LESSONS LEARNED

There were few problematic areas which we tried to overcome such as communication issues within group members and difficulty to gain permission to distribute gift bags. We had to communicate through social media at all times especially having discussions through WhatsApp and Zoom. Sometimes when in the midst of a discussion, one member may interpret the discussion differently from another. Due to this confusion, minor issues have been raised, however we successfully managed to overcome every obstacle that comes through our journey together. As for the gift bags, most places did not allow us to distribute without a permission letter so we had to go outside mostly to search for frontline-workers around our nearby areas. 

 

We had quite a lot of successful areas including finding a total of 28 frontline-workers to distribute gift bags to, which is more than our initial target which was 20 frontline-workers. This was a huge success for us as it was a struggle to find frontliners who are able to contribute their time to have a conversation with us and accept our gift bags. Some were reluctant to entertain us but there were many who were so friendly and out-spoken that made it comfortable for us to reach out to them. Other than that, we got to spread the love and appreciation to frontliners in countries other than Malaysia such as Kuwait and Bangladesh with the help of our international group members, Fidha Haris Ideed and Lamia Hossain Raina. Fidha also designed beautiful mugs as her token of appreciation to frontliners. 

 

In the future, we agreed that having more group discussions does help in the process of carrying out community service. Communication is the vital key to effective results. It will be best to ask for help from the other group members if one does not understand so that the group can work effectively together as a unit and avoid communication barriers. We encourage everyone to be more open-minded and speak up ideas when necessary. Do not be absent-minded as this will not help anyone in getting a better understanding of the project tasks and purpose. Lastly, we encourage everyone to not be shy when approaching frontliners as they will be happy to see that we are acknowledging their efforts as we are showing our gratitude and appreciation to them.