Community service, an initiative that was organized in Fountainhead school to succor underprivileged children by providing them an opportunity to hone and groom their skills in their chosen clusters such as arts and crafts, dance, football, frisbee, science projects, and ICT.

I had been experimenting with different materials such as newspaper and plastic bottles to craft something beautiful and fun from a very young age. This propelled me to volunteer for the arts and crafts cluster in community service due to my inclination and skills. This event was conducted in August 2023 for 3 consecutive weekends for 12 hours. This was an experiential learning that not only allowed me to give back to the community but also helped me develop as an individual.

LO 2- Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
Teaching arts and crafts to underprivileged children was thronged with challenges. First of all, communication was a huge obstacle. This was because the children were only understanding Gujarati however I do not have a strong command over Gujarati language making it difficult for me to teach them. To overcome this, I started to improve my Gujarati some days before community service by communicating with my friends in Gujarati. Also one of my team members had a strong command of Gujarati helping me to communicate better with the children during the sessions. I was also involved in a lot of non-verbal communication where I explained each step in Gujarati while also doing actions for the same to help them understand my instructions better.

LO 5- Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
Throughout my IB journey, I have been working collaboratively in various groups which makes it easier for me to work with others. During this activity, it was easy to work with my team members. I did have difficulty teaching the younger children as they were not able to craft the works easily and were a bit mischievous. So I was very patient and taught them each step multiple times until they were able to do it successfully. Also, a lot of kids were shy and did not feel comfortable in the different environment. So I cracked some jokes and tried to become their friend rather than a teacher so that they feel more comfortable and pay proper attention in the session. It is important to work collaboratively with others because it not only helps complete the work faster but also allows people to use their specialized skills making the work more productive. In our case, we had a lot of work from the preparation of materials, communicating, and teaching so we divided tasks among the volunteers to ensure that all work was completed efficiently and on time.

LO 6- Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
The issue that we mainly catered to was SDG-4, Quality education. This issue is important globally because many children are not able to receive quality education, due to several reasons such as poverty and discrimination. Quality education is crucial to developing children as individuals, shaping society, and providing employment. Quality education does not only include academic education but also developing children holistically and honing their creativity. Knowing about such a global issue inspires me to make a change and contribute to solving this issue, even in the smallest way possible. It also makes me feel grateful for the privilege of receiving a quality education. After volunteering at the community service and interacting with the children not have access to good education, I found the issue of Quality education to be more serious and would also want to take such steps in the future to contribute to better education to build a better society.

LO 7- Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Ever since childhood, I have been learning and enacting a strong moral that is often followed in the society around me, “We have a responsibility to help those around us and help others in need.”From my point of view, if you have the resources and capability, you should try to be altruistic and utilize the resources and your skills for the welfare of others. Hence, my perspective of ethics also propelled me to volunteer in this community service to help the underprivileged community around me get quality education in terms of holistic development. Looking at the children being so happy with such less materialistic things in life, I found myself guilty of cribbing about small things and became more grateful for my life.

Takeaway:
Caring
I developed the learner profile caring as, to teach them, I had to first ensure that they were comfortable so I started taking care of them by being friendly to them, trying to talk to them about their daily life, singing songs with them, and helping everyone. This would not only help them to learn better but will also stay a beautiful experience for a lifetime.
Open-minded
I showcased open-mindedness. This is because the children were from a completely different financial background, and different culture and were speaking a different language. Despite all of these differences, I did not let myself behave differently with them and enjoyed the moments with them, learning their ways and language.
Communicator
I developed the skill of being a good communicator communicating with them, despite the language barrier through non-verbal communication and learning Gujarati.
Thinkers
I also showcased the attribute of being a thinker as I applied my creative thinking skills to help the children craft something creative and plan the activities.
After the community service, I felt more grateful for what I had and this experience has propelled me to contribute more to the community even in the smallest way possible. Though this experience was filled with challenges, I felt at the end of the day, it was a fruitful experience for me and the children. If I did the same activity again, I would also like to create a sort of club about different topics such as Economics and Physics for underprivileged children ensuring that the clubs are being conducted in Gujarati. In life, I would want to do something that helps to improve the education system because it is very important to nurture young children properly to build a better future.