·       2903 Community Service – Volunteer Project plan form

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

1.    Title of plan –

Volunteering experience

2.    Names of group participants:

Saeed AlDhaheri(H00269149)

HASAN AL ZAABI (H00269372)

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

FUTURE CENTER ( SPECIAL NEEDS)

4.    Purpose / what do you wish to accomplish?

Gain as much experience as we can and different skills possible from voluntary work. To learn how to communicate with special needs although we though its hard but eventually we gained some experience.

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

Sunday : 9-10 Tuesday :9-10 Wednesday : 10:30 -12:30

Total hours done= 16 hours

6.    To be successful what need to be done?

First we need to enhance our communication skills, and observation skills. Also, the ability to act on spot. And we need to be patient so we can deal with each and every kind of disabilities. Ex:hyperactive ,downsyndrome .

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

 First of all we gain experience and this stays with us till lifetime. second we made a change in class and we had some ideas that helped the future center to  develop

Ex: we told them to take the kids to a movie but unfortunately we didn’t have time to go with them .

MY SELF REFELCTION

Through my volunteer experience I learned how to communicate to special need people and how to make them happy and make them love me in too many ways, I faced four kinds of disabilities and I learned how to communicate with them all ,some of them are deaf ,blind, hyperactive, and down syndrome 21. I learned some hand gestures that I can use with the students who cant hear.

Every time I enter the organization and go to the supervisor she welcomes me with joy and happiness, even when I enter the class, there is a student who stands up and hug and welcomes in a happy way. Its going to influence me in the future if I saw a special need person I will know how to welcome him and treat him with passion. I’ve worked with almost all kinds of special needs so it not going to be hard for me to communicate with  them

 If I had a chance to volunteer again I would go to (Future Center) because I really loved the organization, after a month of volunteering everyone knows us and they didn’t want us to leave even the students told me to come back as soon as possible .I’m really willing to visit them soon and if I have a free time I will be volunteering and let it to be a part of my lifestyle .

LAST 2 DAYS FROM VOLUNTEERING

On the last 2 days we helped in class work as usual , and its like goodbyes moment it hurts a bit , because i got used to go there and help them 3 times a week. on the last day we went to  music class and the students started singing and one of the students played drums and your going to see it in the pictures and video below , we interviewed the supervisor Mrs.(Anjum) and the class teacher Mr.Atef but we couldn't do a video , i barely took pictures . i wish when i have free time to go back and say hii to boys .

Interview of Mrs. Anjum Jaffer, Head of Education, Future Centre for Special Needs by Saeed Al Dhaheri and Hasan Al Zaabi of HCT Men’s College
Q. 1 Do you think this job requires more humanity than any other job?
AJ: It is definitely important for people working in the field of special needs to have compassion because it helps us to understand the difficulties our students and their families face and how best to help them.
Q. 2 Do you agree that this job needs patience with the students?
AJ: Yes. Patience is the key when working with individuals with special needs. Many of them learn skills at a much slower pace than typically developing people. Therefore, their teachers need to give them the time and practice they need, not get frustrated if the students are not able to learn something and find new ways of teaching them.
Q. 3. Is this Centre the best for special needs or it needs more facilities?
AJ: I do not wish to say if Future Centre is the best centre or not for individuals with special needs. However, we have received several awards including the Khalifa Award, which shows we are definitely one of the best. We are always looking for ways to improve our services.
Q. 4. How do you treat the new students?
AJ: At the beginning of the school year, new students are called to school one or two days before the others so they get used to the teachers and their classrooms. They are given special attention until they settle down.
Q.5. Can they work after they finish from the Centre and get married?
AJ: Some individuals with mild learning difficulties can work and get married. Eight of our ex- students are working now and one has got married.
Q.6. Why did you choose this job?
AJ: I liked the idea of helping children who could not study like the others but had the potential to. I felt encouraged when I saw that I had made a child learn something that he was struggling to learn for a long time. I also think that there are many people who can teach in mainstream schools and universities, but only a few like me have the qualities to teach individuals with special needs. So, I pursued this profession.

Q.7. Do you face some problems with their students, their parents? What are the problems and why?
AJ: We have not faced any serious problems with our students or their parents. We believe in maintaining a good and honest relationship with the parents, hence, the question of problems does not arise.
Q.8. What is the goal of the Future Centre?
AJ: The mission of the Future Centre is- ‘To equip individuals with necessary knowledge and skills to enable them to realize their full potential in a safe, secure and stimulating environment in order for them to lead fulfilling lives’. We work hard towards accomplishing this mission.
Q.9. Are you satisfied with this job?
AJ: Yes, it is challenging but very satisfying.
Q.10. What are the activities the students can do?
AJ: Our students are exposed to all the activities that are done in other schools but our main focus is on teaching them functional life skills. Those who are able are taught reading, writing, Mathematics, Science and Geography. They are also taught computer skills, art and craft, music and some vocational skills. Everything is taught at individual levels so each student has a chance of achieving his potential. 

6th & 7th day(week3)

of volunteering.

On the 6th day we came for about 30 mins and we left because they had a field trip to Al Raha Mall to watch a movie (RIO2) ,so we helped them do puzzles in the 30 minutes we stayed in the class we wanted to go with them but they have already booked for the seats so we were unlucky.on the 7th day we reached there and it was time for their break so we were helping the teacher to teach them how to clean there plates and throw the wastes in the garbage , after that they started art class as u see in the pictures below ,we did a very good job and the teacher was very happy that we are in class.Before i leave one of the students wanted to take  a picture with me.

4^th&5^th day of

Volunteering

On these two days ,Mr Gregory visited us in the future center and we were helping students in math and they were playing a game to make them understand better than just reading numbers they played snakes and ladders , and on the 5^th day we helped the teacher to count money as u see in the picture below this is Mubarak my student which I really like.

2^ND&3^rd Day of volunteering.

22-23/04

We entered a new class, a higher level class , older students and a different disorders , Ex; Mubarak is the student which I help he has down syndrome and some of them are hyperactive etc..

We helped the teacher in class work (Math and English) . Sometimes I find difficulties to explain to Mubarak because he looks at me and he thinks I’m joking while I’m just smiling and I really love the boy. It’s a very good experience I’ve ever had in my life, and I’m thinking to volunteer in my free time.