Greetings
from PAC Club!
It
has been awhile since we last updated you on our activities. Finally, we are
able to tell you about our Volunteering with IOJ! On 4 selected Friday nights
in the months of March and April, the PAC Committees have chosen to volunteer
this year instead of holding a charity event! We were tiny bit unsure at first
about how this would go but it all turned out well in the end. Unfortunately,
we were not able to get some pictures with the kids as their identities were to
be protected.
Please read on if you're
interested or browse through our other activities. Without further ado, let us
get on with it...
Charity should begin at home, but should not stay
there. PAC Club is having their annual Charity event again for the year 2017.
This year, PAC Club collaborated with Institut Onn Ja’afar (IOJ)
for 4 sessions of voluntary work. IOJ is a non-profit organisation based
in Ara Damansara Petaling Jaya, Malaysia and it strives to provide temporary
relief from under-privilege's sufferings and material aids for their immediate
benefit. IOJ aims to recruit, mobilise and be an avenue for volunteers, as well
as to promote the idea of volunteerism through a network that spans the entire
nation. Their volunteers also find their lives changed and rewarding by simply
serving others selflessly.
PAC Club had officially kick-started their first
session of voluntary work dated 17th March 2017 with 10 kind-hearted volunteers
and were gathered in front of KDU College's entrance around 6.30pm. A sudden
heavy downpour of rain came, similar to water falls in a continuous stream
rather than in drops. However, it did not hinder the determination of the
volunteers to proceed to the location as planned and finally departed from KDU
College to IOJ around 7.30pm.
After a smooth journey, we reached our destination
around 8pm and were brought up to the centre by the institute’s facilitators.
They then briefed us on the things we needed to take note on and that we would
be teaching the children Mathematics for this session. Later, children started
arriving one by one around 8.30pm and we helped them set up their tables in the
small hall before officially starting our tutoring session with 2 children per
volunteer.
After a solid tutoring session, we began a small
game session with the energetic children. We had so much fun and did not
realize how fast time flew. The voluntary work soon came to an end, we helped
the children clean up the hall and distribute food as well as sweets for them.
Our hearts were warmed by the delightful smiles on their faces. Lastly, we
departed IOJ reluctantly and headed back to KDU College around 10.30pm. The
event ended successfully as we made fruitful memories from the unforgettable
experience.
In the second session on the 31st of March,
9 of us were escorted up and given a short briefing before proceeding to set up
tables so that the children have a proper learning space to work in. The
children arrived shortly after we did and so each of us began to teach either 1
or 2 children Math using Bahasa Malaysia as a medium.
Dinner was served half an hour later
and the tutoring session lasted till 10pm. After the session, we gave every
child their long awaited ice-cream as they stared at us waiting for their
reward, which was well-deserved since they studied hard and with passion. We
then cleaned the centre before leaving, making sure it was back to the original
condition it was in when we first came.
In the third session
which was on the 7th of April, Wilson, a staff from our student
Alumni Centre decided to join the 9 of us. The whole journey from KDU to IOJ
took an hour but it was shortened by our friendly chats with each other. This
time, we brought along packs of the sweets to give them as encouragement for
their attention during the tutoring session.
It was obvious that,
the children were well looked after in most parts of their life through the
help of IOJ. It was a pleasure to spend our time with them and help in our own
little ways. We spent just over 2 hours there mainly playing, helping and
teaching the kids. They are a lovely and playful bunch.
 |
| Some of our volunteers reading fairy tales while waiting for the children |
During the last session, dated 14th of
April, all seven volunteers of the night boarded the van to the IOJ Centre around
7 pm. Our journey was uneventful until around 7.40 pm where we were involved in
a minor car accident .Luckily, no one was injured and we continued to our
destination. We were greeted by some of the children when we arrived. We
deposited our bags in a room before interacting with some of the children
already in the IOJ Centre while we waited for the rest of the children to
arrive.
When most of the children were present, we worked
with the children to bring out the tables that we would be using as well as the
teaching materials. The children were very efficient in helping us set up the
tables. After that, each volunteer began their tutoring session in a group of 2
to 3 children.
The tutoring session ended around 10 pm and we
started cleaning up the IOJ Centre. It didn’t take us long to clean up and we
interacted with the children for a little while until they had to leave. We
reluctantly departed the centre but not before taking a few group photographs
to record this wonderful experience.
It was certainly an eye opening experience for all
of us and we look forward to the next charity
event.
That is it for this post, see you next time !
Comments
Post a Comment