Our elders have always taught us to show selflessness by helping others through the resources we have been blessed with. I have rarely been involved in tasks which involved donating resources to the underprivileged, but I surely wanted to get the experience of doing so. CAS gave me the perfect opportunity to do so. 

I participated in Food Donation in which we visited a society built by the government for people who were underprivileged. These sessions were organized for 6 consecutive weekends for 1.5 hours (10:30 a.m -12:00 p.m). We went there not only to donate food but also to help the children who studied in government schools with their studies and to make them smile through fun sessions where we played games such as Kho-Kho, Pictionary, etc. We used to donate the food at the end as a reward to the kids so that they also get engaged in academics.

LO 4 – Showing commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

As mentioned earlier, this programme demanded us to wake up early as it was held on weekend mornings and waking up on weekends is the hardest task. Weekends were also the only time when I got to study my SL subjects, so taking out 1.5 hours of my day was also a tough decision I made. Other than that, monitoring each student and keeping each of them engaged in some or the other task was also something. To do the same, we divided tasks within ourselves and each of us sat with a couple of children to teach them a skill. Speaking about sessions where we made them play, in most of those sessions we played with them as well to make it more fun and mainly so that they do not feel that they are different from us. 

LO 6 – Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

During this programme there were 2 main global issues we catered to, “Quality Education” and “Hunger”. To commence with quality education, though these children had been going to government schools they and their parents did not realize the benefits of education because of which they gave nearly zero importance to education. So, me and my colleagues took the responsibility of teaching academics to the younger children. I personally helped a few 3 graders learn and practice basic mathematics such as multiplication and division. I also helped a few teenagers in revising the concepts they learned in their schools about Physics such as Momentum. Additionally, we also noticed that the physical condition of the children was not very great. Most of them seemed underweight and it seemed that they did not get enough food. To tackle this issue, we served them good, nutritious food after each session. Occasionally, we also have them biscuits as a treat that they truly deserve. It really made me happy as I saw the joy that appeared on their faces when we gave them food. 

To conclude, I would like to mention that participating in food donation made me realize how blessed I am to have such a great life. And it made me realize that I should be thankful and grateful for the things I have. It also made me understand the importance of donating things as seeing the wide smiles of the children when we gave them food and played with them made me emotionally happy. It made me realize that we should always serve others when we have been blessed with countless things in our lives.