Conclusion

          I realized that volunteering with our heart is very important. We should not behave like visitors when we signed up to be a volunteer, thinking that we do not get any pay from them so it is not necessary to follow their instruction. It is not honest and decent. We have to leave our ego at the door to be a good volunteer. We must have a positive attitude and try to enjoy ourselves. I applaud the efforts by our lecturers to help to instill in students the importance of community service.

          

Voluntary Work at Mawar Renal Medical Centre (29th November – 13th December 2012)

For the individual volunteering work, I decided to be a volunteer at Mawar Renal Medical Centre (MRMC). MRMC is a division of Pusat Hemodialisis Mawar. It is a non-profit specialist medical centre that was established in 2008. The aims of this hospital are to provide hope to the less fortunate, relieve the suffering of kidney patients and subsidise those poor and needy patients. I decided to work there as a volunteer because I wish to contribute what I have learned in class to the community. The objective that I attached to this hopistal as a volunteer is to inculcate the value of sharing and caring in myself.  It is always nice to help people who are less fortunate.

Before started working there, I went for interview and signed an agreement that I will be working there as a volunteer for 11 days. They arranged me to work at the Pharmacy Department as it is something related to the course that I am studying and hope that I am able to help them. I started working at the hospital on 29^th of November. My working period is from 9 am to 1pm on weekdays. Madam Mani, the manager of the Pharmacy Department explained to me about the history of the centre and how the pharmacy department operates. She told me to observe and learn how the assistant pharmcaists pack medication on the first day. She gave me a file that talks about the procedures for dispensing medications, checking stock, returning of medications from patients and others. There are two sections in this department. One of the sections is in charge of the out patients who come and buy medicine without staying in the hospital whereas another section is in charge of the in patients who are staying in the hospital. Most of the patients who cannot afford the medication fees are assisted by Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM). I offered to help in both sections. Every morning, I take out twelve boxes of Recormon syringe and twelve boxes of Eprex syringe from the freezer in the store and put it inside the small refrigerator at the dispensary counter. I helped Uncle Chin, who is in charge of dispensing medication to distribute syringe to all the dialysis patients. The dialysis patients come at different time to get their syringe everyday. The injection is administered to renal disease patients on dialysis to treat anaemia. Besides that, there were a lot of patients especially in the morning. Thus, I also helped to pack the medication. The patients come to the pharmacy counter with the prescription from their doctor. After receiving prescription from the patients, the assistant pharmacist will key in the medicine and the dosage into the computer. Then, they will print out the label and another staff will pack the medication according to the labels. So, this is the procedure in packing medication. It is quite easy but I need to be extra careful to avoid any mistake when packing the medicine because some of the drugs have similar name. Moreover, the same drug could have different dosage and concentration. The labels also must be paste on the medicine plastic bags correctly. The medicine are arranged according to different category such as antihistamine, vitamin and mineral, neuromuscular agent, antigout, anticonvulsant, endocrine system, antiemetics and others. They are not arranged according to alphabets because they want to prevent medication error. After packing the medication, I will pass it to any of the assistant pharmacist to check so that the medicines are correct. If there were no mistakes, the medication together with the prescription will be passed to Uncle Chin. Sometimes, I have the chance to prepare syrups, ointment and cream for the patients. I can apply what I have learned in class to prepare those medications. I like to make all these medications but I seldom have the chance because most of the time, the assistant pharmacist will be doing the preparation work, so it depends on my luck. Other than that, I also need to check the expiry date of the medication and record it in a record book. Some of the wards or other Mawar hospital branches and Accident and Emergency (A&E) department will exchange some of the medication that are going to expire soon with our pharmacy department. So, I was helping to pack new medication to exchange with them as well. There will be new stock coming once a week. I helped them to unpack the ice boxes which contain syringes and ice packs. After that, the syringes will be arranged into the freezer in the store whereas the ice packs will be put into freezer of another three refrigerators. Besides syringes, I also helped them to unpack other medications and those medications will be stored on top of the racks. This is because their pharmacy store is very small and Madam Mani told me that they have a plan to build a bigger pharmacy in the hospital. 

                 

I was packing the medication according to the prescription and sticking the labels on the syrup box.

   

The pictures shown are the new arriving medication and

I was helping the clerk to arrange them into the store.

Recormon syringe that I took out from the freezer to give to the patient.

The medication that I helped them to pack into plastic bags.

I arranged the plastic bags on the rack.

Place for the assistant pharmacists to prepare external medication such as cream and ointment.

 

Places for the assistant pharmacists to prepare internal medication like syrup.

I visited some of the patients in different wards during my lunch break.

Sometimes, I helped them to buy some foods and drinks while they are having dialysis treatment.

Throughout this community service, I have gained a lot of experience and learned something outside of my own life. I feel very happy because I can help those less fortunate people. Besides gaining volunteering experience, I also learned some valuable life skills such as cooperate with other people and also communication.       

AMSA IMU-NKF Fundraising Event (26th-27th November)

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) fundraising event was held from 26^th to 29^th November 2012 at IMU.  This event was organized by AMSA IMU. NKF is a charitable organization where dialysis is provided. NKF’s patients are generally from the lower income group and these patients often could not afford dialysis treatments at private medical facilities which usually charge RM150 to RM250 for each dialysis sessions. NKF helps by subsidising the cost of the patients’ dialysis treatments, so that they are only required to pay a RM50 nominal fee per dialysis session. Hence, all proceeds raised by AMSA IMU through this event will be channeled to NKF in providing subsidized dialysis treatment for the poor and needy. The objectives of this community service are to contribute to the community, help them to live the fulfilling lives that they deserve and learn some skills in organizing an event.

I registered as a volunteer and the organiser assigned me to help them on 26^th and 27^th of November. There were two booth selling badges, lanyards, foods and drinks, coin boxes and refrigerator magnets. I helped them to set up the booth by arranging all the items on the tables, collect money, record the amount of items sold and count the lanyards. Besides that, I also help to distribute pamphlets to all the students and lecturers that passed by our booth. Other than that, they also provided a donation box for people who want to donate money. Me and some of my coursemates were going around the atrium and motivating people to donate money to NKF. 

I’m tremendously blessed when I knew that through this event, I rendered to someone less fortunate and I helped to brighten their day. I am glad that I was given a chance to contribute to the community. These experiences help me to develop my ability to cope with difficult and frustrating situations and learn how to manage time and people to the best of my ability.

Photo taken at the booth at atrium. 

 

Joe Jen and I were distributing the pamphlets to students and lecturers.

Voluntary Work At National Zoo

Voluntary Work at Zoo Negara ( 17/8, 7/11, 9/11, 20/11, 23/11/2012)

At the end of semester 2, Mr. Lim Chee Siong told us that we have an elective project in semester 3.  We were assigned to complete the community service for 20 days.  After discussing with my coursemates, we decided to complete part of the project in group and part of the project individually. They are five people in my group including Jiou Su-Xian, Low Yin Yee, Lam Jun Rong, Wan Hoon Mun and me. We decided to be volunteers in Zoo Negara after some discussion. We contacted the education officer in the Zoo Negara and registered as a volunteer. The objective of choosing Zoo Negara is because we want to expose ourselves to the community-based activities. We hope to get more volunteering experience as this is the first time we are involved in community service. Another important reason is because we realized the importance of conserving wildlife.

Zoo Negara is managed by a non-governmental organization namely Malaysian Zoological Society. It complies with the latest guidelines set by the World Association of Zoos and Aquarium (Waza) and South-East Asian Zoo Association (Seaza) and has increased its conservation awareness efforts. They are a total of over 5446 specimen from 476 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. The five pillars that Zoo Negara stands on are education to create awareness on wildlife conservation, wildlife conservation by breeding those rare species and releasing them back into the wild, provide a haven knowledge and experience for researchers, recreation and provide training in wildlife management for other zoos in Malaysia. We spent a lot of time working there and we had fun although it was not an easy task. On the first day of our volunteer service at Zoo Negara, we arrived there at 8am. We were separated by the zoo officer into two groups. Yin Yee and I worked in pair and we started our day in the Bear complex. There are several types of bear, including the Asiatic black bear, brown bear, sloth bear, and Malayan sun bear. Besides bears, there are different types of animals in this section such as tapir, kangaroo, deer and goat. We helped an Indian man who is the supervisor of this section to clean the surrounding area. First, he brought us to a cage that has many black goats in it. He gave us different task. Yin Yee was instructed by him to throw the tree trunks outside of the cage to a specific place near the cage. The specific place is a small empty land that is used to collect rubbish and animal waste from all departments in the zoo. There are rubbish collectors that come and collect the rubbish daily and some of the plastic bags that contain animal stools will be sent to the researchers.  On the other hand, I was following him into the cage to wash the area and clean the animal waste. He asked me to count the goats and make sure the number of goats is correct in case one of the goats ran out of the cage. I filled up the water tank with water and fed the black goats with grasses. Next, we proceeded to another large cage with many deer in it. There were a lot of dried leaves and tree trunks in the cage so both of us spent about two hours to sweep all the leaves.  We bagged up all the dried leaves and rubbish and sent the rubbish bags with a trolley to the specific place that was mentioned earlier. Then, we brought grasses into the cage again to feed the deer. After that, we had a break for lunch. When we returned after lunch, the supervisor brought us to a different cage that has kangaroos in it. We were asked to wash all the containers that contain food waste. The supervisor brought in a bucket that contains grasses and vegetables and asked us to pour them into all the containers to feed the kangaroos. We finished all the work and went home at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. 

  After our end of semester exam in November, we went back to Zoo Negara again for voluntary work. Members from another group including Tan Joe Jen, Tan Yee Yein and Eugene Ngim Kai Lun joined us as well. Early in the morning, we arrived at Zoo Negara and waited for the staff to separate us into different groups. Eugene, Su-Xian and I were working as a group and we worked at Children’s World department on that day. We got to work with horses, rabbits, fawns, porcupines and goats which are really very cute and friendly. Three of us were given a task to sweep and clean the area. We felt satisfied after sweeping the whole area as the place was much cleaner than before. After that, we took out a few buckets that contains vegetables and fruits from a store room and brought the food into different cage to feed the animals. Next, we proceeded to another place where there are many rabbits and porcupines. We helped to clean the bunnies’ feces, wash the container, refill their water container and feed them with carrots. After we had finished the task given, we went for lunch break. When we returned, one of the zoo keepers brought us to a place that has many bunny cages. He explained to us on how to clean the cages. Then, we started our work by raking up the animal waste and the unwanted grass mats. After we finished cleaning the cages, we put in new grass mats into all the cages. Bunnies like to rest on grass mats and these are their habitats. We finished up the task given and went home at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. On the third day, I was working in the same department with the same partners again. So, the work that we had done in the morning is basically the same like the previous day. We were sweeping the squirrel cages as well. Besides that, we were told by a zoo keeper that they need our help in repairing the old tyres to hang in the monkey cage.  Hence, we helped them to remove the screws on the old tyres and the rubber strap because the old rubber strap was broken and cannot be used anymore. Then, we used the old tyres and screwed them along a new rubber strap which is very long and thick. After we had finished screwing all the tyres, two staff climbed on to the roof of the monkey cage to hang the new strap of tyres. Three of us helped to push up all the tyres together with the rubber strip by using a long stick so that they were able to get the rubber strap and tied it on both side of the roof. The tyres are made for the monkeys to play with because they like to climb and there were no trees inside the cage so what they can do is to provide some tyres and make the cage like a playground.  

On the fourth day at Zoo Negara, I was working with Eugene and Su-Xian again. We were arranged by the staff to work in Mammal Kingdom department. The Mammal Kingdom is full of nocturnal animals. It is a home to leopard cats, slow loris, Malay civet, pumas, leopards, raccoons, striped hyenas and Binturong. There are capybara and Malayan porcupine as well. This is the department that I like the most because we were feeding the animals most of the time. We followed a Malay man who is a zoo keeper that is in charge of the department to his office. We changed our boots and started our day by sweeping the surrounding area. Next, the Malay zoo keeper separated us as there are two sections in that department. Eugene and Su-Xian went to another section to help another zoo keeper to clean the cages while I was following the Malay zoo keeper to wash the cages around this section. I helped him to wash all the raccoon cages. Besides that, I also cleaned their food container and swept the animal waste inside the cage under his supervision. We cannot wash the cages alone because raccoons are quite aggressive and they might attack us. Next, the three of us proceeded to another pademelon’s cage to sweep the dried leaves and rake up the animal waste. After finishing our task, we had our lunch break. We were given two buckets of foods. One of the buckets contains small fishes whereas another bucket contains many packets of bread. First, a zoo keeper brought us to feed the otters. We brought the bucket with small fishes in it and threw them one by one into the big aquarium with many otters in it. The otters are very smart and they can catch the fishes that we threw towards them. We enjoyed throwing fishes to them and observing the way they eat. Next, we brought the bucket that filled with bread to the raccoons’ cage. We were standing outside the cage to feed the raccoons.  It was such a nice and memorable experience for us.

On the fifth day which is the last day for me to be a volunteer at Zoo Negara, there were only five of us including Joe Jen, Yin Yee, Su-Xian, Eugene and I who went to the zoo. This time, we got to work together as a group. Early in the morning, the staff separated all the volunteers into different department. There were volunteers from other secondary school that came on that day. The staff arranged us to work at Bear Complex. This was the second time I was working in this section. In the morning, we started our day by raking up the animal waste in the tapir’s cage and washing the cage. Then, Su-Xian and I threw the rubbish bags to the empty land while the other three people were sweeping inside the cage. After that, Su-Xian and I were following the supervisor to the bears’ cages. We were instructed by the supervisor to wash the food containers. After that, we had lunch break. We did not help much on that day because it was raining cats and dogs after our lunch break. However, the zoo keeper asked us to sweep inside the deer’s cage before we go back. Although it was still raining, we still obeyed what the zoo keeper told us to do because we knew that he needed our help. We followed him into the cage and sweep as quickly as we can for about half an hour. We went home at 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

Here are some of the photos taken during the community service in National Zoo.

 Day 1 (17^th of August 2012)

Photos taken at the entrance of National Zoo before we went home.

 

  I was pushing the wheelbarrow to another cage. 

Yin Yee and I were sweeping inside the deer's cage.


My group members : (from left) Jun Rong, Su-Xian, Yin Yee and Hoon Mun.

Day 2 & 3 (7^th and 9^th of November 2012)

Photos taken at the Children's World after we had our lunch break.

Photos taken inside the monkey's cage when we were
helping the zoo keeper to hang the rubber strap.

I was sweeping around the monkey’s cage.

Su-Xian and I were screwing the tyres  on the rubber strap.

We were cleaning the squirrel's cage. 

Day 4 ( 20^th November 2012)

Su-Xian and I were sweeping inside the pademelon's cage.

Photos taken while I was sweeping the dried leaves.

Pademelon

We brought the vegetables to feed the porcupines.

Racoon

I was feeding the racoon with bread.

Su-Xian, Eugene and I were feeding the otters with small fishes.

Our zoo keeper of the day who is quite friendly. 

       

Day 5 (23^rd November 2012)

Photos taken inside the deer's cage before we started cleaning.

We were feeding the deer with grasses.

I got a certificate that proved that I worked as a volunteer in National Zoo for 40 hours.

               That was my experience of being a volunteer in Zoo Negara. It is a memorable experience that I will never forget. I believe that we have made a difference in the lives of the Zoo animals. It is a good opportunity to get hands-on about helping wildlife. I get to appreciate the challenges of operating and managing a wildlife facility. I was also exposed to a wide range of experiences, people and situations that I would not usually encounter in my student life. It is a process of giving of ourselves for the benefit of others.