UM Bioinformatics Social Engagement 17/18: DuRiNg tH3 EveNt

Finally it was the day awaited and prepared for so long since last semester.😁😁😁 When I was getting ready for the program, I heard somebody knocked my room door…. When I opened the door, it was ahmad.. since he was the PIC for the first day, he ensured that all the boys in block E woke up and getting ready for the program. I really appreciated him. On the very first day morning, everyone looked fresh and very excited. Putri checked the things based on the checklist. we moved abit late from UM where we actually moved at 7am but instead of some problem we moved at 7.15am. luckily there’s no traffic jam and we could reach there earlier.

When we reached there, we able to see the happiness on the kids’ faces even on facis’ faces. The kids were waited for us. But the number of kids made us quite nervous. We were informed that there will be 67 kids but only 25 kids were at there. It made us quite disappointment especially me, as a protocol bureau member. The foods we ordered for 100 persons also left and we encouraged everyone to eat more. Even that sad moment also we started our first slot. I had separated the kids and the facilitators into 3 different groups and assigned them at 3 different places for this slot. one group inside the house (focused on kitchen), the second group at outside the house and the third group was at the tent. every group done their duty on given places very well and clean. even though it was tiring us, I felt happy because the kids able to live in a clean environment. We expected that the “gotong-royong” slot will take more time but it was not. Another thing that I noticed was the kids at there were not help us for this slot. Only the facilitators worked.

We finished the “gotong-royong” slot before the Friday prayer. As we looked the tentative the “gotong-royong” slot is until 4pm. After Friday prayer around 2.30pm, I had no idea to what to do. Luckily there were some facilitators gave ideas to fill the time by playing island games, and shooting games. But it seemed that a very few committed to us and others just sat around and chit chat among them. Dr Arpah who noted everything gave a suggestion that regroup everyone into 3 groups. Once we did so, we practiced some cheers for closing ceremony with our respective groups. It was now fine but not as fine as good. Based on my own opinion only we facilitators committed to each other and enjoyed the day, not the kids. It was also Dr Arpah’s thought. Dr Arpah came out with another idea where she asked us to give stars to the committed group, and announced the winner will be determined based on the number of stars from the second day and onwards. We discussed a lot of things on our first day post mortem. Everyone looked so dull and not happy with the first day. It was my mistake not prepared with a back up plan. Even though I revised the tentative for some times, but I didn’t realized to come out with backup plan. Not only that, I was worried about the food wastage.

The second day morning we left from KK5. Our face was not as happy as the first day morning. The first day made us to worry about the second day. We brought 2 hampers to the home to make the kids committed to us and perform well. Rehana prepared the stars. Then we prepared the marking board while the exercise slot held on. When the kids saw the hampers and the marks, their commitment increased gradually. I think we had no issue on the second day other than the food wastage. Not only the facis, the kids also were happily took part in all activities. When we asked the kids’ reflection for the second day, most of them gave a positive reviews and they said they like the exercise slots and mandarin language slot. Well done shazrul and and the whole mandarin language team… we saw the kids’ “dikir barat” performance.. the kids performed well. We also had a slot called “motivasi berkelompok” where all the facilitators need to sit together with the kids on their respective groups and give motivation , tips and advices to the kids. During this slot not only the kids received motivation and knowledges, while we facis also receive a lot of informations. We shared our journey from school till university Malaya. I hope that we will see the kids at Rumah Nuri will enrol into UM in future. I learnt how other facis prepared for their exams and gain some motivations from there. It is a MUST slot. The second day post mortem went well as the day also went very well than the first day. We had a rehearsal section with all our facis for the closing ceremony on the second day night. I would like to thank all my SE mates to cooperate with me and follow my instructions. Even though they were tired, they still gave their best during the rehearsal time.

The third day and the last day. On that fine morning, we all waited for the vans to arrive. All of us were wearing our social engagement’s official t-shirt. The happiness to see the kids were in high level but the thought ‘it was the last day’ made us abit sad. While the respective slots’ PIC and some facilitators busy with the slots with the kids, we other facis were preparing for the closing ceremony. we taught some origami designs for the kids and made it as a cAt the same time, 5 facilitators and Dr Arpah went to supermarket to buy some groceries for the home. Rain totally made me to fed up. We all worked hard for the closing ceremony since morning but the rain spoiled everything. So we had no choice rather than having the closing ceremony in the house. The closing ceremony went well and all enjoyed it. We also had a small cake cutting ceremony for the February, march and april born facilitators and kids. My heart was broken during we left the home. The kids were cried. But what to do? We have to face everything right ? I miss the kids thooooooo!!!😢😢 I was totally enjoyed the 3 days with the kids and my SE mates. I hope to meet the kids again in future….

~Ruben Rajandaran~