Community Service is an FS program where children from various underprivileged schools come and spend time with the students doing activities they enjoy. There are several activities the children could take part in like dance, football, frisbee, ICT, dance, sciences projects and arts and crafts – which I was a volunteer of. From 5th to 20th August, 6 sessions were held on the weekends in school where the children would take part in any and all activities they enjoyed. As an arts and craft volunteer, we were split into small groups. The children would come to each group in small numbers and the decided activity, like stone painting or finger painting for the weekend would be done. Bearing in mind that we were strangers to them and were teaching them something completely new, we kept our interactions engageable and cheering so they would feel encouraged to open up and talk and enjoy themselves.

LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
Most of the time, we would be trying to engage the kids into talking to us, smiling or even participating in the activities. Sometimes it would start to annoy me that I couldn’t get through to them. But then we learned that they were just as nervous as us and extremely shy. I learned patience and communication skills. After, perhaps the 3rd session, I was able to see them engage more freely and actively seek us out.

LO 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
Unequal access to resources and opportunities is a global issue. Interacting with these kids helped me understand that they valued the little things they were given and used them properly. This CAS experience of teaching arts and crafts to underprivileged kids showed me the chances given at quality education was as important for their future as it was for their creativity to be explored.

I’ve learned to be patient and understanding with children and to understand the situations they come from. Coming from a privileged background makes these experiences eye-opening to me.
At the end of the day, the best part of this CAS experience was the joy and smiles on the faces of the children.