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Generally speaking, I gain a lot of opportunities from this project course. The first is knowledge. From my observation, I love the way some of the teammates did well in the moderating activities. Because deep inside, they inspired me to have that kind of skill. Not to forget, the benefit of this doing this project cannot be learned in the book unless put into action. The participants make me realize that we should appreciate what we have currently although they are orphanages.

Second, expensive experience. Alhamdulillah, I got to do one of my wishlists to take part in any community activities. Since this is the first community engagement that I participated in, I learn to see and feel their emotion during the project. That feeling of humanity is developed from this project. In addition, since this project is under our own section, I get to experience managing the program and preparation for it. It is quite challenging at first, but a continued progression will make us use to do.

However, due to time constraints and abundant submission at the same time, we are not fully prepared ourself to handle the project. I believed we can do more excellent than previously. And there are many things that we need to improvise from time to time to be more confident in front of them. Last but not least, I can say that we succeed to arrive at the end meaning of this course. To recommend, the benefit of this project should be continued to the following year's students and forehead. And not to forget, big applause to everyone that help me to make me feel comfortable in this group project.

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Dear Students,

Please write your reflection about  what you experienced and learned in the CCUB 2163, Section 68.

Please also include any limitation and your recommendation about the course and project.

Your post will only appear after I read and aprove them.

The deadline is by 27/06/2022.

(No limit in the length and style of your reflections. It can be writing with or without images or vlog).

Thank you so much.

Best regards,
Dr. Ricca

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Being engaged within the community is essential to the growth and development of an individual. It is greatly important because there are people within our community who need the help of others. Being engaged within the community ensures that everyone is working as a team to solve problems. Without participating in the betterment of my community I cannot expect the change I would like to see within my community. I can also use what I have learned to become a more knowledgeable, well rounded individual. This course has taught me that knowledge and reading skill is truly power. For example, when you are knowledgeable of the attributes of cultural competence you are more likely to understand their background. Community engagement is extremely important within any community. Through CCUB 2163 I have learned that community participation is far beyond just volunteering at an orphanage once a semester. Everyone contributes their knowledge and social skills in their own way. Positive change can only be attained through a collaborative effort and it takes a team to turn awareness into action. Personally, I have learned that I still have a lot of slef growing and developing to do. Taking one course is not going to teach me everything I need to know about community engagement and how to be an effective leader, well at least to myself. Hence, I'm looking forward to take the next course, which is UIA 2 :)

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Tales to Tell | Hanan Sofiyyah (2018862)

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Tales to Tell | Hanan Sofiyyah (2018862)

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Name: Hanan Sofiyyah binti Khairul Anuwar

Matric No.: 2018862

Team: CCUB 2163 Section 68, Crees-P “Tales to Tell” Rumah Anak Yatim Darul Ilmi

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalamualaikum Dr and my fellow classmates.

First of all, I would like to thank Dr Ricca and this team for making this a success. I learned many new things and at the same time also enjoy doing this beneficial activities that is not only benefiting myself but also others around me. I had so much fun preparing and planning for our visit, and also had fun during the visit.

We, as a team, of course with advices from Dr Ricca, managed to plan everything by ourselves. I am so happy that my teammates are all cooperative and responsive. We were so good in dividing the tasks and everyone did their parts very well. We did everything as a team, helping each other and listen to each others opinion regarding the tasks, from buying what was needed, preparing the proposal, searching for the place to visit, considering the transportations, and many more.

On the day of presenting to sejahtera council, Usrah In Action Symposium, we also did divide the tasks properly. I was one of the members who presented in front of the councils. I was really happy that they love our project and they said that they can see our spirit which what they hope to be seen in every projects. They hope that we can continue this project, helping the kids to learn and read as this is a very serious matter.

I really love this project. I will never regret choosing this project for my usrah in action course. I did not see any limitation. Or perhaps, the time limit. I believe we can plan more big impact activities if we have more time. We can discuss and agree on more fun things to do. But yet, even with this time limitation, our team, did a very good job and all went very well, thanks to the team of course.

All in all, I, Hanan Sofiyyah, love this team so much! Everyone was really cooperative and fun to work with. Shout out to group 2, Hanan, Zahirah, Hafizah, Natasya, Amira, Hadzran, Adib, Shafaque, Sofena, Nabihah and Najwa. And also to all group 1 members. We all did our best and we learned many new things together! Thank you once more to our awesome Dr Ricca. Congratulations to all of us for winning the silver medal project. Can’t wait to see all of you next semester for more great plans to give benefits to all, rahmatan lil ‘alamin inshaAllah.

https://youtu.be/WPSZLQjNNVg

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Arifah the Human Joins Usrah in Action 1 - a story by Arifah the Human. 

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Arifah the Human Joins Usrah in Action 1 - a story by Arifah the Human. 

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When I first came to UIA and saw the subject Usrah 1, I told myself

"this is nice, I bet it's a bunch of people sitting in a circle like a cult (just kidding, not a cult) and talk about cool Islamic stuff".

But then when I actually took the subject, it was more of preparing a pamphlet of how to do a certain thing, that's it. I was quite disappointed.

Then, I registered for Usrah in Action 1, Creative Reading and Learning from Storytelling under Dr Ricca. Initially, I didnt put too much of an expectation towards this project because based on my previous experiences, my expectations would disappoint me. I assumed it will just be more of, learning how to read stories and have ONE program. That's it, you're done.

It turned out the be the total opposite of what I had in mind. The first thing we had to do, was write our own story. THAT caught my interest. That activity gave me a space for me to explore my thoughts and creativity, plus it was a really fun thing to do in between the assignments and classes. Something different and exciting. I remember getting so excited about writing my own story and sharing them with my friends in usrah. I completed my studying and assignments for the day and used my "wind down" time at night before I sleep to write my story. It made me very happy!

Then came the part to work together as a team and create our proposal. We had our very first meeting in HS cafe (the green one that looks like shrek's house).

MY TEAM !

They are honestly the best people I have ever worked with. They are funny, super helpful, adorable, smart and just, really fun! I had a hard time remembering their names at first but now I remember each and everyone of them and they all give me something nice to think about. For instance, Rifqah is the really sweet girl who made sure I wasnt nervous before the symposium and she comforted me a lot. Nurin is the girl who walks with me to every meeting and helps me think when my brain stops functioning. Elaina is the girl who keeps EVERYTHING going and organized with Rusydina who does the same PLUS she can be really funny. She makes me laugh. Speaking of the "funny team", we have Naufal and Juju. They always, always turn a weird moment into something nice plus, they're always there when you need them to be there. Ain and Aini are the rich ones because they hold the money and spend hundreds of ringgit on books and milo and bread and goodie bags and pencils because they're ✨ fancy ✨ (ok on a serious note those were the activity things) AND they managed to be within the budget which is amazing. Then we have Shafiqah who reminds me of the sunflower because shes literally always smiling and seeing her makes you want to smile too. And then we have Laila who always tries her best to be there despite everything that she has going on and that is more than enough !! We didn't really have the chance to talk to group 2 but I made some friends from group 2 during the symposium and they are equally adorable 🥺 !! I guess my point here is, I love how I made SO MANY FRIENDS and they're all amazing just like me 😋

and then the most important person of crees-p is definitely madam Ricca. She is the most easy person to deal with because you can be completely honest to her. She tells us the most interesting and funny real life stories which I feel truly reflects the concept of usrah because you learn a lot. She feels like a big sister / lecturer and most importantly,  I admire how passionate she is about this project. it motivates me to be passionate for the things I believe in too.

This project is something which I see to be very successful in the future. It can benefit thousands if children and I am very grateful to be part of this project at the early stages. I also feel really glad that UIA decided to have this course because if you think about it, in one semester, so many teams are doing something good to help thousands of people. THIS is the kind of thing I want to be part of. Having the pre-project was truly a mind opening experience for me. Having to learn about all the things we need to do and HOW to do it and DEAL WITH CHILDREN THAT WAS NOT EASY but it was very nice to be given the learning opportunity.  The only tiny thing I wish was different was the fact that we had not much time to prepare for the symposium. nevertheless it was a really fun one.

to conclude, I feel lucky to be a part of this course especially in this section and I cant wait for usrah in action 2 !!

love,
Nurul Arifah (2017288) ♡

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My name is Amira Aleesya bt Abdul Aziz (2013798) from group 2. I learned lots from this course especially how to be more patient when handling the kids. This project gave me a lot of experience in terms of storybook selection, how to engage with the kids and ways to interest others to tell stories. The kids at Darul Ilmi Gombak taught me a lot about appreciating things. This project should be one of the society club in IIUM rather than just a project under Sejahtera. The limitation of the project is we lack of the sponsorships and I recommend to have the donation in terms of money or books or some stationary and put the bookshelf at certain area for book donation. Overall, I am happy to be a part in this project.

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Picture not related. I just like putting one.

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Reflection by Nurin Najmina binti Zaidi (2015024)

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Reflection by Nurin Najmina binti Zaidi (2015024)

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Learning usrah in action (CCUB 2163) in section 68 had taught me several things. The exposure to the issue where children nowadays dislike reading and prefer using their gadgets which I, myself had witnessed this whenever I went out or attending an event. Which contrary to myself when I was their age where I always bring my book whenever I went out.

At first, I always taught that this issue is only a small matter because having a habit of reading takes time, so it is normal for the kids to feel uninterested in reading. However, after doing the project, I realized that this issue must be taken seriously when I learned that not only they were uninterested in reading, basic things such as knowing the simple English word, spelling, and reading fluently were already challenging for them, even though it is the basic. Thus, learning this course make me want to create a storybook that can at least pique the interest of the children since I like writing stories.

Learning in this section, also make me realize my weaknesses, where I’m not really good at leadership. Although, I’m not exactly the leader per se, more like the assistant of the leader so that we help each other. I know my limits but I still insist on acting like a leader because if no one wanted to lead, then who can? But there are setbacks such as, if things do not go my way, I will feel frustrated but I will try to stay calm as much as I can so I would not panic and have a mental breakdown. Other than that, having low self-esteem is one of the things I realized about myself when learning in this course because even though I volunteer, I do not believe in myself that I can do it because I keep thinking that everyone else would be better than me.

The limitation of this course and project is probably the credit hour and the students’ availability because I’m sure most of them are too busy with their main course. Which results in us rushing in everything. But then again, for this section, I think the time for an online meeting is fine since it’s flexible. For face to face meeting, I think it would be better if we meet on a day we are free. Preferably Friday afternoon at least because I’m sure on weekend everyone would like to rest.

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Group 1 - Elaina binti Sabirin (2017244)

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Group 1 - Elaina binti Sabirin (2017244)

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As an English major student, I believe by choosing CCUB 2163 section 68 with Dr Ricca Rahman, would be suitable to put my English major background into practice. Moreover, interacting with young kids is not my forte hence, handling this event allow me to challenge myself to know and engage with kids better, in terms of critically analysing and understanding their behaviour. Other than that, as I reflected on the whole process of making the event happen, starting with the project proposal, I learned the most important part for me is teamwork and communication between group members. I am grateful to all my group members for being the most supportive and productive in completing each of their given tasks. Each one of us has skills in various fields and thus I personally get to learn many things through them. For instance, I learned a lot about how to properly have words with kids by observing my group members. Before we started this project, I always thought the technical and preparation part would be the most important and most difficult one. However, as I went through the process, I realized I was instead struck with overwhelmed on the day of the program. Despite the detailed tentative we had planned out weeks before, complication during the event is inevitable but, on account of that, I got the chance to put my critical thinking skills into practice.

Though we think that our group’s project proposal was already very detailed, we still spend lots of time modifying it, especially the budgeting and forms section. I realised the difference between dealing with children and adults in things like how do we need to come up with more engaging activities in order to keep their interest in check.  Despite successfully holding our story-sharing session with the kids from Raudhatul Nur Jannah, I think there is still a lot of room for improvement. For instance, I do wish we will become more productive in dealing with the preparation for the event since we finished discussing and finalising the preparation a day before the event takes place. It’s safe to say that preparing and planning every single thing diligently is an essential component of a job well done. This is the main reason why early preparation is crucial. Starting any project on the right foot will also allow us to reduce any amount of issues that may haunt us later. Overall, I learned and gathered many things from our pre-project and even from the kids of Raudhatul Nur Jannah. It truly gives me a learning experience that allows me to grow academically and as a person.

By,
Elaina binti Sabirin (2017244)
Group 1

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Reflection by Rusydina Athirah Karim [2016528]

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Reflection by Rusydina Athirah Karim [2016528]

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Looking back, I realised that the person that I am now has gained a lot of new knowledge compared to the person that I was at the beginning of this course. The first reason why I chose to participate in community service that involves children is because I am not very good with children, thus, I believe that by joining this course I will be able to learn a thing or two about them. Not only that, I have a strong passion for reading and I want to instill the love of reading among children, therefore they will obtain long-term benefits from it as they grow up. I was exposed to reading at a young age, and it has since become my coping and escape mechanism, and I want these children to share the same feeling, knowing that they always have a safe haven to turn to. During the beginning of the class, our course instructor Dr. Ricca assigned each one of us to come up with our own story to share with the children that we have chosen to approach. I did not think we would be writing our own stories for this course since I assumed we would only be using existing stories that children are familiar with or the ones written by Dr. Ricca. Nevertheless, the experience of creating my own storybook has made me fall in love with reading and storytelling even more. Therefore, I am grateful that we were given the opportunity to create one of our own.

In addition, I never thought that reading can be assisted by another activity such as drawing, in order to make it more interesting for children, and this course has opened my eyes that such activity is possible and can enhance the reading experience even more. I am glad that we have conducted the profiling project during this semester instead of solely focusing on proposing for the real project as I get to see and experience it myself on how to deal with children and keeping their interests in check throughout the whole storytelling session. Reading the story to the children from Raudhatul Nur Jannah has piqued my interest in children because of all the good feedback that they gave to us, for instance, the majority of the children from the group that I handled with a few of my friends said that they are now more interested in reading because of the fun activity that we included in the storytelling. Despite the fact that some of them could not even read simple sentences in English, they still tried their best to understand the storyline and participate in the activities from the beginning until the end. Some of them even put a lot of effort in drawing in their own distinctive styles, claiming that doing so enhanced their readinge experience by helping them to visualise the story.

Plus, I am so happy that I get to work together with my group members in organising everything from the start until the end throughout this whole semester. I think that working with them has made this whole project bearable to cope with as everyone took part and involved themselves equally. I am glad that we get to have several physical meetings to get to know each other as well as discuss our plans to meet and share our knowledge with the children. Attached above are some pictures during our physical meetings.

Working hand in hand with my group members has taught me to critically think when our plant went south because of the changes made in a short period of time. The strong sense of cooperation in our teamwork has made it possible to move through with the project rather than abandoning it in the face of last-minute changes from the parties we were working with during that time.

Thus, I am grateful that this course gave me the chance to manage the project with my group members as well as gain experience in handling and engaging with children in storytelling. I am also eager to continue spreading knowledge and assisting them in the following semester with the same dedication and even greater effort.

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Assalamualaikum, Dr. Ricca.

I chose CCUB 2163 Section 68 as this project is centralized around underprivileged children, books, and reading which piqued my interest. To be able to share the pleasure and significance of reading books with others is my passion. Particularly, for the children whereby their future depends on accumulated knowledge from reading. The reading project by my group went to Raudhatul Jannah Orphanage to read English storybooks created by us.

Creating one’s own storybook is a challenging task given by Dr. Ricca. Each student is given an opportunity to create their own story for the underprivileged children. Truthfully, creating my own storybook is challenging, but this task allows me to diverge my way of thinking to the children's perspectives instead of an adult's. Moreover, I need to include suitable activities if my story were to be read, in order to sustain the children’s attention span. Also, how do I get comfortable with the children to maintain our interaction?

If I were the kid, what kind of story I will like?

I ask myself this question and decided on a horror-themed book. It is a part of the plan to get the children curious about my story. The activities I included are asking for their opinions and encouraging them to draw. I believe, by asking questions generates critical thinking, courage, and freedom of expression in children to voice out their opinions. In addition, drawing will help me to see the children’s way of thinking which is nearly beyond expectations. This task is not impossible but surely designated efforts and time must be given to complete it. Hence, I was amazed by various creativity in storylines, attractive visuals, and various morals of the story from each of my classmates.

The next task given by Dr. Ricca is to conduct a profiling visit to the targeted orphanage. The first step to the profiling visit is a proposal presentation to Dr. Ricca. My group decided quickly on dividing the tasks at an online meeting and had a physical meeting to further discuss at HS Cafe. I acknowledged no problems in deciding who does what as all members are freely given the chance to pick their own positions. The work rate in completing their tasks for my group is acceptable as I understand that we all are trying to make time for this subject. Therefore, I am as grateful as I can be whenever my teammates managed to complete their parts.

However, I and most of my teammates are frustrated with the changing of orphanages due to the lack of cooperation from all orphanage sides before Raudhatul Jannah. We had to keep on looking for new places when everything else has been set up. It is undeniable that adjusting our terms to Raudhatul Jannah’s conditions is challenging as the financial budget is put on the line. For example, we must pay for the Kami Prihatin facilities and prepare lunch for the children. Other than that the range of age of our participants is slightly older than what we had expected. Hence, the budget is adjusted yet again, and changed the storybooks which are more suitable according to their age.

After the program, I realized some issues regarding our participants. Although I have some predictions of what conditions the underprivileged children would be, being able to see them with naked eyes hit me differently. This is what I observed from the children I took care of; some of them are illiterate. Such as knowing nothing about writing the alphabet, and a lack of basic vocabulary of English words for an eleven years old. Therefore, we have to assist the children to understand the story by using Bahasa Melayu along the way. In the end, the profiling visit is a success despite such great challenges in the last minutes. I am proud of my teammates. I believe, my team can do even better if the time allows more of us to concentrate on this project alone. As students, I acknowledge my teammates have done their best, giving full efforts they can contribute. I am thankful for every member who is involved.

For future references, communication between team members, and also between Dr. Ricca as the instructor, should be improved as I believe we can get a better result for this project. Also, as we are getting along and able to see each other strengths, it is more suitable to appoint someone regarding certain tasks. This is for the group’s efficiency rate. Last but not least, I support this reading project as I recognize it will bring fortunes to underprivileged children. However, in my opinion, this subject is challenging the student with their time management. Although there is no fixed period for this subject should be flexible, it comes out as hard too. This is because students are from different kuliyyah and schedules. Maybe, having fixed lesson periods on weekdays is much preferable.

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Assalamualaikum. I'm Natasya Aqilah binti Mohd Saleh (2017644) from Group 2 CCUB 2163, Section 68.

Alhamdulillah, I was given the opportunity to join this project alongside Dr. Ricca and my fellow friends. I had so much fun doing this project although I'm aware I lack somewhere in certain things. But my friends were always there to guide each other. Thank you, everyone!

At first, I don't even know why I chose this section, oh well, perhaps because I just followed my instinct haha. But, I find that telling stories to the kids is interesting (though I'm not the one who tells the story) because I had no experience doing it with my niece and nephews. Usually, I just play with them and that's it. So, I think, I can do this for them in the future.

One thing that touched my heart was when some of the kids told us that they can't read, even at the age of 7. How unfortunate that is. They are underprivileged, with less guidance because it is indeed hard to focus on everyone to teach them one by one. Also, as Dr. Ricca said, they have less confidence, unlike those of privileged kids; they can go to good kindergartens, have supportive family and financially stable. So, if no one's going to help those kids, then we should, at the very least, read storybooks for the underprivileged kids. When I see those kids at the orphanage, I was reminded of my niece and nephews. How different their worlds are.

I'm sorry that this post is getting longer haha but one more thing, I felt sad when this one kid said to me, "akak, tolong la lukiskan. saya tak pandai lukis bulat." He said that when he saw me drawing a circle almost perfectly. I tried to convince him that it's okay if the circle isn't perfect but he's not convinced at all. I guess he doesn't have the confidence like everyone else who can just draw as they please. I hope he could believe in himself more!

I'm not sure if there's anything much to comment on the course and the project. It is fun, really! I'd like to recommend something, just like how Dr. Ricca had mentioned this once while we're heading back to IIUM. We should buy a sketchbook for the kids so we can trace their drawing progress whenever we visit them. Sometimes, kids have their own stories to tell by drawing. It is good for them to be more expressive, rather than just a whiteboard that they can erase memories easily. They can recall something like, "oh. I was feeling like this when I drew this", "I was with 🤬 and I had fun!" etc. That'll be more memorable.

For now, that's all I have to share. I'd like to thank everyone once again for cooperating to make this project a success. I hope we all can do better for the betterment of the underprivileged kids, insyaAllah aamiin.

—Natasya Aqilah

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Few months ago, when the Sejahtera Centre sent me an email for me to choose a project for my CCUB 2163 class, I was quite overwhelmed with the choices of projects that I can choose. As I scrolled through the lists of projects, my eyes got caught up on a project that stated something like “Reading books for underpriveleged children”. As a language student, obviously reading is something that is close to my heart. Reading books for underpriveleged children? It sounds way more interesting! Although i’m not so fond of kids, I took it as a challenge, embracing myself to be close with them. I still vividly remember, at that moment, I’m imagining myself being surrounded by kids, reading to them calmly as they listens. Little that I know, that reading books to kids was not as easy as i imagined.

When we first start our task by curating and writing our own storybooks, I had so much fun. Especially when I got the chance to illustrate the books even when I’m just using Canva. At that time, all I think was to write. I barely thought of how will kids engaged to my story, up until Dr Ricca reviewed our stories. Only then, I realized that reading book to children requires a lot more activities to make them engage, and not merely just a reading session. I also learn to adjust things based on the children’s perspective, what level of language i should use, how long should the sentence be, etc. When we were approaching the day of profiling, my groupmates and I decided to choose only two stories to be read to the kids. Although my story was not chosen, I still get to brainstorm with my friends on how to make the chosen stories to be more engaging and attractive.

When the day of profiling arrived, I prepared myself with realistic expectations, so that when things goes wrong or not as planned, I won’t get worked up. I was anxious at first, but few moments later I start to learn how to mingle myself with them. During the story-telling, my groupmates and I learn that we can make a one large group for the younger children, as they have shorter attention span. So we decided to split into smaller groups on the spot.

I was given the chance to handle two kids, named Firman and Nazuha. When I first start the session, I immediately knew that I had to change the initial plan of reading to them in English. Because both of them can barely read even in Bahasa Melayu. But i slowly taught them some terms in English too. The biggest challenge was when they lost their attention, and got bored. I notice that we still lacked of activities or something that can make them engage, as the only activity that we prepared for them is just colourin and drawing. So from there, I knew that we need to be a lot more creative and prepared to expect from situations that we might not expect to happen.

Tyr experience that I got from the few hours of profiling day really opened my eyes. I was shocked when Firman, at the age of 9, can’t even read at all. And this is the truth that we need to face, that education might be a privilege to some. Privilege in terms of the financial support, and even moral support. And it broke my heart knowing that they actually have the will to learn, but not the opportunity. Opportunity that somebody else might take it for granted.

I’m not from an underprivileged family. But when I was a kid, I grew up in my babysitters house, in a village. I mingle a lot with underprivileged kids. So deep in my heart I knew that education is an option in their life, especially when they are an orphan, they need to focus on other things that can keep them survive through the day.

I am super grateful that I chose this project, as there are abundance of things that I get to learn. As far as the project goes, there are no limitations that I experience, other than hoping for the credit hour for this course will be increased.

All in all, I personally love this Crees-p project and really hope that we can excel in the future project. So thanful for Dr Ricca that has been guiding us, and be patience with us since day 1. Oh, and we really love the storytelling session among us! Other than that, I think that this course is indeed a great platfrom for students to serve the community, whilst breaking the stereotype that Usrah class is a just another boring session that one attend just for the sake of attendance.

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Nurzati Zuhaida Nasrin Binti Mohamad Nasri (2019686)

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Nurzati Zuhaida Nasrin Binti Mohamad Nasri (2019686)

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Assalamualaikum everyone! My name is Nurzati Zuhaida Nasrin (2019686) and here is what i can reflect based on the pre-project that we have conducted this semester. First and foremost, it was indeed a great experience to be able to conduct a program of storytelling to the underprivileged children and there are several things that i learnt throughout this pre-project. I get to learn about leadership management on how to deal with the kids especially when they are coming from the underprivileged family. To be honest, it was so challenging as a first timer to handle the underprivileged children to encourage them learning English. Apart from that, children nowadays are prone to dislike reading as them nowadays are surrounded by gadgets and electronics, thus this project is a great initiative in hopes to attract children to read by implying some intermission activities such as drawing, as well as to rebuild their critical and creative thinking. Besides, this program also helps to achieve the first SDGs, which is no poverty through education and knowledge.

From the pre project, there are some improvements and limitations that can be observed. Firstly the target participants was satisfactory. Initially, our target is focusing on the underprivileged children, but there are some participants aged 13 and above, which does not meet the criteria of the participants. Perhaps in the future we could find a welfare centre that has more members in the group of children aged 7-10 years old. Next, the limitation is that we are unable to do more activities due to the venue of the event and this programme is only a half-day programme. Perhaps in the future we could do a 2-days programme with better venue so that we can add more outdoor activities, for example in IIUM or any other places, as well as to allow the children to enhance their creativity and critical thinking through the exposure of the environment.

All in all,  i am so delighted and thankful to join the community engagement together with my group mates, in hopes that there will be more knowledge-based community service provided for underprivileged children in the future. May God bless our program with abundant sustenance and his Mercy, hoping it can benefit the Ummah especially to the unprivileged community.

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Assalamualaikum and hi everyone, my name is Nurin Zahirah Azman (2011606). I am the program manager for the ‘Tales to Tell’ group. Throughout the semester, I believe that this course has taught me a lot of things; most of all, I am beyond grateful that I am a part of such an amazing circle. To reflect on my experience, I want to highlight changes that occurred within me since I joined the storytelling project.

First and foremost, I learnt to be a better leader given my role as the program manager of the group. Since it was my first time being a leader, it gives me great anxious to give instructions and organise meetings. Regardless of the nerve-wrecking process, everything turns out to be fine. In fact, it has been amazing. As a program manager, I learnt to delegate the work between the group members and most importantly, I learnt to lead with confidence. Before this, I had a hard time in giving instructions to others thinking that people will get annoyed with me. But, through the process of leading my ‘Tales to Tell’ group, I believe that the choices a leader made will never satisfy all parties. There will be some upset feeling and all, but those things are indeed unavoidable. At the end of each meeting, I always try to reach my group members and encourage them to tell what they are really feeling – and it helps a lot. Alhamdulillah, my group members are very open in sharing their perspectives; and due to that, as a leader, I am beyond proud that the group managed to have a strong bond. What started with working together ended with beautiful friendship.

Next, the storytelling project helps me to understand underprivileged children in a better way. Since this program is focusing on the orphans, my expectation revolves around the unbiased ideas. I thought that there is no need to have different approaches in telling stories to them. But little did I know that the situation is opposite to what I expected. The kids do not know how to read – even clueless on spelling alphabets. What’s worrying is that some older children aged 6 and above, cannot differentiate on the letter ‘A’ and ‘B’. Since I have a younger sister aged 7 who are able to read and write in both Malay and English language, seeing these children breaks my heart. It makes me so ambitious to make changes and help the underprivileged children. Had I not be part of the project, I would have keep my sight so narrow. By ‘Tales to Tell’, I believe that I can start the change, perhaps little by little but one day it will sprout to something beneficial for the society.

In conclusion, I believe that the initiative by CREES-P and the development of ‘Tales to Tell’ group will bring forth enormous benefit to the community. Stories are the basis of one’s dream. Hence, I want to be part of the contributor to shine some light in the world of underprivileged children. May Allah ease everything for all of us.

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PERSONAL REFLECTION ON THE COURSE AND THE PROJECT.

Name: MUHAMMAD ADIB IMRAN BIN AZLAN

Matric No.: 2016179

Course: USRAH IN ACTION 1 (CCUB 2163)

Section: 68

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Assalamualaikum and hi! I am Najwa from group 2. Firstly, I really want to convey my gratitude to our lovely instructor who have been leading us from the very beginning of the project until the end, Madam Ricca. Madam truly guided me and my fellow team mates, giving away tips on how to hold an effective program, handle kids during our project occurred and also during the symposium day. Additionally, not to forget my tenacious and efficient team members, who have worked together diligently to make this project run smoothly. From all the assistance given from instructor and friends, I gain many new opportunities to learn more about things that I am unfamiliar with like engaging with only kids in a program together, approaching and contacting numerous superiors just to conduct programs.

To highlight certain details that need to be considered is that on transportation. At the beginning, STADD has mentioned they can provide us with the transportation; however, we end up dealing with it on our own. Apart from that, we have witnessed the true situation of the kids today not being able to enjoy readings to the fullest due to some unavoidable obstacles. I sincerely hope the kids can enjoy reading with the help of people around who are able to donate storybooks and other reading stuff, and also build a small decorative reading corner just to make them feel pleasant with and wont to reading. Last but not least, maybe perhaps this project can grow bigger to an extent of being able to collaborate with the National Library of Malaysia or Kuala Lumpur Library in achieving the mission of flourishing and instilling the value of interest in reading in younger generations.

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Assalamualaikum wrt wbt, hope everyone is in best of health by the grace of Allah SWT.
This is Shafaque Perveen, I would like to share some personal thoughts, opinions and experience about our project-" Tales to tell".
This is the first time I joined a  community engagement program in Malaysia, It was very challenging for me since I barely understand Malay, I tried so hard to interact with the children, and Alhumdulillah everything went well, it was such a great experience meeting with the underprivileged children and spending time with them, Undoubtedly some of them was very intelligent, they just need proper platform to express themselves. Some children know and love reading but they do not have the ability to read smoothly like the one I was dealing with She like reading but she didn't get opportunity to practice reading because she don't have access to the best education and learning facility. Underprivileged kids also need to learn and explore, they should not be neglected.
Furthermore, while doing this project I learned how to deal with the kids, literally it is so hard to handle them, anyway it was an amazing experience, I will be looking forward to meet them again.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my beloved instructor and groupmates for guiding and working together to make this project successful. Hope to see everyone again.😊

Best regards
Shafaque

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Nor Nabihah Azfarikha Binti Azman (2012102) Section 68

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Nor Nabihah Azfarikha Binti Azman (2012102) Section 68

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My name is Nor Nabihah Azfarikha Binti Azman with matric number 2012102. From this course CCUB 2163, I discovered that there are certain skills required to deal with kids. Because I am the only child in the family, I have no prior experience managing and caring for children on my own.  It is difficult for me to manage their wants while also changing their interests. Furthermore, I must encourage them to read and spell the words that some of them appear to be uninterested in. However, via this training, I have learned how to attract their attention and get them to follow instructions. I am also impressed by how well they behave and some of them could actually read but with students’ assistance. The program concluded nicely, however there are several restrictions that I hope can be resolved in the next session. One of them is time constraints, which prevented me from interacting with all of the children. We only had three to four hours to build connections and have conversations with kids. For next time around, I would suggest that our program include more interactive sessions with children. For instance, inviting them to read a storybook at the front one by one. In brief, I have received a great understanding about child management and assisted them in improving their reading skills despite the minor stumbling block that may be solved in the near future.

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During my experience in Usrah In Action (UIA), I was fortunate to have experienced firsthand and learned, many things about the kids as my section was related to the kids, how to work efficiently in a team, and detail goes into every stage. Another valuable lesson I learned and I can practice was the skills to tackle the kids' attention and the support that was given by the teams too. I was amazed by Dr. Ricca when she managed to persuade a young boy who was stubborn to eat lunch because he want to eat ice cream first. She convinces him in a nice way to make sure he eats the rice first then he will get rewarded by getting ice cream. As a result, the kid finally eat the rice together with us. I really liked the way Dr. approached him. After the eating session, the schedule was to play the games with the kids. It was really chaotic and tiring as the kids were so active running back and forth. We, the committee felt a bit exhausted because we need to gather them back in a circle and sit together as we will play some games. Again, Dr showed us another skill to attract them by telling us to clap our hands. A few minutes after that, we managed to calm down the kids and proceed with the games. In the end, by observing and learning from them, I managed to pick up skills and learned new things, from learning to communicate and deal with their behavior.

Reflecting back on our projects, there is a thing that concerned me. It is when we arrived at the place, which is Darul Ilmi, I am surprised that the place was an open space. We need to use the projector in this project because it is the only way to show our materials to the kids. Since the place is an open space and it is a sunny day, it is quite a struggle to watch the projector in the sun because the shadier the location, the better. I thought that we should ask the supervisor in the first place about the location to do the activities with the kids and inform them we have a projector to use later.  Indeed, I just realized that it is the only place that we can do some activities together and despite the problem we faced, we enjoyed all the moments.

At first, I was anxious about this project because I am not into kids much and the project I chose is beyond my capability. Throughout the course and project, I am slowly interested to know more about kids' behavior. I loved the way Dr Ricca taught us and I loved how my groups can bonding quickly. Thank you for everything Dr.