Hello everyone! I am Aqil Ikhwandi, a 23-year-old, a Sabahan-by-heart, and a 3rd-year Bachelor of Accountancy student. I started as a volunteer in the Seeds of Deeds (SOD) empowerment camp in 2021, and I am now one of the Public Relations Officers for Small Changes MY (SC).
I was privileged to grow up having everything I wanted but I also knew that there were others who did not have the same luxury as I did. During my high school days, it occurred to me that volunteering with underprivileged children would allow me to spread the joy I experienced during my childhood.
When I first found out about Small Changes MY back in 2019, I was determined to volunteer with them. I even turned on their post notifications on Instagram so that I’d get the latest updates on their projects. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to volunteer then as I was living in Sabah and was too far from where SC was based at.
In 2020, COVID-19 struck the world by storm and gave everyone a hard time. It was a painful experience for me to get stuck at home and do everything online. It took me about 6 months to finally change my perspective on the situation. Although the pandemic was still a bummer, I realised that there were small blessings to be found. One of those small blessings came in the form of virtual volunteering projects! Distance was no longer an issue for me as all I needed was a stable internet connection.
I was finally able to work with SC as a volunteer in their 2021 SOD Virtual Camp. The project was a 3-day empowerment camp involving 3 schools from rural areas. Students from these schools got to participate in modules designed to equip them for their future after secondary school. SOD was my first volunteering experience outside of my school and university and I was thrilled to be one of the 30 facilitators in the camp.
The facilitators were divided into pairs and each pair was entrusted to come up with activities for different modules. It was not as easy as I thought it’d be as SC’s committee members had high standards – they were determined to make all activities engaging and aspired to have a positive impact on all 70 beneficiaries. Although the workload was slightly more than I expected when I signed up to be a volunteer, I enjoyed it as I felt involved and significant to the SOD camp.
During the 3-day virtual camp, I can’t deny that it was quite draining. There were so many things to take note of, and every facilitator needed to know the flow for all 15 modules. We also had to showcase an optimistic attitude and be proactive to encourage the beneficiaries to participate in the modules.
It was a hard but painless experience mainly because the committee members made things easier by explaining everything to the facilitators. They shared tips on how to increase the beneficiaries’ involvement and gave us affirmations along the way. SC’s committee members were very supportive throughout the entire camp and always made us feel important and welcomed.
At the end of the camp, the students told us how much they enjoyed it and what they learned from the modules. It was wonderful getting to see some of them coming out of their shells and seeing their personalities bloom during those 3 days. It was also great to see friendships blossoming between the committee members and facilitators despite everything being virtual. These are the reasons why out of all the programs I joined in school and university, SOD was the one that gave me the most sense of fulfilment.
When SC started recruiting for the new term, I immediately seized the opportunity and applied to be part of their committee. Alhamdullilah, I was chosen to be one of the Public Relations Officers for Small Changes MY for the 2021/2022 term.
It has been about 3 months as an SC committee member and it feels great being around like-minded individuals who want to contribute to the betterment of society. Everyone here is very friendly and the Executive Committee are very helpful in guiding us in our tasks and job scopes. I even managed to volunteer at Section 7 at PPS Dewan Kiambang during the flood last December through a connection I made with a fellow SC committee member!
Overall, I am very excited to embark on this journey together with my team and I am very grateful that I’m involved with Small Changes MY.
Dear reader, you can also experience all these wonderful moments with Small Changes MY! We will be having various volunteering opportunities throughout the year so be sure to follow us on social media to keep updated! Here’s to a wonderful and selfless year ahead! Hope to see you in our programs soon!
