KUANTAN, July 12 — Being a volunteer at a vaccination centre (PPV) is likened to killing two birds with one stone for Siti Nurhikmah Razlan, because apart from helping to boost her confidence in front of strangers, the social service job gives her self-satisfaction.
Siti Nurhikmah, 23, is a person with disability (PwD). Visually impaired in one eye since birth, she said that the desire to serve in this COVID-19 pandemic situation caused her to always look out for opportunities at any PPV, before being informed that the PPV Dewan Jubli Perak Sultan Ahmad Shah, here, was looking for volunteers.
The eldest of two siblings, she is grateful to her father, Razlan Ramli, 46, and mother Diana Hussin, 44, for their support by allowing her the use of their car to get to the PPV, which is located about 20 kilometres from their house in Balok Perdana, here.
“Since childhood, my father has kept reminding me not to feel inferior to others. In fact, he often took me to welfare or community programmes related to his work in the navy, which may have served as training grounds for me to be more self-confident.
“Interest in volunteer work may also have arisen because I used to follow my father around a lot (on his work-related matters), making me realise that my lack (disability) is not an obstacle to anything you are passionate about,” she told Bernama when met on her first day of duty at the PPV, today.
Siti Nurhikmah, a Bachelor of Office System Management student at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Puncak Alam, Selangor, said that there are some people who have the habit of staring into her eyes. Uncomfortable as it may be, she dismisses their actions as just curiosity.
Talking more about her job as a volunteer, Siti Nurhikmah said she will work until September before undergoing industrial training to complete her study requirements. Among her roles at the PPV is to manage the registration of vaccine recipients and give out instructions (about the process).
According to her, meeting with various sections of the community at the PPV helps her to improve her communication skills, one of the main requirements when she enters the working world in her field later.
“Now I don’t have to attend lectures online because it’s almost the end of the semester but I just have to complete the assignments given by the lecturers, which I do in the evening as my daytime is spent at the PPV,” she added.
Siti Nurhikmah also hopes that more young people will become volunteers as a sign of participation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
