Lam Zhi Xin (MIC190016)

GIG1005 SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

Reflective Writing

Name: Lam Zhi Xin (MIC190016) Date: 15/03/2020

If someone asked me about the social work several years ago, you will hear negative response. Who has ever bother about the work without receiving any payment. Before I began my social work, the thought of involving in social work was a bore to me. Now, I can say it was a very enjoyable experience and I gained a lot of benefits from the activities. We shared laughs and stories while we worked together as a team. It was satisfying while cooperated with our group members to achieve the goal. I took pleasure in how much I learned. 

My group members and I performed our community service in SMK Lembah Subang. Before we conducted the activities, we had attended the internal workshop and were given knowledge as well as information from our instructor, Dr Puah about DNA and DNA fingerprinting. At first, I was unaware and surprised that the simple stuffs around us can actually extract DNA from our cheek cell and fruits. The learning process was exciting. From this internal workshop, the relationship and bonding between our group members were strengthen and we knew more about each other. 

On the day of our activity, I could see that some were very worried and some were very excited. After reached the school, we were given some time to visit the school. My first impression toward SMK Lembah Subang is the environment is clean and there are recycle bins everywhere. We started off our activity at around 9.30 a.m. with introduction from each of our group members. I was in charge of assisting my teammates if they need any help and as a facilitator during Hands-on session. During the presentation about DNA given by my teammates, the students were confused because they learn science in Bahasa Malaysia. Fortunately, our group leader, Adlina reacted instantly and asked us to give simple explanation to those students. The hands-on session and Quiz session were greeted with great enthusiasm from the students. It was a big challenge to us as the students were too active until we were unable to control the situation well during our start. However, the students remained sensible and obedient when we talked to them nicely and patiently. Our sharing session ended with the award of appreciation token to the teacher in charge. 

On 13 March 2020, we conducted our second sharing session, DNA fingerprinting in the same school. For this time, the students were familiar with us and the session was carried out more successfully than last time. During Quiz session, to add some challenges to the students, we set a rule (every student in a group need to hold each other’s hands to answer the question). The students were still very excited to answer the quiz. With cooperation from each member, we solved the problems steadily. At the end of the social work, I think being a facilitator has boosted my confidence and my soft skills. I also gained a lot of joy from teaching and seeing others gaining knowledge from us. I am also happy to know more about our teammates and grateful to be a part of them. On that time, since the emergence of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 infection in Malaysia, our activity was almost been cancelled. Fortunately, we were able to complete our social work with cooperation from everyone that involved. Sincerely, I hope every individual stay healthy and safe from COVID-2019.

Throughout the activity, the experience of being a facilitator made me to face up my shortcomings such as poor communication skills. But with the assist from our teammates, everything went on easily. This experience also discovered a different side of myself: determined and cooperative. I guess what made the activity success was the commitment that were given by everyone. As a head of our group, Adlina also showed her leadership. Every group member was assigned with their own job and completed it perfectly. We also further inculcated students with love of knowledge. Thanks to Social Engagement course by providing me a platform to do our part of the society. 

(676 words)