I Volunteer!
Nah, please don’t expect me to say it loudly like Katniss Everdeen when she found out that her sister, Primrose, was the one being reaped for the Hunger Games from their district—I am NOT that brave. However, if it is just a simple volunteering activity that doesn’t require me to kill anyone with the possibility of getting myself killed, then you can always count me in!
I love cats—and dogs, too, sometimes. Although if I have to compare the two, I can say that my affection towards the domesticated felines is slightly bigger than that towards the domesticated canines. Not that I don’t want to get to know dogs better—I’d love to—but the only close friend I know who has dog at their home stays in Klang. And as someone who does not have a driving license or a car, going from KL to Klang is a bit of a hustle. If you know, you know.
So when I saw an email from my company about an upcoming CSR volunteering activity at an animal shelter involving cats and dogs, I couldn’t help but to register myself. I even put my name on three different slots, just in case.
The animals at the shelter
Long story short, we arrived at the D-4 before the volunteering where we were given a briefing about the do’s and the don’ts at the shelter and what we needed to prepare before going there. It was practically a smooth process. Our batch is the first out of a total of 12 which are stretched until April 2024. There were a total of eight volunteers in our group, including one POC.
On the D-Day of 7 Nov 2023, we would be volunteering at the PAWS Animal Welfare Society in Ara Damansara. Most of my group, including myself—who happen to be staying nearby office—arrived there by Grab, while some others were using car. Upon arriving, we met one of the staffs and were briefed on the list of things that we have to do, depending on which section we choose. As I have almost zero experience with dogs, I decided to choose them. And, oh, boy, how happy I was for making that decision.
I never walk a dog. I never bathe a dog. I never clean a dog. I never pick up a dog. But it was all changed during the volunteering. I was hesitant and nervous, of course, but I think I can say I did a pretty good job there. Although I’m still a bit curious why I was given a medium-size dog despite my lack of experience in handling it, while some of my colleagues who have dog at their home were given the smoler-size ones—because I also want to play with the smol ones, too! T__T.
Me and my buddy
Another unforgettable experience was that when the dog I was walking with decided that it was his time to defecate. Of course, as one of the SOPs for those who chose dogs, we were also required to clean the poop. And so I did. The shelter provided smol plastic bags that we can buy at only 20 cents per piece, and we were required to take one or two before walking the dog, you know, just in case.
After walking, bathing, cleaning, and taking some pictures, we finally arrived at the end of the volunteering. At first, we were planning to have lunch together, but seeing that most of us were pretty sweaty (even the back of my shirt was also quite dirty because there was a dog that was trying to climb onto my back while I was bathing my dog), we all decided to go on our separate ways.
The first batch of the PAWS CSR
For me, since I was planning to move to Ara Damansara/Lembah Subang area, which I already did by the time I wrote this blogpost, I decided to take Grab together with Yona to nearby her place; and from there I continued my way and walked to see see—this is intentional—the potential apartment/condo before eventually went back home.
It was an exhaustive day, to say the least, but at the same time, it was also a joyous one. I’ve got a mixed feeling about the whole things, because a few weeks before that I was distressed by a horrible situation and I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to join the event. Luckily I was able to put the sadness aside and chose to go. Luckily, I did.
