Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
Community Service E-Journal
For this semester, one of our modules required us to group into teams of seven to complete our community service hours at our chosen NGOs. Among our initial choices were Sunway Lagoon, orphanages and old folks homes. We really wanted to do something that would benefit the community. Finally, due to schedule clashes and availability, we decided that out organization of choice would be My Pets Haven. It’s a privately owned animal shelter which is running on external donations and sales of pet products in order to sustain itself. The owner- Aileen Lee, is an avid animal lover and is very enthusiastic towards giving them a home.
Day 1 – We started our journey at 8.20 am in the morning as Aunty Aileen asked us to arrive 9 am which we found weird because the shop ended up opening at 10 am instead. This gave us a perfect opportunity to have breakfast at a nearby stall before starting our long day. Aside with us, there were 2 other volunteer groups from 2 different high schools. The place ended up being quite crowded but luckily we still had jobs to do as the store was big. We were assigned to the second floor where our tasks were to sweep and mop the floor. After that we needed to wipe the windows and mirrors with window cleaning agent and newspapers (to prevent any stains).
After I finished sweeping the floor, my teammate, Mok proceeded to mopp the floor using a mixture of floor detergent and chlorine. After that we had to clean the litter boxes inside the cages where the cats resided. I’ve never owned a cat before so my friend Aqil guided me in helping him change the boxes. It was not exactly a pleasant experience as the smell of cat excrement actually burns your nose like inhaling in chemicals. Moving on from there, I was tasked with sweeping and mopping the stairs and also cleaning the rails of the stairs while the others are tasked with cleaning the fans and the big cage with multiple compartments. It took a lot of time for them to clean the cage as Aunty Aileen wanted it clean from the inside to outside. We had our lunch break at 2.40p.m because Aunty Aileen had to wait for the delivery of a few bottles of thinner that we needed later on. She treated us to lunch that day and we had a conversation about her life experiences and what inspired her to do what she’s doing. We got back to work at 4 pm.
After the break, we proceeded to cleaning the aftermath left behind by the morning group where we needed to scrap off the spray paint beside the road using the thinner that was purchased that afternoon. The effects of the thinner on pavement wasn’t as effective as advertised so we resolved to using a combination of bleach and thinner. It did help slightly but we still couldn’t get the pavement back to its original color, we finally decided to give up. We split into groups of 2, one would be washing the floor outside the store, another would be walking the dogs. I helped Aunty Aileen move some new puppies into the cages that were spray painted this morning and hooked the water holding device into the cages. Before leaving, we refilled water for the dogs and we said goodbye to Aunty Aileen at 7pm.
I learned a lot today, for example how to clean cat litter, arranging newspaper for the dog trays, learning how to hook the water holding device and much more. It was a fun and satisfying experience knowing I was doing some good and beneficial. It really made an impact on my perspective about doing charity. Giving back to the community is really important as some people or animals lack the conditions to have a better life, so as a member of the community I would like to do charity work in order to help make their days a little bit brighter. Unlike humans, animals lack the ability to express their needs as we do, they can’t protect or defend themselves, so we should do the best we can to, and in return, we get unconditional love.
Day 2 – We had some issues arranging the next visit with Aunty Aileen as she had a lot of volunteers wanting to come on weekends. The only slots available were weekday evenings, so we only went for 2 more evening sessions. We usually start the journey at 4 pm and arrive within 30-40 minutes. We only come in groups of 3 as Aunty asked for 3 volunteers only. Our job for the day was walking all the dogs in the store and refilling water afterwards. Each dog takes about 10-20 minutes depending on the personality of the dog. We had to bring newspapers and pick up their excrement so that passersby won’t be unpleasantly surprised by stinky shoes. It was fun as I only got to walk 1 dog on the first day. It was more relaxing when walking with different dogs as I had to some time to run with them ( it’s a great cardio session for me), some of them are just good company. I even had to carry one of the dogs back to her cage as she didn’t wanna go back. As all good things must end, so ends our community service. I learned a lot about taking care of animals and how important it is to have compassion towards any living being from Aunty Aileen herself. She taught us to not discriminate against any animals, they all deserve to be loved. I’ll end this blog with a quote from herself, “Adopt, don’t buy” as this has really stuck with me.
Introduce Yourself (Example Post)
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
- Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
- Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
- Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
- What topics do you think you’ll write about?
- Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
- If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
