Service has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience this semester. working with mentally challenged children is uncharted territory for me and I find it quite a humbling activity. The children come every Thursday after school and we either play with them in the gym, eat with them in our service advisers classroom, or do art activities in the art room.

Playing with the kids allows us to overcome the language barrier and have fun with them despite our differences in background and language. I love the way in which we can give them an enjoyable afternoon by playing simple games and having so much fun. Sports are such a wonderful platform to put aside our differences and enjoy each others company and it makes service so enjoyable.

Eating with the kids in our classroom sometimes feels like a family experience because we bring our food to share with everyone and the kids are so grateful that it brings a wonderful sense of togetherness.

Our art activities are similar to the sports we play in that the communication is non-verbal and we get to know everyone without ever having to speak. I think art is a wonderful way to communicate because i get to know all the kids in my service through the colors they use, the pictures they choose to color and the color schemes that they give everything.

Once we traveled to their school and created an art exhibition together. I thoroughly enjoyed this because we were able to learn about how they live and what their day-to-day life is like. They were so grateful to see us come to their school, it reminded me what service is really about and how important it is.

This semester service has been a very powerful experience getting to know 20 or so disabled kids. I have got to know them individually through activities.