Angels at Work (Part 2 of 2)

Most of the charity organizations lack supports and commitment from the community – be it financially or in terms of services rendered. Malaysian Red Crescent Society (Miri Chapter) is no stranger to manpower shortage. The organization doesn’t have that much of a fund to hire people to work and depends almost entirely on volunteers. The team’s willingness to volunteer themselves in helping them to organize the Inter Unit First Aid Competition 2005 was timely as to cushion the difficulties that the organization faced every now and then. Although it might not seem a lot of effort to the community at large but I guess the phrase “every little help, helps” best describe the community service done by us.

I must say I’ve learnt a lot from participating in this community service. In this event, team work is crucial and although I’ve been elected as the Team Leader, I’ve blend in well with the rest of the team members as well as the Red Crescent Society (Miri Chapter) committee members. Tasks are segregated equally and delegated to members in accordance with their capability and interests. I’ve assured others not to be afraid of approaching me or voicing out their concerns should there are anything that needs to be addressed. Working with different groups of people, irrespective of age, background and race has made me a better team player. It has definitely fostered a better understanding and relationship among each of us. A project would not be as meaningful and might be a failure should there is no teamwork involved, even with a good leader.

The community service has made me a more compassionate person. I’ve always believed that not matter how bad a person is, there is always a compassion hidden somewhere in their heart. It is up to us to search for that little compassion in them and help it grow. One of the ways to achieve this is through public awareness. The Inter Unit First Aid Competition 2005 is timely and it can really open up doors to compassion in us.

What’s good is a compassion person if there’s he/she is not proactive? Everyone is compassionate but most of us are passive and afraid of doing things, even if it’s the right thing to do. For example, if we came across road accident, how many of us would actually stop and lend a helping hand? Most of us wanted to help but are afraid of commitment. Taking the first step is always hard. The service has taught us to be more proactive. We must be confidence and bold in taking the first step. It is never wrong to help others. For us to be proactive or passive is not much of an issue but for those in need of our help in critical situation, it could mean life or death, gratitude or disappointment.

Apart from moral values earned, the event also taught us living skills, particularly on how to react in an emergency situation and also the knowledge in first aid. These skills will definitely come in handy should we were to face an emergency situation where the lives of ourselves or others depend on whether we can react appropriately and apply first aid techniques. I’ve been to proper first aid course before, organized by Malaysian Red Crescent Society (Bintulu Chapter) and this event served as a refresher course for me.

For me, doing community service is because it’s a requirement and it is best described as an instrumental moral value – means for other mean. But along the way of performing the service, I’d had second thoughts. I have actually wanted to do it now because I want to do it. The smiles and gratitude of the people that I’d helped has opened up my eyes. Now I know the true meaning of intrinsic moral value – it is an end; it is a satisfaction and happiness. It’s really amazing that the little things that we do can touch the lives of many people.

Angels at Work (Part 1 of 2)

Angels at Work

• Lecturer / Adviser: Azlin Hj Alwi


• Team Leader / Chief Editor: David Lee


• Editor: Sia Hsiao Ee


• Research and Presentation Team: David Lee, Roger Lau


• Editorial Team: Sia Hsiao Ee, Lee Chieng Tze, Christy Wong, Yeo Jia Yu

The team was unanimous that I should be the Team Leader and I agreed to lead them in the community service group project. Being the Team Leader of “Angels at Work”, I’ve sub-divided the team into two teams of Research and Presentation Team, and Editorial Team. Micro-managing two separate smaller teams instead of one huge team have proved its worth and efficacy. The old cliché of “divide and conquer” has been put into good practice in executing our project. As part of Team Leader’s responsibilities, I was to manage and oversee the operation and synchronization of the team in the project. The roles of each team sections and members as well as the team’s schedule shall be discussed in the group report.

Apart from the leadership roles, I’ve been assigned to the Research and Presentation Team, along with Roger Lau in the project. My role was to lead the team in conducting field research on community service that we can perform as well as the charity organization that will benefit from it. After the research, I was to present the project proposal to all team members. Then I shall approach the lecturer, Miss Azlin Hj. Alwi and seek her consent and advice in executing the community service.

Roger Lau and I met up personally with the person in charge of the charity organization except for the Department of Environment, of which our lecturer has helped us with in corresponding with them. Amongst the charity organization that the Research and Presentation Team approached and community services that the team can perform were as detailed below:

• Department of Environment - cleaning and beautification services around the city


• Lion's Club - old clothes and toys collection for the needy in rural areas


• Home for the Aged - assist them in their upcoming events, organize games for the aged, and day-care services


• Malaysian Red Crescent Society (Miri Chapter) - assist them in organizing the "Inter Unit First Aid Competition 2005", making bandages, and sorting out the storage facility


• Sunflower Centre - assist them in organizing the "Special Olympics", participate in their daily activities, paint job for the chairs, and raise fund by collecting recyclable materials (newspaper, plastic)

After a thorough discussion, the team agreed to participate in the “Inter Unit First Aid Competition 2005” organized by the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (Miri Chapter) on Sunday, 17 April 2005. I called up the person in charge of the event, Mdm. Lui Yee Lan to confirm our participation. She was delighted to have us all for the event and then enlighten us with information pertaining to the event. I relayed the information to the rest of the team members after that.

I was in charge of transportation too as some of the team members are outstation students. We arrived at the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (Miri Chapter) headquarters at 8:00AM on the event day (Sunday, 17 April 2005). The actual event started in 9:00PM but I told the team to come an hour earlier so that we can do some research on the organization such as their history, mission, roles, services and others. The extra time was also used for brief interview session with some of the committee members.

While we were there, Mdm. Lui Yee Lan introduced us to some of the key committee members of the event and I introduced them to our team. Mr. Johnny Lawai was the Chairman, Mr. Vincent Sim was the Vice-Chairman as well as Mdm Tye Yuik Chun and Mdm. Norashikin Nordin being the committee members. We were told that we would assist them throughout the event. Mr. Vincent Sim, as our advisor for the day, and I discussed on the tasks to be done and then I informed the team.

For the purpose of the event itself, I divided the team into two separate teams of Operation Team and Administration Team. The roles of each team sections and members shall be discussed in the group report. Being the Team Leader of the event, I was to manage the team as a whole, synchronize the operation of the two teams and liaise with the organization committee members. Also, I was part of the Operation Team, along with Roger Lau, Alan Sia and Lee Chieng Tze. My roles in the Operation Team were to set up the stage for the competition, seating arrangement, crowd control and photography. Overall, all the tasks were relatively easy, except for the crowd control part. It appeared to be slightly difficult due to the fact that there were a lot of people in the competition hall – committee members, judges, reporters, contestants, students and other volunteers. Nonetheless, I managed to keep the crowd under control with help from other team members as well as the committee members.

At the end of the event at 4:00PM, we approached the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (Miri Chapter) committee members and expressed our gratitude for giving us a chance to participate in the Inter Unit First Aid Competition 2005. The committee members thanked us for the assistance rendered and look forward in seeing us again in participating in future events.

Before the team called it a day, I initiated a brief discussion on the event itself, tasks that each of us had done earlier and also delegating new tasks to each team members for proposal and discussion in the upcoming team meeting.