Students Will Become Better People If They Engage With Community - Social Activist

From Shuhaida Mohd Said

PHUKET, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Students who have the opportunity to engage with the community directly in the course of their studies and extra curricular activities will become better people morally, intellectually and spiritually and become more self-actualizing people, a social activitist said.

Rashidah Abdullah who is also a researcher, consultant and founder director of the Asia Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (Arrow), said if the students continue with social development or community work on a paid voluntary basis after university, the work will be internalized to continue to shape their lives.

"But it needs to be said that the main motivation of engagement with the community has to be to help, not to reap the benefits.

"You see a need, you care about it and you want to help. Later on, you see that this assistance has made a difference in people's lives and this motivates you further to do more," she said in a talk at the Regional Convention on Students Development here Tuesday.

She said community engagement would also help moral education and build character as well as test and challenge what the students believe in, care about and think is the right thing to do.

"The thinking skills are also sharpened greatly and specific knowledge is gained by being challenged, by seeing and wanting to understand reality.

"Great learning can take place around human realities which develop the capacities for understanding, thinking, comparing, analyzing and questioning," she said.

Rashidah said the engagement would also increase their understanding of people and community needs, and the feeling connected to communities can lead to greater human capacity for empathy and caring.

She also said lecturers need to link more with the community for the same reasons and benefits.

"There are four broad ways of linking, namely within the courses or curriculum, extra curriculum activities, semester breaks or holiday opportunities and voluntary service," she said.

The three-day convention which began yesterday, was organized by Universiti Utara Malaysia, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, National Civics Bureau Malaysia and Prince of Songkla University, Thailand.

-- BERNAMA

500 M'sian And Thai Students, Staff Attend Regional Convention

From Shuhaida Mohd Said

PHUKET, Oct 29 (Bernama) -- About 500 Malaysian and Thai students and staff of institutions of higher education attended a regional convention on student development here.

University Utara Malaysia (UUM) Vice-Chancellor Tan Sri Dr Nordin Kardi said the purpose of the convention themed 'Enhancing Student Development' was to provide the different stakeholders in student development a tertiary context.

He said it provided an opportunity to establish or renew ties, and engaged one another in an open forum to exchange news, views and ideas.

"Participants will be able to generate new ideas in managing and enhancing student development in institutions of higher learning, especially in the Southeast Asia Region.

"This convention is most timely as it seeks to address issues of concern about student development in tertiary institutions which has to respond to new challenges and opportunities of internationalisation in an increasingly borderless world," he said at the convention here tonight.

Dr Nordin said the convention was an effort towards creating an opportunity to collaborate and network amongst participants from the various tertiary institutions of the region.

Participants are from Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Thailand, UUM, University Sains Malaysia, University Malaya, University Technology Mara, University Malaysia Sarawak and University Malaysia Pahang.

The three-day convention which began today, is organised by UUM, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, National Civics Bureau Malaysia and PSU.

-- BERNAMA

Alhamdulillah...

--- my hubby (Harith Bin Hashim), my baby (Rizqi) and me ---

--- Rizqi Idraki Bin Harith --- (8-month-old)

We are blessed with a lovely son named Rizqi Idraki Bin Harith. Born on Feb 2, 2008 (12.28 am) at University Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital. I named him "Rizqi" because to me he is the greatest gift for us, Alhamdulillah and "Idraki" – hopes that he will become knowledgeable and wise, insyaAllah… despite all my sins and my weaknesses, He still grant me with this lovely and adorable son. Thank you Allah…

******************

Alhamdulillah… for grant me this lovely child,

Subhanallah… for this greatest gift, and I really thankful to Allah,

Nauzubillah... May Allah protect him from troublesome,

InsyaAllah… He will grow up as a good Muslim and become 'Anak Soleh'

*******************

He Knows

When you feel all alone in this world
And there’s nobody to count your tears
Just remember, no matter where you are
Allah knows
When you carrying a monster load
And you wonder how far you can go
With every step on that road that you take
Allah knows
No matter what, inside or out
There’s one thing of which there’s no doubt
Allah knows
And whatever lies in the heavens and the earth
Every star in this whole universe
Allah knows
When you find that special someone
Feel your whole life has barely begun
You can walk on the moon, shout it to everyone
Allah knows
When you gaze with love in your eyes
Catch a glimpse of paradise
And you see your child take the first breath of life
Allah knows
When you lose someone close to your heart
See your whole world fall apart
And you try to go on but it seems so hard
Allah knows
You see we all have a path to choose
Through the valleys and hills we go
With the ups and the downs, never fret never frown
Allah knows
Every grain of sand,
In every desert land,
He knows...
Every shade of palm,
Every closed hand,
He knows...
Every sparkling tear,
On every eyelash,
He knows...
Every thought I have,
And every word I share,
He knows... Allah knows...

--- Zain Bhikha---

salam aidilfitri...

assalamualaikum...

raya tahun nih meriah ler sesangat coz tambah lagi tiga orang ahli famili baru...
tiga mamat nih bukan main seronot la beraya kat umah tok n wan kat kampung. walaupun masing2 tak pandai makan ketupat lagi, tapi bila sampai time makan, depa la paling kalut especially adik kiki... haha..

so far nih ja gambaq yang sempat diupload.. let me introduce da three heroes kesayangan wan id nih... yang dok atas pangku wan id tu namanya rizqi idraki bin harith (8 bulan). dia paling otai la.. ikut pangkat, dia adik, so sebab tu la orang pangey dia adik kiki..

yang seterusnya yang pakai songkok itam baju melayu biru tu.. yg muka monyok tu namanya muhammad irsyad bin irwan mohamad syah (5 bulan).. ikut pangkat dia yang tengah. kami pangey dia iyad. mamat nih dok negeri 9 nun.. orang soromban.. haha..

last but certainly not least, yang pakai lebai yang tomey lotey tu namanya muhammad qaimmuddin bin shahrulnizar (6 bulan). ikut pangkat dia yang sulung, so kami pangey dia abang qaim la...

well tu jala serba sikit crita pasai da 3 musketeers nih.. pertama kali sambut raya n they are lucky coz anjang depa yang dok kat johor pun balik raya kat kampung tahun nih.. pak polisi nih susah nak cuti, tapi tahun nih dapat cuti, so dapatla rasa kemeriahan dengan tiga ahli baru famili kami nih...

so bloggers, akhiru kalam, salam aidilfitri dan maaf zahir batin daripada kami sekeluarga...