Behind the egoistic facade: Prokhim Rembau 2008 Part 2 : Turbulence in the waters

Preparations for this community service does not start just a mere week or two before the event, but instead a few months before. Knowing that the task to make this project is far heavier than the ones our batch have had before, for instance the medical night dinner, Misi Banjir Pagoh, and so on, the ones chosen to be the top AJKs where voted by our peers, because they were thought to be able to handle the stress, and they could lead us to success.

Pengarah Projek with KJ

Unfortunately, not all of us are as hyped up to help out in the community service project. Some just submit their names in, but never helped. Others just turned their backs and didn't appear at all.

Turning their backs

In this semester we had about 3 months to study and cope with the practical side of our lectures, most of the preparations were done last minute. The fact that our batch were divided to four smaller groups also made it harder to make meetings, as everyone had their own commitments.

During ENT posting

During Ophthalmology posting

Besides that, problems were also encountered through the process of paperwork, and funding. Everyone still wanted to study and pass their exam, as that was the initial reason (of upmost importance) for coming to UPM after all.

Plenty of late night meetings were done, and some even extending through the study week to ensure that the programme came as smooth as possible. Some of the AJKs even stayed back after the exam (though there was about 1 week duration of holidays before the programme) to settle every single tiny detail of the programme. Even so, of course there are no programmes that are without any problems.

There were problems in transporting the equipment to Rembau, getting our T-Shirts late, preparation of door gifts and so on. Even I have to admit, some of the equipments we brought to Rembau was found of no use on the night we set up, (at that point I felt like cursing loudly) but thank God we had some back up plans (by asking for help from the Rembau people).

Everyone had their own moodswings, some thought their ideas were better than the rest, and that's when arguments came. (countless of times actually) It was hard to satisfy everyone, and most importantly, no one wanted to be the cause of any failure in the programme.