Reflective Writing by
SHEKINAH RAMANAH
(S2006384)

Chapter 1: GET TO KNOW!

“Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock, in a few minutes, my first meeting with my teammates will start. It will be my first time interacting with them. After so long, the much awaited moment is finally here. I got the chance to work with them together on a project this semester. Yayyyy I think it will be very fun and exciting!”

Yes, this is me being very excited for my first meeting with my teammates that day! After our briefing session with Dr Fazaul, I became very passionate about this course where we get the opportunity to be involved in an activity that contributes back to society. For me, as an international student, it’s more thrilling and exciting since it will be my first time to get involved in the community, get to know the culture and be close to the locals. Well, after much discussion with my teammates, we agreed to conduct our project at the orphanage by spending a day with the kids. I was particularly ecstatic for us choosing the orphanage as our activity due to past experiences of my family being actively involved in charity works back in my country. Now, I was glad to grasp the opportunity to continue the footsteps of my parents by showering love and care to those beautiful souls here in Malaysia as well. What a dream come true! Once we set our goal and objectives, things got momentum. Weekly meetings, daily updates, planning on activities and tentative programs were all discussed and planned accordingly. As such, as weeks went by, our meetings became more frequent whereby some became physical ones too. It’s worth mentioning that I particularly enjoyed those meetings. It’s been a while since I have worked with a group who is that ambitious and hard working. Everyone was actively involved in ideas and opinions which we could express openly. Kudos to our leader Song lam, who has proven great leadership skills in bringing this group together to make this event doable. With all those happenings, I got to know my teammates better and grew closer to them.

Chapter 2: CLOSENESS

Weekly meetings were always on and we somehow grew closer to each other. Our meetings and even our group chat were filled with laughter and jokes that brought out good energy. In this pleasant atmosphere, it was very easy for us to work together as a group and accomplish our goals. Despite each of us being assigned specific tasks, we were willing to help each other out whenever needed. Since after all we are all coursemates, we kind of know each other's struggles, especially in this semester submitting weekly lab reports was very tedious and stressful, so we were willing to help each other out. This small gesture makes us grow closer to each other and work together as a team to make this event possible even in our daily hectic uni life. Soon the event day was approaching and I, under the logistics department, was assigned to buy food items and necessary things to carry out our activities on that day. However, I was surprised to see how my teammates were willing to help me out in this task. Two days before the Big Day, they fetched me home and went together to NSK to buy the groceries. Well, I must say I particularly enjoyed this small trip. Even if it was just going to a retail store, for me it was very meaningful. I got to go out to experience the local’s lifestyle and it was so fascinating to get to see a large variety of  fresh seafood. At some point, it was kind of weird and funny since I started video recording the whole place. Hahahaha, suddenly I became a tourist in a retail store. It was my first time in such a big retail store where diversity in food was quite broad. I was thrilled. This little trip became more meaningful by spending quality time with my teammates. We chit-chat, talked about everything and anything and even had fun playing around with the big cooking utensils that we found at NSK. It was so fun! In those little moments, I somehow grew closer to them where now I’m comfortable enough to tease them. I was grateful enough that in the matter of executing this project, I got the chance to get to know and grew closer to my teammates. It makes me more receptive to how Malaysians are so down to earth, friendly and open minded that makes me click with them right away. For me, this whole experience was very new and refreshing where I got to know and learn a lot from the other side of the world. Surely, I will always cherish this little trip and will always be grateful to my teammates to make it very raw and real.

Chapter 3: THE BIG DAY!

“Brrring, Brrring; 7:30 am! Oh nooo, I’m late! I haven’t boiled the eggs yet. Oh my god, is Song Lam already here to fetch me? Oh nooo, why did I sleep so late last night?” 

Well, this was me, just woken up! Finally, the much awaited day came. Fortunately, after calling Song Lam (luckily still at his hostel), I got at least an hour to get prepared :) Yes, maybe on that day, it all began as me being stressed out but I was excited at the same time. Finally, it was the event day and I was so eager to meet the kids. Reaching over there, when I first entered the orphanage, I could feel the sense of curiosity in the orphans’ faces. They might have wondered who we are and what we were doing in their territory hahaha but no, they were actually curious about us barging into their home with our big bags. Not yet started with our activities and I already got a girl talking to me. I was so surprised how she was very welcoming and friendly. True enough, I found that over there we address each other as brothers and sisters. That was so sweet! Soon after, I got to talk to them and engaged with them in the activities. Well, you might wonder in which language I spoke to them. Unfortunately, the orphans don’t speak in English and mostly speak in Bahasa Melayu and Mandarin. Yes, it might be very awkward and difficult for me to initiate a conversation at first due to language barrier but somehow I enjoyed it. I was able to make use of my Basic Melayu that I learned in my Year 1 and some random Mandarin words that I casually knew. Well, at times, it was very funny since I had no idea what they were saying so I just kept nodding my head. Even if I talked to them with my broken Melayu and Mandarin, they were so blurred not really sure what to say to me. That was very funny and awkward even for my teammates seeing me struggling to talk to them. However, I was so lucky to have such nice teammates who taught me some Mandarin and Bahasa Melayu words. That’s how I was able to interact with the kids instead of me just nodding my head hahaha. Soon after, most of my time was spent in the kitchen helping my teammates to prepare egg sandwiches and tangyuan. It’s worth mentioning that our group was well organized and coordinated to carry out the activities as planned. Each of us was responsible to perform specific tasks particularly in the food preparation and we took shifts such that each of us could spend quality time with the kids as well. Through our great teamwork and spirits, everything went smoothly as planned. We could bring joy, laughter and smiles to the kids. We somehow felt connected and grew closer to each other. A quick flashback, when things started escalating is when the girls started to have some crushes on Jason Koko. Hahaha I think that was the main highlight of our event! Even now, we keep on talking and teasing Jason about that. But I think it was all fun and I believe my teammates had a blast as well. Closing this chapter, I feel a great sense of satisfaction for what our group has accomplished so far. Bringing joy and happiness to the kids, even to the point they don’t want us to go back home, is very sweet, warming and  innocent from them. It was my first time to partake in such a meaningful activity and I will forever cherish this sweet experience during my days here in Malaysia.

Chapter 4: THANKFUL

I would like to dedicate this small chapter to my group “Nos Amis” and our lovely lecturer Dr Suhana.

Dear Nos Amis, thank you for giving me one of my best times here in Malaysia. It was very fun and exciting to work with you all. I will surely miss our weekly meetings and our casual chit-chats and jokes. Hope we all keep in touch with each other from time to time to keep this friendship alive and always lively. Thank you for bearing with my quirky side, my weird ideas, my seriousness which is sometimes taken off guard (sorry about that hahaha) but yea you guys are amazing, very ambitious and hardworking! It’s very sad that things are coming to an end, I will surely miss you guys but it’s okay we have two more years to go and we still have the chance to get to know each other even more!

To Song Lam, thank you for being our leader, I must say a hard working and pretty chill leader. Thank you for always listening to our ideas and opinions. Thank you for being such an amazing leader caring for his teammates and willingly to do much of the workload to realize this project. A special thank you to make me explore Malaysia hahaha I mean NSK retail store and HK noodles resto which I loved so much. Hahaha it was my first time so thank you for that! And yea last but not least, thank you for teaching me some few Mandarin words or else it would have been very difficult for me to engage with the kids. You are the best!

To Jason, thank you for being a great teammate. With your ideas and opinions, we were able to make this event a success. Always keep the leadership and energetic side of yours always high. Hahaha I will always root for you, so fly high in the sky. Through this event I got to know you more, especially your cooking skills. Hopefully, one day you cook a dish for me hahaha. Thank you for making this event special especially on your side hahaha, I will forever cherish this experience. 

To Jian Hong, thank you for being an amazing teammate. Through this event, I got to know you more. Hahaha I must say you are a pretty funny and chill guy. Thank you for being part of this shared experience which I will treasure as one of my sweetest memories in Malaysia. Up to next, wish you good luck hereafter, and mostly later will catch you up for my usual enquiries for lab reports. Thanks Jian Hong for being a great friend who is very friendly and chill.

To Syadzlin, thank you for being the sweetest and lovely friend of mine. Thank you for being by my side right at the beginning. I will forever be grateful for things you have done for me. Working with you on this project was fun and exciting. Keep your lovely and sweet side of yours always alive! I will always root for you. Do know that this little friend here is always willing to help you whenever needed. Thank you Syadzlin for being part of this special journey that I will forever cherish.

To Dr Suhana, thank you for being the best and lovely lecturer that we ever had so far. Thank you for your support without you, this event would not be possible. I believe that Dr Suhana’s contribution put a smile on the kids' faces as well as the staffs. Thank you for always being on our side motivating us to fly high, be it in this course or even in other courses. I believe that Dr’s presence on that day at the orphanage was highly remarkable. Thank you for spending some time with us, even though in the morning it was very tiring for Dr Suhana. We would like to thank you on behalf of Nos Amis from the bottom of our hearts for what Dr did for us. Thank you so much Dr! 💖

Chapter 5: IT’S NOT THE END!

Well, thinking about it, I would love to do it again! It was so fun to engage with the kids and get to know them. Throughout this journey, I got to learn a lot of things and lessons that I can  take from. Firstly, I learnt the importance of love and caring for others. In this project, we had to be compassionate at first in order to understand and be in the skin of those kids. To be able to share a memorable and fun day with them, we learnt how to be caring and affectionate to each other. We learnt how to put other people's preferences first. It is all in the beauty of human nature to connect with each other through emotions. Even though at times I did not know what the kids were saying, we still kept on communicating through laughs and hand gestures. It's so amazing to see how we can understand each other even without knowing each other's language. Moreover, in the matter of executing this project, I learnt the importance of teamwork. I learnt how to listen to my teammates point of views and consider their critical opinions. Through active participation and involvement in the group, I believe this project was successful. I’m grateful enough that joining this course makes me aware of lots of things and makes me receptive to myself and others. I’m thrilled to pay my next visit to the orphanage. Perhaps next time, it will be more fun if we could have some outdoor activities. It might be quite difficult but for the sake of the kids, why not give it a try! Moreover, I found it very sad to not be able to involve the small kids. They seem very friendly and cute. Perhaps, this time our activities were more suitable to a certain age group but I think in the future we need to plan on activities that can include everyone for no one to be left out. Nevertheless, I believe our visit to the orphanage was a memorable one and until next time, keep the PKKII kids in your hearts, your love and affection matters the most!