By Nanauzir
Serving various clubs and societies are under the umbrella of CENSERVE (Centre for University Social Responsibility), would provide students with a platform to improve leadership and interpersonal skills through participation and involvement in community activities.
This is interesting because CENSERVE believes in placing importance on all rounded, holistic lifestyle for IIUM students. Hence, CENSERVE caters to a wide range of clubs and societies to accommodate each student’s needs. In order to have a variety of approaches, three big bases have been created: mentoring and facilitating base, the Orang Asli base project, and outreach base.
For mentoring and facilitating base, there are six societies and clubs that have different objectives and aims. Each of them has its focusing groups. Akhi Club aimed at mentoring projects for primary school children from low income families which is different from INSPIRE Club.
Akhi Club also handles motivational programmes for teenagers with disciplinary problems and juvenile inmates in Kajang Prison. On the other hand, Caring Club focuses on orphanages around Gombak, Kuala Lumpur and Banting. The programmes are usually organised during semester vacations and weekends. Besides these three, other clubs that are doing mentoring and facilitating are Steadfast, Sendi and Gemilang.
For the Orang Asli base project, two big clubs, JASA TITIAN ASLI AND COMRADE, are serving and cooperating with JAKWA (Jabatan Kemajuan Orang Asli) and PIPUA (Pusat Intelek Orang Asli). The aim of theese societies are somewhat similar to one another which is to help the  Orang Asli, based on their locations. Interestingly, for this year’s programme, these three clubs will be collaborating with one another to hold summer camps in IIUM. Usually members of the club will go to where the Orang Asli are, but this time around, the Orang Asli will come here.
Joining a club or society would be a great opportunity to indulge in some forms of charity and welfare work. For example, in Quranic Youth Club, activities and programmes promoting the Al-Quran as the way of life, are held. Apart from that, they also teach outreached people to read the Quran and carry out activities together with the Rohingya refugees.
There are many more clubs that students would benefit while studying in IIUM. You definitely would not regret joining any one of them.
So it’s still not too late to join these clubs. The CENSERVE exhibition only ends this Thursday. Why not step out of your comfort zone and try something that you have not done before. Trust me, that would make your life far more interesting and boost your confidence.***