CSR Round Two

Somehow, my nine other friends and I were chosen for this second CSR programme, a collaboration between FSTEP and Bank Rakyat. The moment I knew we had to manage about 200 primary schoolchildren from 8am to 4pm during the entire programme, I got weak.

Yes, I do love children but loving and being good at managing them are two wayyyy different things. But as any other Capricorn did whenever encountering a challenge, I rose to the occasion (chewah). I had to, anyway.

The CSR programme was primarily conducted by Bank Rakyat to encourage schoolchildren to save and open a savings account with them (clever). The day-long programme had a number of fun activities for the children including a science show by Petrosains team (in which I had fun watching it too). Us FSTEP participants acted as facilitators during the entire day, helping the children with their tasks and group activities.

Although these kids did get cheeky and fun to mingle with, there were times when I just felt like punching them (slow and hard) whenever they got too excited or simply couldn't take simple instructions, like, queueing up (which was most of the time). Tea break and lunch time were even more chaotic and needless to say, we had to come up with a stricter measure - which shall not be disclosed here *wink wink*. Kidding.

I am proud to say, I have a greater respect for school teachers for having to deal with these issues every.single.day. 

Despite that, one or two kids caught my attention that day. They were well-behaved, witty, super intelligent and just awesome to sit down and have a proper conversation with. One of them even became the subject of my oral presentation for the FSTEP final assessment test (thanks Syahmi for the inspiration).

By the time the programme ended, all of us were completely drained of energy. Having to manage and chase around 200 schoolchildren were no easy job, alright.

That night, I slept at 9.30pm.

Huge thanks to Amirrul for the photos.