Along with a few students of grade 12, I joined them in having hearing and speech impaired children involved in some activities like diya painting and decoration and other fun games. The school we visited for this project had resources that could only suffice for basic education and accommodation, no extracurricular activities can be conducted. These activities are necessary for these children to begin the process of self-expression. Creative experiences help these children express and cope with their feelings.

Learning Outcomes Achieved:

LO2- Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Communication was a massive challenge, our group had no such exposure to sign language, this made our work harder. Nonetheless, with the help of the caretakers in the school, we learned some basic signs, like ‘thank-you’ and so on, which helped us create a better rapport with the children. Although we couldn’t understand everything they were trying to say, we learned a lot about they cope with their challenges, and their day to day lifestyle. We were open to taking this challenge and coming out of this project with developed communication and social skills.

LO3- Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

Planning the event prehand was indeed helpful, since it allowed the event to run easy. We had to keep in mind that the children wake up at 5(am) in the morning, which means that by the time of this event, if not kept creatively busy, they will most likely get exhausted and bored, which is something that we definitely want to avoid. Furthermore, the challenge of communication complicates a lot for us. Planning and organising was required and through the experience, we were able to develop our skills.

LO4- Show commitment to and perseverance

To ensure the children had a great experience, we as the organizers had to remain committed to the project, we accepted the difficulties and overcame them as often as we could. We showed up with enthusiasm, which made the flow of the event easy-going. We showed perseverance.

LO5- Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Working collaboratively was what kept this event together, the in-change of this event was one of the students from grade 12, and with his help, he assigned us with roles that we would be best at. I believe, that was a great decision, we all had work distributed and we knew precisely what we should do. Workload was decreased this way, and it was helpful.