People that undergo physical and mental disabilities is a group that I really care about and feel particularly empathetic towards, because life is already difficult to navigate as is without any sort of hindrances that take away your upper hand. Because of this, I chose to volunteer in an organisation (Sneh Angens) which aims to provide a sense of community and employment to children with health disorders such as Down’s syndrome by helping them make newspaper bags which are then sold to organisations to help pay them.
LO 2 – I developed new skills in terms of making and decorating paper bags, as that is what I had to teach in the workshop. This was aided to by my previous foray into arts and crafts, but still required new forms of learning through the internet via videos on YouTube. It was also challenging to teach a new set of people, and their circumstances meant that I had to persist more while teaching, which I overcame by constantly reflecting on the experiences I had in the workshop and by gauging their reactions to what I did.
LO 3 – I had to plan this by looking for organisations that both made use of and enhanced my skills while doing good for the community. I also took help from my mother to reach out to the organization, which was of one of her friends, and had to manage my time through spreadsheets accordingly.
LO 4 – I had to be committed to this as I had to teach people with down syndrome and other conditions, which meant that it was more challenging than usual. This meant that I had to persevere, and I did so because of my empathy that I felt towards said kids.
LO 5 – I was working collaboratively with other volunteers, which meant that my workload was split and made easier, as we were able to divide the task into segments and form stations in the workshop, which helped us to maintain a ratio of three people to a volunteer. This also meant that it was a far better and more streamlined experience than it would have been otherwise.
LO 6 – I catered to the global issue of equality and opportunities, as we were providing opportunities to people who weren’t treated equally and this was done by both spending time with them and giving them skills that would lead to employment.
LO 7 – It was positive in terms of the ethical aspect, as we were proving opportunities to people that didn’t get the same opportunities. Furthermore, it also had a philanthropic aspect to it, as they were also getting paid for their time, which meant that they were also receiving financial support when it is significantly harder for people in their circumstances to do so. This made me feel good about both the opportunity I got and the impact we had as a whole.
In conclusion, this made me a better communicator and more collaborative, while being more caring and principled by extending help to people who needed it, and this also made me feel like I had an impact on the people involved, which is something I would like to carry on to do.
evidence: https://youtube.com/shorts/a74KfOKeyxg