Community-Based Outreach through ‘STOP.THINK.TEST HIV/AIDS’ Social Campaign: What Have We Learned?

Abstract

On July 4, 2015 during Ramadhan, the School of Distance Education (SDE), in an event led
by Dr. Wan Afezah Wan Abdul Rahman, once again organized a community program
involving the staff and the students. There were about 60 participants. The program was to
deliver donations collected among staff and students such as clothing, food and “duit raya”
(donation money) to the orphans at Ummu Salamah Orphanage in Grik, Perak, the poor in
Kampung Padang Dan in Baling, Kedah, and the poor in Kampung Ulu Kerian in Grik, Perak.
The goal of the program was to contribute and give back to the community. The program
started at 7.30 am at SDE where we, the staff and students, uploaded donation items into
our transports. The first stop was Kampung Padang Dan, where we donated clothes to the
villagers. We gave donated clothes, groceries and donation money to 28 poor families at the
same location on May 23, 2015. This time, the idea was to deliver more clothing items as per
the request of the villagers. Next, we proceeded to Orphanage Ummu Salamah in Grik,
Perak as our second stop. At Ummu Salamah, Dr. Main Rindam delivered a motivational
speech and organized a game with the orphans, followed by a “duit raya session”. This was
when the orphans could not hold back their tears as they received more than 20 packets of
duit raya. We delivered food, new baju raya, 40 new mattresses, money for kitchen
expenses and building construction, and duit raya to the orphans and five families. At
Kampung Ulu Kerian, Grik, we donated food and duit raya to 30 needy families. We donated
about RM19,500 for the cause. The donations were intended to alleviate some of the burden
of poor families in preparing for the upcoming Aidilfitri celebration. The program has given us
a humbling and memorable experience. It also increased our understanding of the hardship
of the poor. We headed home to USM at 6 pm tired and happy.