From the start I have always enjoyed being a part of something providing service towards children. These types of services help kids grow holistically. The kids studying in government schools don’t get enough chances to grow holistically and thus these services help them grow and cope up with the same. The service I participated in involved educating children in the skills of art and craft, dance, science and sports. It was not only this but the best part was spending time with the kids, trying to communicate with them in their language(Gujarati) and bonding up with them. This service took place for 3 weeks and the kids were called every weekend for the same. I was part of the dance team where there were a huge number of kids who participated. All the kids were of different ages and from different schools. In dance we had to make sure that every single kid is understanding the steps and is able to do it. For the same, some volunteers were on the stage and most of them were spreaded out between the kids and were looking up to the kids around them whether they were understanding or not. The main lead who knew the steps and choreography was on the stage teaching them all altogether. These kids came from a place where they didn’t have the amount of resources we were provided with in our school and after looking at them I felt so privileged to have what I have.

During the community service, I demonstrated several Learning Outcomes(LOs) which include:

Learning Outcome 1 – Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

I was able to determine my strengths and weaknesses because of this service. Working with people, dancing, and interacting with “kids” were definitely my strong points. However, I must admit that speaking Gujarati was one of my weaknesses at the time. I gained a deeper understanding of who I am and how I interact with those with whom I am not particularly close after realising my strengths and weaknesses. Every person should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses in order to better understand who they are, where they need to grow, and what they are currently strong at. Since I intend to complete my bachelor’s degree in Gujarat, I would need to improve my communication skills in the language. And I’ll need to learn it because I’ll be using this language a lot in the future to communicate with college students.

Learning Outcome 4 – Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

The only part which made this activity difficult was to get up early in the morning even on Saturdays and sundays. The commitment which was required was to not miss a single day and attend every session of the same. It was not easy to get up early on the weekends and attend the school but the only motivation was the amount of fun I had every single day in these sessions and which helped me be persistent and committed towards the activity. It was very important to show perseverance and commitment towards the activity to make it a success and also learn that whenever you take up any responsibility it is important to be committed to it and show perseverance.


Learning Outcome 5 – Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

For me it is not a difficult task to work with others rather that is something I enjoy as it makes things more fun and interesting. During this service as well it was a very easy and fun task for me to collaborate with others as it made the work easier and at the same time made it fun as there were a lot of them. Yes, there were some people who were creating problems every single time but as we were many of them there were other people who handled it and let it not hinder our service towards the kids. It is very important to learn to work collaboratively with others because in life it is not always possible that you get to work alone or work with people you know or are close with. That’s why you need to be aware and comfortable to work with everyone so that you don’t face problems in your life ahead. Our activity wouldn’t have been a success without having teamwork in it. As every individual had the understanding of how and where we had to stand, no one was making a ruckus about it. Everyone knew why the people standing on the stage were standing there and why the people between the kids were standing there. But at the same time we all also had that understanding where we were switching our places every week so that everyone gets a fair chance and can be at every place. Teaching so many kids together is not an easy task and is only possible when there is unity in the team and the team is ready to work together.

This activity clearly shows how in the real world everything works in a different way. Being only with your school mates it was the same thing and we all were used to it but as these kids from another school with different way of living came to our school and we had to be with them for those days we got to learn a lot more and how it is not that easy to adjust with everyone but that is something we have to learn and get used to. This service was a complete success and it made me feel really happy and privileged to be a part of it. It gave me a lot of memories, learning, experiences and what not. If I ever get a chance to do this activity again I would surely increase the days of this service from 3 weeks to atleast 5 weeks.