I've been rather quiet here lately, but my brain barely shuts itself up for the past year though (especially for the past month - I have a constant inner monologue that I myself couldn't control!). I have a lot to write, but time constraint means my thoughts are also constrained within the space of my mind. But God has been kind enough today to grant me some time and space to be here, so here we go!
As my gap year is coming to an end, I might as well write another post to wrap it up (you can read the first part somewhere among the recent posts lol - only if you want to, of course). In the previous post, I talked about my internship in TFM (in which I feel the length of the post is not doing justice to the amount of experience and knowledge I have gained during my 6-month "tenure"), my first ever fundraising experience, and I shared a list of books I have read for the first half of 2021.
Sometimes I find myself staring blankly at random spaces in my room, thinking to myself that, I have been granted the opportunity to do SO MANY THINGS this year (alhamdulillah ðŸ˜) despite the fact that I actually felt that my life has been rather stagnant and not making so much progress like my friends did. But yeah, in reality, so much (drama and plot twist) has happened for the past year that - quoting my conversation with my best friend - "if my life is a movie or a TV series, we lost count of which season we are currently in" lol
Well, it could have been stagnant and less hectic (with still a lot of drama), but everyone knows Hamizah is a person who can barely stay still.
MSGA Experience: Conducting research on social issues
Since I wasn't sure what I was going to be up to after graduating, I submitted an application to be part of a student-led organisation Malaysian Students' Global Alliance when they were recruiting in July 2020. I was later invited for three interviews for three different departments: Corporate Communications and Marketing (CCM), Social Research (SR) and Advocacy (ADVO). Alhamdulillah, I was offered a position as an Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Social Research (which actually sits under a bigger department called Research & Analytics). I am quite lucky to have teammates that I get along quite well with throughout the one-year-long tenure, and everyone is very understanding and supportive of each other.
As "social researchers", we mainly conduct research on social issues that are happening in Malaysia. Well, we were actually quite ambitious in the beginning - we wanted to pitch our policy papers for organisations to adopt, organise webinars, invite speakers for a forum or podcast - but it was much easier said than done :') But alhamdulillah, we managed to compile some research papers and I have learned a lot about social issues in Malaysia, in which some of them are things I was not even familiar with or aware of.
If you're interested (to check out our publications ehek), here are some of the issues my team has looked into for the past year:
Overall, I would give my MSGA experience a rating of 3.0/5.0, since I love research and being part of the team boost my motivation to read up on social issues. I also did a little bit of data analysis, and I am glad I get to apply some of the analytical skills I learned during my internship with TFM. As an AVP, I have weekly meetings with my own small department and bi-weekly meetings with the whole organisation - which is not too bad, and the meetings are only between 1-2 hours. We also have MSGA Academy where I had the opportunity to attend a workshop on job interviews and resume writing with KPMG, a talk on civic advocacy with a speaker from MYER, and a sharing session on leadership with our speaker who is also a lawyer. At the end of the day, I guess the experience depends on the degree of your involvement. The more active your engagement is with the tasks and events, the more you learn and benefit from it!
Volunteering (read: Fundraising) with Charisma Movement!
Since I truly enjoyed my experience of fundraising for Small Changes last time, I decided to sign up as a fundraiser for another NGO known as Charisma Movement for the beneficiaries of their flagship initiative: Project Anak Malaysia. Alhamdulillah, in the span of one month (from mid-August to mid-September), I had successfully raised a total of RM750 - and guess what, that's actually RM250 more than the initial target set for us fundraisers! (feeling super blessed and touched for the overwhelming support and contribution I have received throughout the fundraising period *brb crying*)
Orang selalu kata, "one thing leads to another". I was extremely surprised (and honoured too actually) when my friend, Ming, who is also one of the executive directors of the organisation, randomly texted me and invited me to be one of the speakers for their fundraising event: Charisma Virtual Camp. Since I offered proofreading service and resume review for my fundraising initiative, Ming had invited me to share about CV and cover letter writing in a half an hour session. To be really honest, I was embarrassed; I don't think I am actually qualified to give out these kinds of talks haha but since it's a favour for a friend, I decided to go for it - well, it's a great opportunity that may not knock twice anyway. After the event was over I had a feeling I spoke too fast like a bullet train as I always did... Haih Hamizah, you really need to work on the pace of your speech :')
Virtual volunteering experience with Small Changes
I signed up to be a volunteer for Project Beanstalk almost immediately after I found out that we will be working with Orang Asli students. Being an anthropology graduate, I can't help but have this intense desire to get to know the indigenous communities in Malaysia, but never really get the opportunity to do so.
The project was supposed to run in May/June, but due to the rise in covid-19 cases, it has been postponed over and over again before we finally decided to have it online. Well, we ended up having hybrid sessions in September/October as things have been getting better since mid September alhamdulillah :) I think it was my first experience curating, developing, and actually conducting the modules we created ourselves. I particularly enjoyed conducting the session on Health Hygiene because the primary school students were very engaging. I started with a "This and That" game and the fact that I led the module made me so proud of myself. But of course shout out to the volunteers who were physically there in the Kampung Orang Asli in Ulu Yam to help facilitate the session (too bad I was in Terengganu :')) but anyway you guys are the best!
(that said, sadly I still don't get to physically engage with Orang Asli community :') maybe next time huhu)
I guess this post just turned out to be filled with my experience with different student organisations and NGOs over the past year XD It was great though, I had never regretted my decision to apply and sign up for those roles. It has helped me stay sane throughout this tough period given how it has kept me (very) occupied, and motivated me to stay alive too, knowing that I have some sort of life purpose (through giving back to society).
To a more fulfilling year and rewarding experiences to come, insya Allah! :)
Originally written on: September 20, 2021
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