exuberantly got into the house to meet the children. As soon as we gathered all the children, we were surprised to see only 20 children or so turned out instead of a total of 67 children as told. We were then informed that some of the children were back for their school holidays with their parents. We were agitated for a while. However, having just a few children as such was not at all a depressing matter I presumed, as then we might be able to take good care and concern of the children in the shelter home. Thanks to Dr Arpah for reminding us earlier to come out with backup plans. Arinah and I, being the facilitators of Group 4, looked out for the kids stated in the name list. After a cringeworthy self-introduction and ice-breaking session followed by a casual opening ceremony by Rehana, we had breakfast together and after that, gotong-royong. Together with the kids I swept the floor around the garage, cleaned up and tidied the whole compound up while some others cleaned the indoor environment and in the kitchen. Also, my heartfelt admiration for Amir and Hazimin in volunteering themselves to clean the toilet – not an easy task indeed. 💚

     Our gotong royong finished earlier than expected and then the kids practiced nasyid and dikir barat for a competition on Sunday. To me, their performance was full of sombre and poise, presenting the fragile hearts of these unprivileged children. Tears rained down their cheeks as some of them practiced the dikir barat which features the blessings from their parents. Their need for attentive care and love, particularly from the parents, which we many a time take for granted, is a luxury to these children. Gatherings and leavings seemed to be something normal to these children though it is painful for some of them. Happiness, to them, comes and goes. No matter how imperfect their family backgrounds are, may the Lord have mercy on them and bless them, keeping them as the apple of His eye come what may. 💗

     We killed time by having several impromptu games after the Muslim Friday prayer. The kids enjoyed the games and soon got more attached to us. In the evening we planned to practice for the closing-ceremony performance, but it was really botched and messed up. Plans after plans were changed. By that time, we were well and truly lost. New groups were formed and just 3 groups remained due to the few number of children. Likewise, new facilitators were appointed for each group. And so, I was appointed as the facilitator of group 3 with two new partners, Arif and Wan Yin. Thanks Jeremy, for his hard work in making the rearrangement. And interestingly, there were two elder (17-to-20-year-old) children – Kamil and Syakir – in this group for my group. Wan Yin and I, together with some temporary facilitators taught the children dance based on some songs and to think of a cheer. ☺

     The overall implementation on the first day had been well below par though a great deal of effort and hours had been put and spent in preparing for this programme from start to finish. The children were totally out of our control, as we didn't communicate much with them, nor did we think creatively to attract their attentions. They were not listening to our advice and instructions probably because we didn’t have a well interaction with them. We also noticed that most of the kids were uneasy and shy with us. Some of them even dodged behind doors or between rooms to hide from us. I didn't seem to be engaging with the kids that moment as I felt a little bit awkward. Also, many plans were changed because of the obstruction of the balcony. We were so disconnected from those children as if we were in a different world from them. Plus, much time was wasted. 😕

     And that night we had an extremely serious and thought-provoking post-mortem at KK 5, our meeting point for the implementation phase. Everyone was exhausted, discouraged and discontented with what we had done on this very first day of programme implementation. We contemplated, listening to the comments and reviews given by Dr Arpah who oversaw our implementation. We looked onto the matter and we identified discovered and learned from our weaknesses, challenges, mistakes and failures. We also voiced out suggestions, improvements and feedbacks to be considered for the next following days to fix those problems. One of which is appointing a timekeeper to ensure organized flow of activities and to call time on them according to the tentative. We ought to be ready for any upcoming challenges and unexpected situations. Teamwork is of highly prominent here in all circumstances. 💪

     And that’s the end of the first day…

Posted by: Lee Jian Di

A 3 Days of Memory : Day 3

Hari terakhir program pula merupakan hari yang mebuatkan perasaan saya bercampur baur. Gembira dan lega kerana program ini akhirnya akan berakhir, namu sedih dan sebak kerana perlu meninggalkan anak-anak NURI ini.

            Sewaktu anak-anak NURI sedang belajar Bahasa Inggeris Bersama Sin Hui, saya membantu untuk membuat persiapan majlis penutup di bawah khemah. Saya membantu mereka untuk membuat origami kata dan rama-rama yang akan digantung di sekeling khemah. Hubungan saya dengan rakan-rakan yang lain menjadi lebih rapat sepanjang program ini dan saya berasa selesa untuk bergaul dengan mereka terutamanya dengan rakan-rakan Cina yang lain kerana kami tidak banyak berinteraksi sebelum program.

Pada waktu tengahari pula, saya dan beberapa orang lagi mengikut Dr. Arpah untuk membelikan barang-barang yang akan disumbangkan kepada rumah NURI. Inii merupakan kali pertama saya keluar membeli barangan rumah Bersama orang lain selain dari keluarga saya. Selalunya saya hanya membantu ibu saya untuk menolak troli, tetapi hari itu saya ditugaskan untuk mencari barangan yang telah disenaraikan dan memastikannya mengikut bajet yang telah ditetapkan. Pada mulanya saya agak risau bahawa barang yang dibeli adalah melebihi bajet namun nasib menyebelahi kami, jumlah barang-barang tersebut masih lagi dalam kawalan.

            Kami juga turut membeli kek untuk rakan-rakan serta anak-anak NURI yang lahir pada bulan Februari, Mac dan April. Kami bercadang untuk membuat kejutan untuk mereka semasa majlis penutuk kelak. Tiba sahaja di rumah NURI, saya berasa agak terkejut kerana hanya 8 orang sahaja anak-anak NURI yang ada di situ dan yang selebihnya masih tidak lagi pulang dari pertandingan dikir barat. Saya berasa risau kerana persembahan untuk majlis penutup terpaksa dibatalkan kerana bimbang tidak mempunyai bilangan ahli yang cukup untuk persembahan setiap kumpulan

            Selaku PIC untuk latihan persembahan dan persediaan majlis penutup , saya meminta fasilitator tetap untuk menggabungkan kumpulan mereka dan membuat satu persembahan bersama sewaktu majlis penutup nanti. Lalu, saya mula melakukan persiapan untuk menyediakan  ruang makan VIP dan meminta beberapa ahli yang lain untuk membantu saya. Suasana menjadi lebih merisaukan apabila langit kelihatan seperti mahu hujan.

Ketibaan wakil UM yang lebih awal menjadikan suasana lebih panik. Saya berasa agak cemas sewaktu mengiringi PM Dr. Sarinder, namun beliau cuba untuk meringankan suasana yang agak tegang itu dengan meminta saya melayannya dengan biasa sahaja dan tidak perlu begitu formal. Disebabkan keadaan yang hujan lebat pada hari itu, maka saya dan Rehana membuat keputusan untuk memindahkan tempat majlis ke dalam rumah sahaja. Justeru itu, ‘backup plan’ amat penting dalam setiap benda dan perlu ada untuk program-program sebegini. Disebabkan kesibukan melayan VIP serta kerisauan untuk majlis tersebut membuatkan saya tidak berselera untuk makan.

Mujur segalanya berjalan dengan lancar. Sewaktu ucapan PM Dr. Sarinder, saya berasa sebak kerana program ini akan berakhir dan saya pasti akan merindui semua ini. Tiba sudah upacara kumcak iaitu kejutan hari jadi untuk mereka. Saya dan beberapa orang lain menyediakan kek di dalam rumah sementara Erni cuba untuk mengambil perhatian mereka. Riak wajah terkejut mereka amat tidak boleh dilupakan sewaktu lagu hari jadi dinyanyikan. Mereka berasa amat teruja dan seronok kerana hari jadi mereka diraikan. Suasana menjadi lebih meriah apabila anak-anak NURI yang lain pulang dari pertandingan dikir barat. Namun begitu, melihat muka kecewa mereka kerana tidak sempat pulang untuk majlis penutup membuatkan saya berasa ingin memutarkan kembali masa untuk mereka.

  

 Saya bersama Fahmida, Chiaw Qing, Arinah dan Lee telah bersusah-payah untuk membasuh pinggan mangkuk di dalam hujan yang lebat selapas majlis penutup itu. Habis lencun baju kami, namun kami tidak kisah malah masih mampu untuk ketawa di bawah hujan yang lebat itu. Nasib baik saya mempunyai stok Panadol yang tersimpan di beg dan kami berkongsi ramai-ramai Panadol tersebut.

            Waktu untuk pulang adalah waktu yang paling sukar dilakukan. Sebaik sahaja saya melihat salah seorang dari anak-anak NURI menitiskan air mata, saya pun turut menangis bersama mereka. Saya berasa amat bersalah kerana merasakan menjadi punca mereka menangis sebegitu. Saya sedar bahawa ada yang diantara mereka adalah anak-anak yatim dan ada juga yang ditinggalkan leh ibu bapa sendiri. Jadi, meninggalkan mereka sebegitu adalah seperti mengulang semula sejarah hitam dalam hidup mereka dan membuatkan saya lebih sedih. Namun begitu, hidup perlu diteruskan. Setiap pertemuan pasti ada perpisahan. Saya hanya mampu berdoa agar anak-anak NURI ini akan membesar menjadi orang yang berguna dan akan kuat menghadapi segala cabaran. Amin.

 -Putri Nur Fatin-

A 3 Days of Memory : Day 2

Pada hari kedua pula, alhamdulillah terdapat perubahan yang besar berbanding dengan hari pertama. Nampaknya system bintang mendapat sambutan yang baik dari anak-anak NURI. Mereka lebih berdisiplin, mendengan kata malah menegur ahli yang tidak mendengar arahan kerana bimbang ditarik bintang dari kumpulan mereka.

            Sebelum sampai di rumah NURI, saya telah pun menelefon Kak Ida untuk mengingatkannya tentang makanan. Nasib baik makanan pada hari itu tiba tepat pada masanya. Ada juga beberapa di antara anak-anak NURI yang bersemangat untuk membantu kami menghamparkan tikar setiap kali waktu makan. Jelas kelihatan bahawa mereka kini lebih mahu mendengar kata dan mahu rapat dengan kami semua.            

Namun begitu, langit tak selalunya cerah, setiap program yang dirancang tidak akan berlaku dengan begitu mudah. Sewaktu sesi permainan meneka gambar, salah seorang perserta menangis kerana kalah dalam permainan tersebut. Erni, PIC untuk sesi tersebut agak panik pada waktu itu maka sesi itu terpaksa dihentikan dan perlu diganti dengan permainan yang lain. Lalu saya mencadangkan permainan ‘Charade’ di mana salah seorang ahli perlu berlakon aksi-aksi yang diberi dan ahli-ahli yang lain perlu meneka aksi tersebut. Saya meminta Nazrul untuk mengawal keadaan kacau pada waktu itu sementara saya membuat senarai aksi-aksi yang perlu dilakonkan. Atas kerjasama semua orang, maka semuanya berjalan dengan lancar dan keadaan kembali tenang. Melalui peristiwa itu, saya dapat pelajari bahawa kita perlu pantas berfikir di saat-saat genting dan sentiasa tenang dalam setiap keadaan. Semangat berpasukan itu penting untuk memastikan program ini dapat berjalan dengan lancar.

            Saya merupakan salah satu sesi bantuan untuk kumpulan dua. Sewaktu latihan persembahan, saya dan Azmil mengajar anak-anak NURI dan fasilitator kumpulan dua yang lain untuk bersorak mengikut sorakan kolej kami, iaitu kolej kedua. Sebenarnya sesi ini adalah sesi kegemaran saya kerana saya dapat berinteraksi dengan anak-anak NURI dengan lebih dekat dan mengajar mereka sesuatu yang baru. Sorakan ini sebenarnya akan menaikkan semangat mereka di samping membantu mereka untuk menjadi lebih rapat antara satu sama lain.

-Putri Nur Fatin-

A 3 Days of Memory : Day 1

Hari pertama program sebenarnya agak kelam-kabut dan tidak berjalan dengan lancar. Semua orang berkumpu agak lambat di bangunan Bioinformatik pada pagi itu. Sebelum bertolak ke rumah NURI, saya ditugaskan untuk memeriksa barangan yang akan dibawa ke rumah tersebut. Saya perlu memasktikan bahawa semua barangan yang digunakan untuk gotong-royong mencukupi serta meriksa bilangan setiap barangan tersebut. Apabila tiba di rumah tersebut, keadaan menjadi bertambah kacau apabila mendapati bahawa bilangan kanak-kanak NURI amat sedikit berbanding dengan bilangan yang dijanjikan Mamam Nora. Menurut pembantu rumah tersebut, masih terdapat segelintir kanak-kanak yang ke sekolah kerana terdapat kelas tambahan, lalu mereka akan mnyertai program tersebut selepas pulang.

  

Untuk mengumpulkan mereka bukanlah tugas yang mudah. Sebagai PIC untuk mengumpulkan semua orang dan memastikan mereka dalam kumpulan masing-masing amat menguji kesabaran saya. Hal ini kerana, anak-anak tersebut terlalu aktif dan enggan mendengar kata para fasilitatot, Para fasilitator pula sukar untuk menjaga anak-anak buah mereka sendiri menjadikan maa untuk mengumpulkan semua orang mengambil masa yang lama.Untuk menambahkan masalah yang sedia ada, makanan pada hari itu ampai amat lambat pada setiap waktu. Sebagai salah seorang yang bertugas untuk menjaga makanan, perkara ini tentulah menambahkan lagi stress saya pada hari itu. Walaupun sudah diingatkan berulang kali kepada Kak Ida, namun dia masih menghantar makanan hampir sejam lambat. Oleh itu, saya perlu menelefonnya setiap kali hampir tiba waktu makan untuk memastikan dia datang tepat pada waktunya. Lebih-lebih lagi, terdapat banyak pembaziran yang berlaku terhadap makanan pada hari itu kerana jumlah peserta yang ada kurang dari separuh. Lalu, kami berikan lebihan makanan tersebut di masjid pada waktu Solat Jumaat, dan yang lebih diberikan kepada penduduk KK5 yang lapar.

Hari itu diteruskan dengan gotong-royong di rumah NURI. Saya ditugaskan untuk mengemas di kawasan khemah yang terletak di hadapan rumah tersebut. Aktiviti ini menjadikan saya bukan sahaja lebih rapat dengan mahasiswa Bioinformatik yang lain, malah anak-anak NURI itu sendiri. Mereka amat bersemangat untuk membantu saya membersihkan kawasan tersebut dan asyik meminta kerja untuk dibuat sehingga saya buntu untuk memberi tugas kepada mereka. Malang tidak berbau, saya terjatuh dalam satu lubang yang dipenuhi dengan sisa-sisa sampah dan benda-benda yang tidak dikenali yang berbau seperti muntah. Tiada perkataan yang mampu untuk menggambarkan perasaan saya pada waktu itu. Namun, kekotoran itu  membuatkan saya tidak kisah lagi untuk membersihkan longkang yang kotor itu. Alang-alang sudah kotor, lebih baik saya buat sesuatu yang berguna. Adalah hikmahnya di sebalik kejadian itu rupanya.

Saya berasa amat penat dan geram dengan sesetengah anak-anak NURi yang enggan mendengar kata dan hal ini telah memberi kesan kepada tentatif  program pada hari itu. Banyak program yang terpaksa dibatalkan dan masa setiap program tidak menepati waktu yang telah ditetapkan hingga menyebabkan program itu habis agak lewat berbanding dengan waktu yang dijangkakan.

Sewaktu post mortem hari pertama, banyak benda yang telah diutarakan oleh semua orang. Kami membuat kata sepakat untuk membuat system bintang di mana kumpulan yang mengumpul bintang yang terbanyak akan diberikan hadiah dan ini mungkin cara untuk menarik perhatian kanak-kanak tersebut. Bagi masalah makanan pula, saya mencadangkan untuk memberitahu Kak Ida bahawa jadual makanan akan diawalkan sejam awal dari waktu sepatutnya agar makanan akan tiba tepat pada masanya. 
-Putri Nur Fatin-