YOUTH –LED PROJECT: VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMME (REFLECTION PAPER)

 

YLP REFLECTION PAPER ON VOLUNTEERING PROGRAM

 

First of all, I would like to thank Dr. You Huay Woon for giving us the chance to perform this volunteering activity at S.I. Home Shelter in Subang Jaya on March 7th 2020, Saturday. I am so glad that we have completed our activity to be the volunteers and help the shelter workers to do some cleanings and give the cats some medications they needed. Our objectives are to promote awareness of the welfare and management of animals in the community, to increase knowledge and experience in managing animal welfare and needs in the right way, and lastly is to foster a spirit of volunteerism and a caring attitude towards animals. I am happy to declare that all of our objectives are successfully achieved.

The idea for this volunteering activity has popped up because my group is alert of the lack of awareness among the community about proper animal care and management. Some societies nowadays care about the welfare of animals and do not show any kind of cruelty to pets or wildlife. Lately, there have been various types of animal abuse that have spread on social media and caused controversy among the community. This raises the question of the welfare of animals implemented by the present generation. Therefore, we would like to recognize and learn how animal management is one of our initiatives to spread awareness of the importance of animal welfare. Also, there are a lot of memories and lessons that our team has made throughout the activity.

As for me, that experience I have gained during this project is unforgettable since it was the first time for me to join a group for volunteering activity in a pet shelter. It was so much fun and tiring at the same time. But, all of the sweat and tears I had throughout this activity, I got to chill and hang around with different types of cats that are clingy and affectionate towards us. Overall, this activity surely has opened up my heart to do more volunteering work as Ill as wanting to educate myself about animal shelters and sanctuaries around Malaysia that is protecting them under the same cause. As we came for volunteering, we needed to do some work which was cleaning kennels and other cat housing areas, changing water, changing litter, mopping, sweeping, and other caregiving duties. I am a big cat lover but a little afraid of stray cats because I had a bad memory when I was little where the stray cat stole my food at a food court.

To be very honest, I hate the tasks that have been given to us because I have never done such tasks. I felt so disgusted and always asked Dinie to help me. I have Aina and Dinie to do the chores on the same level as me. Aina has pet cats at her home so she is a pro about handling cats while Dinie is very brave and open-minded about everything. They helped me a lot at first but in the end, I managed to adjust myself with the surroundings and fell in love with the place because of the cats there. This is because I found that all of the cats there were so loving, adorable, and tame. Besides, I think that the chores that I have done have taught me so many lessons that I can only learn from such experience. It makes me realize that not only humans deserve to be cared for and loved, animals also deserve it as they are also living things.

Furthermore, I have learned to be patient because the first thing that has happened to us was getting lost. We have got the wrong address but luckily, all of us have learned critical analysis in class so we used our knowledge to solve the problem immediately. Besides, I also have learned to care for the stray cats very dearly. This is because they have been traumatized by the previous abuse that they have received. Shockingly, they are not furious or grumpy at all. That is one thing that I love the most about the cats there. As if they knew not to take their guardians for granted.

This volunteer work for the stray cats at S.I. Home Shelter helps us to gain knowledge of animal management. An improvement this time is that the volunteer activities have been carried out by our team throughout the day while recording this activity and uploading it on our official Instagram page. There are a lot of videos and pictures that my groupmates and I took on that day for reference and memory purposes.