A Fun Day To Do Volunteering Work

Date : 8th May, 2011
Time : 8am - 7pm
Venue : Orang Asli settlement, Hulu Melaka, Serendah, Rawang
Event : WOW Day - Family day with the Orang Asli and their families

It was a cool morning when I woke up at 6am. Only to realise that I have overslept. The best part was, I've already set the handphone alarm to go off at 4am and 5am the night before. (OO) I had to rush to steam my breakfast from Friday's leftover supper (The Big Pau from Mee Boon Dim Sum, Jalan Ipoh) bathing, brushing teeth, changing into my sportswear and packing. All within half an hour before I had to leave to the Segambut KTM  station.

As I got out of my neighbourhood, a bus came along just in time. It was only a few minutes to reach the KTM station. But, knowing the "timeliness" of our local railway system. It's guaranteed that I'll be late. So I notified the friend who invited me for the event Aaric and Gun who is also volunteering for that day. A few minutes later, Aaric sent me the contact of the person in charge of transport and I've already settled my transport issues.

To cut the story short, I'll skip my breakfast part and directly to the part where I've arrived in the Orang Asli settlement. The previous night, I've received a message from the organising team saying that once we entered the area, there will be no handphone reception at all. My phone only showed "Emergency Calls Only" when we've entered the area. There were canopies, chairs, sound systems and prizes neatly arranged at the field whereas nearby, there is an inflatable slide for the children to play in. Poles and tapes marked the border of the field decorated with balloons. As the morning continues, all volunteers are separated into their respective teams with their tasks for the day. I'm assigned to the F & B team to handle the lunch and drinks for the volunteers and residents

As it was early and there were too many of us, I decided to help out in the babysitting section at the inflatable slides. As I reached there, the kids were entering and playing. Taking turns to let others in although some were quite reluctant to exit. There were activities lined up for them, some of the activities include gunny-sack race and drawing competition for the kids, balloon stepping and musical chairs for the adults (which can turn out to be quite rough as usual for musical chairs).

For lunch, we have catering food, ice-cream and pastries. It was hectic as people lined up to take food for their families. It was a huge crowd but it is evident that the residents and their children enjoyed the meal. As we took the time off during lunch, the residents entertained themselves with their singing. The volunteers even did a dance to "Baby" by Justin Bieber as one of the volunteer's son sang the song.

After everyone has enjoyed their lunch, we had the prize giving ceremony. During that time, I'm back into babysitting duty at the inflatable. The children were very determined and quite selfish on playing at the inflatable. To solve this, I actually went inside to the inflatable and attempt at crowd control. I ended up being the "Hantu Cina" that eats up little kids if they don't listen and exit the inflatable for the other kids' turn. There were some I had to wrestle, carry, even pretend to bite their necks just for fun. I feel so evil doing that.

It was a lot of fun playing with the kids. Even if it's really tiring to take care of them. The Guest of Honor arrived in the afternoon for the formal side of the event. There was even a local television crew to cover the event. Once the event was over, we packed up a bit before we call it a day.

For some of us, we had a little trip further up to the waterfall to have a cool dip after a long day under the hot sun. At first I was reluctant to go into the water as I didn't bring any spare clothes to change. But, Aaric insisted and he said he doesn't mind if the seat gets wet. Then again, I still felt a bit hesitant at that time. But I finally gave in upon Aaric's insistence. I have never regretted my decision as the water was cool and refreshing. We had a bit of fun splashing around and laughing. In the process, I got to know two new friends who are Alex Teo and Wilson Lim.

To be able to help out other people and do service to the community, it makes me feel satisfied. This is most probably the main reason why I never get tired after joining Rotaract for 7 years already. Which is a decision I have never regretted since the day I joined such a wonderful organisation and got to know all the amazing people.

(^^)