2903 Community Service Self-Reflection

2903 Community Service Self-Reflection

1)   As volunteers I chose Zayed Higher Organization (ZHO) to volunteer in, ZHO is a government organization that helps people with special needs and it is the dream of his Highness Sheik Mohammed Bin Zayed which became a reality in the summer of 2004, the Organization’s goals is to win the trust of every man woman and child. We volunteered there for five interesting weeks and had different experience each week.

2)   The best part of the volunteering for me was connecting with the students within these weeks for it to reach to a point were in the last week or two they were asking us when are you coming back and are you staying? So I felt that we did what we came to do and more.

3)   In my opinion I helped to contributed to the community in two ways, one was going there and volunteering by helping to supervise, assist, connect, and support the students to feel that they are doing some useful because they are, some workshops and producing the student’s work to the community and what I found very interesting and beneficial for everyone. The second way is by me volunteering in ZHO or any other organization I am meeting my responsibilities towards my country by volunteering or assisting in any organization and event because all of us owe something to our countries and we have to give them something back in any way possible.

4)   What I learned volunteering in Zayed Higher Organization are many things for example communication skills, understanding other people and their behaviors, staying calm, unique experience and more, plus this experience is defiantly going help me in the future in a way I never knew.

5)   In the conclusion I would like to take with me from this experience is the connection that I had with the students within this short period but it changed my prospective on them as people who cant do anything to the society and I was wrong, they are learning so they can be very useful to all of us and I’m proud that I was a part of that.

Number of words (355)

Zayed Higher Organisation groupe #1 

Week 5- Day 5 Last Day 

Sunday 8:00 am to 12:00 pm

 Printing work  Workshop

Today is Sunday the 8th of November, and its the last day for us as volunteers in ZHO for this semester. we all came at 8 and distributed our self as usual and agreed that me and salem needed to go to the printing workshop so we could finish the last workshop that was given to us. As we in entered the workshop the students were having an introduction of what are they going to do today, the instructor helped us to introduce our selfs to them and recommended to avoid one or two students that are still under rehabilitation process.

 

We were given the workshops safety procedures and it's rules to go through with the students because they need some refreshing when they come back from the weekends.

After that they started working on cutting papers and working on the computer so the could pass the time and have their PE session that they love, at approximately 10:45 they stopped woking and went to the gym and then they could have their brake and continue work.

  

At the end we signed out for the last time and visited Khalesa to thank her for everything that she's done and explain how we learned about this experience and how to deal with different kinds of people, and thank you.

Zayed Higher Organisation groupe #1 

Week 4- Day 4

Sunday 8:00 am to 12:00 pm

 Metal work  Workshop

to day is Sunday the 1st of November, as we're use to we came at and signed in at 8 am and started working, today I changed my workshop as we all agreed from soldering to metal works therefor I have one more work shop for my last day at ZHO as a volunteer next week is with is going to be the printing workshop and I'll be joined by salem. today was a quit day for my workshop, they didn't have lots of work to do so as it's my first day with this group I took time to introduce my self and get to know the students and the teacher more and it was interesting. after a some time MR, Gregory came passing by to say hello and finding out what are we doing   today.

After having there usual breakfast break, I escorted the students back to the room but some of them didn't want to go back they wanted to have a longer break time but every thing was fine. Helped the instructor to make this metal table that they needed in the workshop with two of the students who were capabele to make tables like this, at the end we had a short chat with khalesa and to let her know that next week is going to be our last visit as  volunteers.         

Zayed Higher Organisation groupe #1 

Week 3- Day 3

Sunday 8:00 am to 12:00 pm

 Electronic Workshop

To day is Sunday, its the third day for us as volunteers at ZHO. As usual we all came on time and signed our names and started working but this time we changed both the groups and the workshops so all of us can benefit from this experience working in different workshops, me and Salem went to the electronics workshop, Abdulla and Mubarak went to the printing workshop. 

As this was our third week we had some back ground how to deal with the participants from the first time, there for this time it was easer to introduce our selfs and to communicate with each other, but what also helped us is that they didn't have a high level of disabilities like the last workshop so they were easy to chat with. me and same were some were divided; I helped my friend Ahmed to solder and they had to connect these LED lights to the electric bored in an orderly fashion, the other two guys had some experience in soldering so I had to concentrate at Ahmed because he's new to it.

Secondly Salem and I helped Khalid to work on his robot, he puts together the legos and connects it with his laptop and works on the robot's movements, so he was good with the computers and electronic gadgets .

After that, they had a GYM session which was great news for me, were we could interact with the students more. we had a great guest; Mr. Gregory came and visited us at approximately 10 am to see what are we up to and how are we working and having fun at the same time.

 

At the end we had the opportunity to do our interview with the instructor, his name is Sir Tomas, we asked him to introduce him self and tell as what are they doing or producing in this workshop. we couldn't upload the video because " Blogger" doesn't accept a video with more than one minute therefor we had to upload the video on to youtube then copy the link that is at the bottom. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uztsve7N57c

Zayed Higher Organisation groupe #1 

Week 2- Day 2

Sunday 8:00 am to 12:00 pm

 Work shop

To day is Sunday, its the second day for us as volunteers at ZHO. We all came on time and directly started working and interacting with the participents how were very greeting because we allready know each other from last week but there were three students who where absent last time so we needed to introduce our selfs to these three students again. We decided to go back to the Carpentry workshop again so we would change the workshops on Thursday so we can have a chance to work at all four workshops that where given to us.

We came and sow them working on this design, they where putting the last touches in to it and it took them 3 to 4 days to finish  especualy while sanding the edges. we helped by putting a distributing the parts so they don't get mixed up and then the design is ruined.

      

After finishing they took their 20 min break which was at almost 10:15 they started working on putting together large tables that came from the another work shop but they had to continue and each on to it some work, that was not a hard task because they only needed to drill in to the table some nails so both parts are coherent.

Zayed Higher Organisation groupe #1 

Week 1- Day 1

Sunday 8:00 am to 12:00 pm

Oriantation day + work shop

Today is Sunday, and it's the first day of volunteering work at Zayed Higher Organisation, we all came on time as we agreed which was at 8 am and after we met with Khalisa; she took us to the assistant directors to show as around the building and have a look at the workshops we will be working in and assisting at for the next few weeks, we've been greeted by the teachers at each workshop and took a breefe idea about the workshops and how are the participants working, they showed us around four workshops that they chose and think would suit us which are soldering, carpentering, electrical work, and printing. We've distributed our selfs in to 2 groups, me and Abdulla went in to carpentering and then we will change the workshops each week so we could have different experiences with different people so we could learn more. Our work shop had 6 participents but 4 were absent, and at the begging it was a bit hard to communicate but the instructor helped us to communicate and help them with the wood work they were doing, we learned what disabilities they had and how to stay come if something happens. At aproximetly 10:30 they had their brake so we did too, then came back and continued. At the end they recommended to not wear "kandooras" so we could work with more freedom, our next session will be on Sunday at 8.         

2903 Community Service – Volunteer Project plan form

Follow this template to organize the primary details about your volunteer project:

1.    Title of plan –

Volunteering for Zayed Higher Organization

2.    Names of each participant:

Saleh AlBreiki	H00308217
Abdulla Basem	H00269022
Mubarak AlJunabi	H00282965
Salem AlJaberi	H00307745

3.    Organization (name) and contact person (supervisor + email): 

Zayed Higher Organization

Fatima AlHamly	fatima.alhamly@zho.ae	+971 2 6980114
Khalesa AlQuwaitaei	khalisa.alqowateeri@zho.ae	+971 2 6980105

4.    Purpose / what can you do to support the Goals of the Organization?

Ex: this project will help the students of Al Hosan School to develop their IT skills

We can help the organization to reach its goals, to win the trust of every man woman and child. We will work with disabled people with our age group and makes it a bit easer to communicate because communication in a place like ZHO is very important so we will provide care and therapeutic services to the participant in need.

5.    Time/ schedule: students will volunteer for how many hours / week? Which Days?  

 Weekly – 5 hours a week for 4/5 weeks

·      Every Sunday from 8:00 to 12:00 (3 hours) flexible

·      Every Thursday from 8:00 to 10:00 (2 hours) 

6.    To be successful what need to be done?  Specific activities and efforts?

What are the needs of the participants?  Specific needs both Mental AND Physical

Ex: In the end, students must be able to type 20wpm English typing. Specificy 

 To be successful in this project; you must have the drive to do it willingly; we must attend every session we have without being late or leaving early. Help and interact with the participants so he could enjoy him self and learning from this opportunity and recoding what happens each day.

To satisfy the needs of the participant; first we must Speak normally and directly to them. Not speaking to someone who is with them. The participants often have their own ways of doing things. So “Ask before you help”. We shouldn’t refer to the disability, and never use phrases like “handicapped”. Being patient and making sure we understand their needs. Don't touch any assistive devices, including wheelchairs, unnecessarily unless it's an emergency.

7.    What are the specific Benefits for the participants? (Both volunteers and recipients)

This project will help us as HCT students to improve our communicating and social skills, how to deal with people with different problems of all ages and will change our prospective of life so we can appreciate what we have.

At the end both of us should have made new friends, getting to interact with people with different backgrounds and learned from each other and from this opportunity.  

8.   Any potential problems you see arising??\

 Every program has small problems while starting and facing these issues is a must, we may face problems with communication and trust; what do they want and how can we help them or satisfy them according to their need, after introducing our self to them a talk to each other and letting them know that we are here for them. There for it’s a mater of time to get use to each other.