My Self-Reflection

My Self-Reflection

In these past weeks I did something that I didn't think that I will ever do in my life, I volunteered. Volunteering is the act of doing something to help others without any payment in return, people do it to make them feel better and for them to be a better person. Me and my group went to Zayed Higher Organisation for humanitarian care and special needs, it is a governmental organization that helps and teaches people with special needs of any kind. They have many specialists and trained staff to deal with them and teach them in a proper manner.

I can honestly say that I completely changed my view on volunteering, which I use to describe as a waste of time and energy. However, these past weeks I felt as I was really useful for the community or at least to the students that I was within ZHO. Every day I felt satisfied after our time is finished and was eager to do come back again. While at first I was really negative at the whole thing, but after trying really hard to do my best I felt happy and really glad about what I did. It really helps you remove the stress and pressure you may feel.

 I am proud to say that I will continue to volunteer in the future, in fact, I am still volunteering in ZHO even though our course is finished. I use to think that if I will do something, then I better get paid for it or it isn’t worth it, after this past month I noticed that I started helping others without realizing like for example picking up hitchhikers and drive them to where they want. It feels like everything is right, you begin to see the world in a more positive manner. This experience is really worth the try I recommend everyone to do it.

The Interview

this is my interview with one of the students name Humaid, he doesn't know how to speak in english so I did it in arabic and i'll translate it below the video.

Translation

Me: introduce yourself.
Humaid: My name is Humaid, studying at the Zeyed center for special needs. Im currently Teacher Assistant.

Me: In which workshop?
Humaid: The Office Workshop

Me : Tell me what do you do at the workshop?
Humaid: We teach the students how to type and use Microsoft Office, cutting paper and making cover pages. We also teach them about recycling, and how to print picture on cups and metal plates. I super vise the students and help them a little by giving some tips.

Me: For how Long have you been in this workshop?
Humaid: Around 10 years.
Me: I've been told that you were in another workshop, is that true? if it is which workshop was it and why did you transfer?
Humaid: Yes, I was in the electronics workshop, they moved me because they thought I'm smart enough to help the teacher in other workshops and made an TA.

Me: How long did you stay in the electronic workshop?
Humaid: for about 2 years.
Me: can you tell me what did benefit from all of this?
Humaid: I benefitted a lot and are very relaxed thank god.

Me: What did you accomplish in this years?
Humaid: I accomplished many things, earned some trophies and many other things.
Me: What do you think about the whole volunteering thing that is happening now? are we helpful or do you think we should stop?
Humaid: I am very thankful for all of the volunteers, we had plenty of fun with them and it is nice to meet new people. I hope you continue to come in the future.

Me: thank you Humaid for giving me you time.
Humaid: My pleasure.

4th Week Volunteering

This week was full of events, this week we visited the electronics workshops were we watched the students fix some old devices and making some new ones. one of the devices they made was the door alarm, every time someone opens the door a sound is made and a light is opened. we were told that the student with the highest mental ability is brought here. On sunday we didn't get the chance to interact with the student because Sheikh Mansoor I believe was there. so we only got to look at the student schedule and then saw the teacher presenting an old project in respect to us so we didn't go for nothing then everyone was dismissed. I'll upload the video of the teacher explaining, and since I am an engineering student i know that the content of the lesson is a little complex it is unbelievable that they are capable of applying it already, since we as engineers won't do hand on work until out senior year.

In addition, on wednesday we got the chance to see them working on some of their projects. Our teacher Gregory gave us a visit to check on us and see what we were up to. Furthermore, a reported for the Etihad newspaper were there and took pictures of us and our teacher she then asked a couple of question and recorded our answers and took my phone number as the group leader and told me she will contact me as soon as possible and is willing to publish it next week. 

btw: our course only required 15 hours, and from here we finished 16 hours. However, we will continue because it is gives that feeling of satisfaction that everyone seeks. I recommend everyone to try and volunteer.

3rd Week Volunteering

This week we went on and visited the carpentry workshop, I myself was very excited because when I was in high school I use to make things out of wood as a hobby so i thought i could give them some tips here and there. However, when we arrived I was shocked because they are on a different league than i was. They were making all kind of things ranging from ships to bookshelves. As usual our group split up to find a different partner. I found myself next to a guy who looked old compared to his other classmates, his name was Mustafa he was from Jordan. it was respectively easy speaking with him compared to the other two before him. On Sunday he explained to me that they were working on a new project that will hopefully finish on Tuesday, they only have 3 days to finish it and then he continued and politely asked me not to bother him while he is working on this project. We I visited him on Wednesday I saw the finished project which was a ship made of wood. I will let the pictures speak for itself.

2nd Week Volunteering

This week we went to the weaving and sewing workshop. We had a fun time interacting with the students and seeing them make some amazing pieces that are very hard to make, i can't even make a tie properly yet they who are so called disabled are making such amazing clothes. each one of our group sat next a student as we agreed, I sat next to a boy named Ali. He had tough time talking and trying to communicate but i could understand him a little, he was showing me some techniques on how to make a cover for my mobile after seeing that my mobile is broken. What is really amazing is the fact that we were told that this class contains student with the lowest mind capability. This is really eye opening, I recommend everyone to volunteer there.

1st Week Volunteering

Our actual first day was sunday, but unfortunately they didn't let us volunteer at the Autism Center as we originally planned because all the employees were females. However, the good news is that they made us volunteer in the Zayed Rehabilitation Centre. so we started actual volunteering in Wednesday after giving us an orientation and a tour around the place in Sunday.

So we first learnt about their different workshops, were people with different needs are taught different skills depending on their level of comprehension and understanding. There was about five workshops Electrical, Mechanical, Tailor and the office workshop. Our group stayed at the office workshop because we thought that we need to take it baby steps to learn how to interact with them because the highest level students are taken there. The experience was very opening, every idea we had about them and every situation we thought we would be in flied out of the window. It was like we were dealing with normal people that can't communicate properly (like talking to a foreign), given that some of them were child-like but being raised with 4 little brothers helped me dealing with them a lot.

A lot of things happened in this 2 hours, we befriended all of the class and had a lot of fun.

Human Rights Activity / Exercise #3

Working in pairs, discuss and choose 3-5 specific rights that relate to the different levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?  Mark on Maslow's Pyramid..

1.Freedome from slavery, Freedome from discrimination( safety)
2. right to marriage and family.(love,belonging)
3.freedom of belief and religion. (esteem) 

4. right for education (safety, esteem)

5.right to own property  (safety) 

LSH 2903 – Community Service – Learning / Exercise #7

Charity and Volunteering in the UAE - Information and Activities

The UAE is famous for its hospitality and the desire to give one's time and efforts to help other people.

Activities

Use the following link to access the website of the UAE Red Crescent.

Once you are there, see if you can answer the following questions. This will help you to find out what the organisation does, what some of their projects are and who are the people involved in the organisation.

http://rcuae.ae/

1.                   The UAE Red Crescent has contributed to a number of building projects both inside and outside the UAE. Name three projects the UAERC has worked on

a. Construction and maintenance of the public life       

b.    reconstructing countries and helping them when they are hit with natural disaster       

c.  giving money to poor people and providing them with their needs       

2.                   Name at least 4 countries the UAERC has worked in to provide various project assistance

a.      Afghanistan   

b.       Sumalia 

c.       Algeria 

d.       Brazil  

3.                   What was the estimated total cost of projects undertaken in the UAE during 2009?

AED 6 Million 

4.                   According to the information about the foreign based projects, which group of projects received funding of 8,373,558 Dirhams?

                N/A

5.                   According to the information about the Foreign Projects, the UAERC is involved in some very important work. According to the English translation, these are listed below. Try to come up with an easy explanation for each of the terms in the grid.

	Translation Term	My/Our own meaning
	reconstruction	the rebuilding of buildings after being destroyed
	disasters	an event that has massive unfortunate results
	crises	a time of intense difficulty or damage
	rehabilitation	the restoration of someone to a useful place in society
	infrastructure	the basic physical and organization structure and facilities
	devastation	great destruction or damage
	public utilities	and organization supplying demands for the public

 

6.                   Name three situations which are listed as �natural disasters�.

a.    Earthquakes  

b. Drought

c. Flooding

7.                   Crescent Volunteers University

What are the three areas of training/qualification that university students could work towards?

a.    first aid     

b. Organizing events

c.  Getting experience

UNICEF Activity 1: Exercise #6

Open the link http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uae_44659.html

List and discus the latest newsline events in the United Arab Emirates

- Mahmoud Sabri, one of the youths who helped conceive the award- he and a dozen other teenage leaders from across the Arab world gathered in Dubai for the third Arab Media Forum on adolescents and media representation. - Delegates to the forum discussed youth participation in media programmes and debated a range of topics, such as ethical reporting standards, conflict and instability, education, employment, religion

UNICEF Activity 2:

How can you help UNICEF? Working in groups, fill in the table below.

Ideas of supporting UNICEF	Ways of achieving it	Date of completion
Helping children seria	- sending food  - sending clothes  - sending medicined	N/A
Building health care	- Sending medicine and medical crews - paying all medical fees	N/A
Housing children	- taking care of them - Educating them - supporting them mentally - helping them accomplish what they want	N/A
Develop their abilities	- Teaching them  - Training them	N/A

1. Takatof - Exercise #6

Click on the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMDUTjeymxk&feature=related

Activity 1

Using Google search for information about Takatof and answer the questions below

What is Takatof?

The Takatof programmer for social volunteering is a nationwide volunteering initiative in the UAE. 

  

Which year did start? And who started it?

established in 2005 under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

What volunteer work have they done?

 Takatof for school renovation 

 Takatof for special needs 

 Takatof for ramadan project 

 Takatof house renovation survey 

How can you help?
 
helping the project by volunteering and encouraging others to volunteer.

LSH 2903 – Community Service Learning

Week 4

Looking at volunteering in different spheres of society.

During the summer of 2012 the Olympic Games were held in London. David Moorcroft is a former athlete. At one point he held the world record for the 5,000 metres. David can be heard discussing the importance of volunteering the Olympic Games.

Zoe Hall is a lady who was one of the volunteers at the Games. She talks about the event and how important it was at the time as well as how much it has inspired her to continue working as a volunteer.

This link is about half way down the page.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/

Listen again and see if you can work out the answers to these questions about the interview:

1.                  How old were the Games volunteers? they were at all ages

2.                  During the Games, the volunteers had a special title. What was this special title? Game makers

3.                  Complete this quote from David… “… for a moment in time volunteering had a Profile and an Image that they fully deserved but don’t always get.”

4.                  David mentions that some of the volunteers are semi-retired. What does this mean? PART-TIME job

5.                  Zoe worked in Events Services. Where was this located?

                    Olympic stadium

6.                  How does she describe the experience of volunteering for the Olympics and Paralympics? Best experience in her life

7.                  What benefits of volunteering, according to Zoe?

a.       having fun

b.      Confidence

c.       Meeting new people

d.      getting satisfied 

8.                  Why does David feel that volunteering in the community is so important?

         to help organizing the halls, and give tourists the best experience they can get from this event

 This page is also from AGE UK.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/volunteers-week/

What volunteer roles do the following people have?

	Name	Job
1	John McArthur	Admin and information
2	Samarah Hashmi	Survey analyst volunteer
3	Oliver Stannard	Copy writer volunteer
4	Stanley Parker	Market Dayton shop volunteer
5	Camilla Williamson	Volunteer parliamentary assistant

Look again at these people and their jobs. What can you say about volunteering from the information in your chart?

Volunteering doesn't need to be like a job. you go ahelp with anyway you can it doesn't need to be in the field of study. if you can help in anyway you can you should go for an experience you'll never forget.

Human Rights Activity/ Exercise #4

1.     Present the map to the whole class.

·         Did any parts of your map have a high concentration of rights? How do you explain this? 

well of course, since this is a muslim country it is natural that there are many mosques in every area while churches are less. but this also can be explained by the fact the muslim pray 5 times a day while Christians pray one per week.  

·         Did any parts have few or no rights associations? How do you explain this?

well yes there were, this is due to the fact that they are very distant from he center and only little people live there. if we go to another place with higher density of people this would change as we've seen in the map

·         Are there any articles of the UDHR that seem to be especially exercised in this community? How can this be explained?

I would say the the right of education is strongly exercised in this community, we can see this in the number of public schools and university per city and the fact the public schools are on a higher level than private schools. I believe this is due to the fact that we are in a developing country so education is essential.

·        Are there any articles of the UDHR that no group included on their map? How can this be explained? 

          yes there are, some right association can't be shown in these maps wether it is because it doesn't necessarily have a building, or that it isn't practiced in this country. 
I would rather no to go in more details :) 

How could town/city planners might use information like this when they develop areas for their citizens?

they would take these information into consideration when trying to fix or develop an old place to make more habitant for people who has the need to practice these rights.

Maslow’s Human Needs - Exercise #2

Human Needs Activity 2: Exercise #2

Working in groups, discuss and answer the following questions:

1.     Does every human being have the right to reach the top of the Maslow pyramid?

Yes, everyone.

2.     Does every human being have the capability of reaching that level?

No, not everyone has it.

3.     What are the opportunities are needed to get to the higher level?

well it depends, but generally everyone needs motivation and the support of others to reach the top. To put in in a wider perspective what one needs is the satisfaction of the lower level of Maslow's hierarchy.

 

4.     What are the obstacles could stand in the way of reaching these levels?

this also depends, but generally it is the same if the lower levels weren't satisfied they would obstacles in his path for the higher paths.

5.     What could you do to help others to reach the higher levels?

s    I would definitely try to support whoever tries to achieve the higher levels, wether it was just being there for him or supporting his any way i can.

  .   What are your goals?

    My main goal is to finish my higher education and get a high degree in the subject that i love and is passionate for.