After the first semester of service is over, it’s time to reflect on my progress. Just as a reminder, I am part of the Hope for Kids service group, in which we visit the Maharagama Cancer Hospital and do creative activities with the kids that suffer from cancer. As this service addresses the global issue of cancer, I feel fortunate to be part of the group and learn through my experiences.

We visited the hospital many times, doing several different activities with the kids. These included making and playing with sock puppets, coloring in mandalas, modelling shapes using clay and origami and making masks. The last week, we visited the hospital, giving the families ready made presents, which included toys for the kids and tea and sugar for the parents. As a fundraiser, we made bandanas and sold them during the girls’ SAISA volleyball tournament, which got us SLR11000. This will be used to sponsor education for a child from the hospital that will be chosen by a doctor as suitable.

Making the bandanas as a fundraiser. Photo credits: Nicolina Sorensen

Apart from being fun, all activities were very interesting as I got to know some children better, and I also improved in communicating with the kids, even though the language barrier was a challenge. I also got more confident at increasing my part of active contribution to planning visits to the hospital.

For the upcoming semester, I plan to become more engaged in the planning of events and meetings, and especially to try and communicate more with the children, to find out more about their situation and trying to improve the activities through the knowledge we gain of them.