Abilitiesme experience Reflection

During March 2014, I volunteered in Abilitiesme exhibition and conference at ADNEC. An exhibition mainly about special needs.There, I was standing at Emirates Autism Society stand accompanied by some of the founders of this society telling people about what it is and the goals of the society. It is a non-profit society found by mothers of autistic children to help other mothers and parents by workshops, meetings and even counselling to guide them how’s  the right way to deal with their children. During my volunteering hours, I met parents of special needs and heard about how they feel and how confused they are but the supervisor from the society was willing to help her with anyway possible.

 In the exhibition, I met special needs people and found about their acheivements ,for example, there was a group of boys with intellectual disabilities working at the desert group which is a landscaping company. This company decided to adopt those people and employ them, they trained them and taught them all what they are in need to know.

On the other hand, I noticed only people that work in this field or have a special needs person are coming to the exhibition, not many are coming to get knowledge. Although it was interesting to know about their acheivements in the conference.

I learnt a lot from this experience, hoe to deal with them without hurting them or being offensive, I was told by the organizers there that I shouldn’t offer any help unless they ask for it because they lived with  this situation for years and they are able to move around on their own.

I got inspired by a professor from Seoul University that lost coordination and movement in an accident but can still teach and do all his work through the iPad even though he is in this situation. This made me realize how able these people are to achieve and give their community and how hard working they are. I see those people could reach high positions in the country and might be even more productive than normal people.

Third day of volunteering (26 March 2014)

Today, Wednesday 26 March 2014, was the third day for volunteering and the last day of the conference. Like everyday, I stayed at the stand of Emirates Autism Society, we had some special needs employees from the Desert Group coming to our stand and drawing. It was a lot of fun interacting with them, they are so so creative, one of them likes cars so drew logos of cars companies, another one wanted to visit sheik zayed masjid so he drew one and another one drew a building which he said is Dubai Mall and didn't forget the details as he drew some palm trees as in reality.

 

We had our teacher Mr.Gregory Vrhovnik visiting the exhibition and the Emirates Autism Society stand watching what we do and discussing with us about the exhibition and how much we learnt and experienced new things.

Then we had some football players from Al Wahda club visiting the exhibition as part of Don't let me down campaign,joining the special needs basketball team and playing with them.

 

Finally, I got a certificate from Zayed Higher Organization for volunteering in this exhibition and conference, it was a great experience working with special needs directly without any barriers and experiencing their spontaneity with people.Also, meeting all those different people and parents knowing their problems and hearing the solutions from experts was really amazing.Hopefully, this category of people is well known now and people got aware of  their achievements.

Second Day of Volunteering (25 March 2014)

Today, 25th of March(12:30-5:30pm), I was in the same place as yesterday which is the stand of Emirates Autism Society, we met mothers or relatives of autistic children asking for help and advise. Also, we distributed a printed advertisement to other exhibitors about "Child Smile Campaign" it's a dental check up campaign for autistic children and their families done in collaboration with Dubai Dental Centre.

Then I attended part of the speaches in the conference room. Dr. Sang-Mook Lee, a professor at Seoul National University, spoke about himself and how he manages to work and teach. He's a geologist, nine years ago he had an accident at desert in California which made him "neck completely paralysed" so doesn't have sensation in the parts under his shoulders. Technology is the most important factor in his success in addition to his enthusiasm and hard working sure. Everything is scanned and sent to him and as he said he can't flip a page even so the sip and puff mouse from Samsung was the solution.


Another speaker,Mr. Malcolm Reeve, explained about the different categories of people with special educational needs and showed some statistics and analysed them. Then, I got a certificate for attending the conference and listening to the speaches.

  

Another important thing I did today is that I met and interviewed one of the exhibitors that did a lot to special needs, Ms. Reem Al Gaith the corporate social responsibility manager in the Desert Group company.

Question:Could you tell me about your organization and what you're exhibiting here?

Ms.Reem: We are the Desert Group, a national landscaping company operating in Dubai,working within the agricultural industry. Our group has 6 companies under one umbrella, part of it is nurseries which caters around 60% of UAE market. The reason we are here in the Abilities me conference is that we manage a social program (initiative) that started in 2006 trying to prove that people with intellectual disabilities can perform in any profession and job, in our case it's agricultural.

Question: So how are special needs involved in your program?

Ms.Reem: We've hired 32 special needs till now gradually since 2006, we're partnering with the ministry of social affairs and community development authority of Dubai. When creating this program we tried to develop a system to evaluate each one of them depending on their skills level, abilities, so we decided to create different working groups starting from the very basic job, mainly gardening,then we have nursery operations, potting soil, transferring plants, and the highest level is selling plants and classifying them ,so this system helps them to excel from one group to the other and we can identify which employee can transit from one group to the other. Also we have a reporting system in which we report their performance to management, stakeholders, parents and government and due to different professional and behavioural abilities of each one of them, the company has provided therapists which is necessary and created a mechanism where they can help them to get into the job smoothly not only understanding how to perform the task but also dealing with the employees because at the end you want to fuse them into the society. The first 2 years of the program we were delievering the skills to them and once we felt they are confident enough, can operate, talk to the public about what they do, to people that make an inquiry and answer it and socialise with others. It wasn't an easy journey but with the system and strategy we have, we focus each year on what we want to deliever on that year. Looking at the 5 job levels, each year we're focusing on a lower level and we consider the sales man level as a graduating level once one of them reaches it we know he reached what he wants because he can go speak to customers, knows the plants in the nurseries, give the prices of plants to customers so helps in the sales transaction and that's what we need. Now we're having 5 in the sales level and this year we're focusing on the middle level of the employees we want to rehabilitate them and give them more skills in order to reach the sales level , 1 or 2 of them reaching the sales level is considered success to us.

Question: What have you achieved in this exhibition or how did it add to your company?

Ms.Reem: It's a great opportunity to get exposed to co operative societies, try to create awareness and show the professional level of special needs so organisations are encouraged to open up doors of employment for other people with intellectual disabilities. Also, one of our goals of being here is linking business with social events, as we're a company that invest in training and employment unlike other companies that might invest in environment for example which is much easier, we want to show here that investing in social initiatives and providing employment through those initiatives gets us benefits on the long term like cost effeciency. For example, were operating as part of Dubai's government, ministry of labour eliminates fines because they appreciate what we're doing and supporting us in term of labour grading status so this is a good thing that would encourage others to do the same. Moreover, we've created a brand loyalty as customers coming to Desert Group or Dubai Garden Centre are happy to purchase from us as they have the impression that we are a responsible group so they can trust us. In addition, we're now getting key term projects because others want to be part of our initiative so we are getting returns for what we are doing and this is the most important point. If other companies understand the business benefits they'll provide jobs for disabled people whether physically or intellectually.

Another important event today, was the visit of His Highness Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to the exhibition and having a look on some of the stands of exhibitors.Also, he met the basketball team that were having matches on wheelchairs.

First day of volunteering (24 March 2014)

Today, Monday 24th March 2014(12:30pm-5:30pm) was the first day of abilities me 2014 conference and exhibition. As I reached there I went to the organizing team office, took my volunteering vest and I was assigned a job at the exhibiting stand of Emirates Autism Society, telling people that it's a non profit society established in 2012
by mothers of autistic children, the main centre is in Dubai. However, they're organizing events all around the Emirates. They make workshops, lectures and guide parents of autistic children about how to deal with them in the correct way so it mainly provides support to families. People can join the society as volunteers or members and anyone can give in donations or help by any other way they can, for example, I met a therapist that works with mind mapping helping autistic children to focus and another person was from a company that provides hygienic products that prevents infection of diseases and he offered helping the society by giving in some of those products.

          Stand of Emirates Autism Society.                      Basketball Match between wheelchair users.

Volunteers Meeting (23 March 2014)

   Today, Sunday 23rd March 2014(5:00pm-6:00pm), we had a meeting at ADNEC with the operating team at Abilities me Conference. It was mainly to give us an idea how to deal with special needs,for example not offering help to them unless they ask for it because they've been living in this condition for many years and are capable of handling the situation. Also, we had a tour around the exhibition halls to know where the places are and guide the visitors. In addition, we were told about some of the people exhibiting there like special needs centres that are announcing their opening during this exhibition, companies selling automobiles suitable for people with wheel chairs( some of the automobiles shown are from London), companies selling technology for special needs and the places where sports activities will take place. At last, we were told what we'll be doing during our volunteering time mainly welcoming visitors, guiding them and registering people's information for the conference.

This is an automobile suitable for children with physical or mental disabilities, it can sense the presence of something in front of it and change its direction of movement.

 

2903 Community Service – Volunteer Project plan form

2903 Community Service – Volunteer Project plan form

Follow this template to organize the primary details about your volunteer project:

   1.    Title of plan –

Abilities me Conference- Supporting the region’s special needs community.

   2.    Names of group participants:

1-Mahra Al Ameeri   2-Aysha Al Marzouqi

3-sara Al Marzouqi  4-Reem Al Tamimi

   3.    Organization (name) and contact person (supervisor + email):

Zayed higher organization, Eman Al Tamimi , Eman.altamimi@zho.ae

   4.    Purpose / what do you wish to accomplish?

To help special needs people and give them the chance to fuse in the society , through getting into schools or participating in activities and help aware people that they can achieve a lot.

   5.    Time/ schedule: students will volunteer for how many hours / week? Days?

We will volunteer for 4 days from 23-March -2014 unit 26-March-2014, Around 16 hrs .

   6.    To be successful what need to be done?

Ex: In the end, students must be able to type 20wpm English typing.

After this event we need to be able to communicate with special needs people and help them achieve what they are looking for, because we will benefit from this abilities exhibition a lot of things like how to develop our communication skills with normal people or disabled ones and try to get peoples' attention and convince all people that the disabled people appeal to the community by saying for them that they have abilities.Also, be more confident in meeting new people and make relationships with people experienced in this field.

   7.    What are the Benefits to the participants? (Both volunteers and recipients)

To give to our community, develop our organization, problem solving, and Teamwork and communication skills. So if we are success in those skills we will have a good reputation about our volunteering that people would want to benefit from us and be successful people. In addition, we've met and interviewed people working in this field and knew more about them.

   8.    What are the aims of the project

Give people awareness about special needs , their role in society and their abilities to achieve a lot regardless the type of disability.

   9.    Who are the target audience, and why?

People in the society other than special needs, managers of organization. Parents because they are the people that will provide the opportunities and chances for special needs to prove their abilities to achieve in their lives.

  10. What activities would your project involve?

We will be awaring people in stands and be part of the workshops helping others.

  11. Who would be volunteering?

Aysha , Reem , Mahra ,Sara.

  12. What are the benefits your project could bring to the target audience?

It will help target audience to consider special needs more in their activities or any opportunities they would offer.

  13. What problems do you think you might come across and how would you try to get around them?

Difficulty in dealing with deaf people, or if autistic children were present we don’t know how to deal with them if they got anxious due to presence of a lot of people do we get closer or keep for away. Also it would be difficult to deliver our message to the audience that special needs are useful and can achieve a lot even if it was in their own way that we might not understand.

LSH 2903 – Community Service – Learning / Exercise #7

LSH 2903 – Community Service – Learning /  Exercise #7 

Charity and Volunteering in the UAE - Information and Activities

The UAE is famous for its hospitality and the desire to give one's time and efforts to help other people.

Activities

Use the following link to access the website of the UAE Red Crescent.

Once you are there, see if you can answer the following questions. This will help you to find out what the organisation does, what some of their projects are and who are the people involved in the organisation.

http://rcuae.ae/

1.                   The UAE Red Crescent has contributed to a number of building projects both inside and outside the UAE. Name three projects the UAERC has worked on

a.        Construction of 858 masjids

b.        Drilling of 2254 wells

c.        Building houses.       

2.                   Name at least 4 countries the UAERC has worked in to provide various project assistance

a.        Palestine

b.        Sudan

c.        Pakistan

d.        Syria

3.                   What was the estimated total cost of projects undertaken in the UAE during 2009?

188 million dirhams.

4.                   According to the information about the foreign based projects, which group of projects received funding of 8,373,558 Dirhams?

                     

                  Projects in areas of housing, health, education and other infrastructure.

5.                   According to the information about the Foreign Projects, the UAERC is involved in some very important work. According to the English translation, these are listed below. Try to come up with an easy explanation for each of the terms in the grid.

	Translation Term	My/Our own meaning
	reconstruction	Building something that has been damaged or destroyed.
	disasters	Great harm, damage, death or serious difficulty.
	crises	Time of great disagreement or confusion
	rehabilitation	To return someone or something to a good or healthy condition.
	infrastructure	Basic services(transport, power supply) that a country uses to work efficiently.
	devastation	Damage and destruction
	public utilities	Services supplied to public like water,gas and electricity.

6.                   Name three situations which are listed as �natural disasters�.

a.        Floods

b.        Earthquakes

c.        Volcanoes

7.                   Crescent Volunteers University

What are the three areas of training/qualification that university students could work towards?

a.        First aid

b.        Volunteer work methods

c.        The International Humanitarian Law

UNICEF + Takatof Activity: Exercise #6

UNICEF Activity 1: Exercise #6

Open the link http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uae_44659.html

List and discus the latest newsline events in the United Arab Emirates

1- Arab Media Award on Child Rights initiated to honour outstanding achievments.(It's an award for the best written story that represents best the children rights.)
2- UNICEF and Dubai Cares support quality education to break the cycle of poverty.(It's a campaign to collect donations to educate 1 million child)
3- Police boost AIDS campaign in Dubai.(It's a campaign to aware people about AIDS and it included a march through the streets of Dubai) 

UNICEF Activity 2:

How can you help UNICEF? Working in groups, fill in the table below.

Ideas of supporting UNICEF	Ways of achieving it	Date of completion
Child survival and development	1-Sending psychologists to make the children feel better even though they're living in harsh conditions. 2-Sending nutritionists to help fight malnutrition.	-
Basic education	Send books, stationery and volunteering teachers.	-
HIV \ AIDS and children	1-Cooperate with red crescent to provide medicines and doctors within and out of the country. 2- Educate people about the dangers of this disease.	-
Children protection	1-Protect them from cold weather by sending heavy clothes and building shelters. 2- Protect them from hot weather by sending air conditioners.	-

1.     Takatof - Exercise #6

Click on the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMDUTjeymxk&feature=related

Activity 1

Using Google search for information about Takatof and answer the questions below

What is Takatof?

It is a voluntary social program that provides youth with social and humanitarian volunteering opportunities to help others that aren't capable of helping themselves.

  

Which year did start? And who started it?
It was started in 2007 by His Highness Sheik Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abudhabi.

What volunteer work have they done?
1-Community Projects (Environment): Spread awareness among youth to build an environment conscious culture.
2-Community Projects (Makeover): Give the youth a chance to help maintain community centres and houses of underprivileged families.
3- Ramadan Projects: Spread responsibility among volunteers and allow them to help others in the holy month.
How can you help?
By getting involved in the projects initiated by Takatof to help others and give back to my community.

Volunteering in different spheres of society - Exercise #5

LSH 2903 – Community Service Learning / Exercise #5

Week 4 - Looking at volunteering in different spheres of society.

During the summer of 2012 the Olympic Games were held in London. David Moorcroft is a former athlete. At one point he held the world record for the 5,000 metres. David can be heard discussing the importance of volunteering the Olympic Games.

Zoe Hall is a lady who was one of the volunteers at the Games. She talks about the event and how important it was at the time as well as how much it has inspired her to continue working as a volunteer.

This link is about half way down the page. Then click on 'Hear more radio features' - page 2 Volunteering  - to hear the selection again..

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/

Listen again and see if you can work out the answers to these questions about the interview:

1.                  How old were the Games volunteers?

            They were from all ages.

2.                  During the Games, the volunteers had a special title. What was this special title?     Games Makers because without the games wouldn't have really existed.

3.                  Complete this quote from David… “… for a moment in time volunteering had a profile and an image that they fully deserve but don’t always get.”

4.                  David mentions that some of the volunteers are semi-retired. What does this mean? They're delivering a message to the community what to continue to do so.

5.                  Zoe worked in Events Services. Where was this located?                                                   In the Olympic Stadium.

6.                  How does she describe the experience of volunteering for the Olympics and Paralympics? It was the best experience of her life

7.                  What benefits of volunteering, according to Zoe?

a.       Fun

b.      Satisfaction

c.      Confidence

d.      Meeting new people

8.                  Why does David feel that volunteering in the community is so important?

1- They're a unique bunch of people.
2-Organizations depend on them from all ages.
3-They give some of their valuable time to the community.

 This page is also from AGE UK.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/volunteers-week/

What volunteer roles do the following people have?

	Name	Job
1	John McArthur	Administration and Information volunteer.
2	Samarah Hashmi	Survey Analyst volunteer.
3	Oliver Stannard	Copy Writer volunteer.
4	Stanley Parker	Market Draytor Shop volunteer.
5	Camilla Williamson	Parliamentary Assistant.

Look again at these people and their jobs. What can you say about volunteering from the information in your chart?

        Volunteering isn't restricted for a specific age range or retired or unemployed people. Its a humanitarian job that anyone can do to give back to their society.