DP 2 Semester 2 Service, January – February 2020

This semester’s service was unfortunately a very short one due to the COVID-19 situation, which first prevented us from visiting the hospital and then even caused our school to close. To this was the added problem that the school took some time to organize all the activities and service which meant we spent very few sessions at the hospital, which was rather frustrating as the visits are very important experiences to me. However, the time spent in service was still spent well in my opinion, and we did the best we could out of the situation.

The first visits to the hospital were spent doing paper plate art (drawing on paper plates) as well as cup crafts and similar activities. These were a lot of fun and most of the children were very engaged and produced nice results. As always though, many children are understandably weak and not motivated to work, which makes it challenging to work with them. It is hard to decide to what extent one should try to motivate them to work and when it is better to just accept that they are not in the mood to work. This is made particularly challenging due to the language barrier, but I do my best to interpret the children’s’ actions and expressions.

Although I had extensively planned future sessions with my group, the first problem arose when we were notified that we cannot visit the hospital anymore throughout March. This was unfortunate but we decided to nonetheless make objects that we would send to the hospital. These included loom band, knitting small things and make dream catchers.

Part of the group knitting. Photo courtesy: Tanuja Senanajake.

The Food Drive, an important annual event for the Hope for Kids group, was happening this semester. It is a dry rations drive in which the group collects food which it then delivers to the families at the hospital. Last year, we had over 50 reusable bags full of rations that we gave to the families. I made posters that we distributed to the teachers for them to let their students know what they have to bring. I also held an announcement at the primary school assembly and wrote a notice for the school bulletin, all in order to get people to buy the dry rations they had for their respective grade. We would let the Food Drive run throughout the month of March and then collect and sort out all the rations into equal amounts. Unfortunately, just two weeks after I held the announcement, wrote the notice and made the posters, the school decided to close, following local schools that were ordered to close, in response to the COVID-19.

Last year’s food drive. Photo courtesy: Tanuja Senanajake.

The school closure put a stop to any service action since our group could not meet up. This was a really unfortunate end to my service learning at the school as I would have liked a few successful last sessions. Furthermore, the food drive could not take place which was a real shame, since it provides families at the hospital with a very useful donation. Despite this unfortunate end, I look back at my two years in this service with great satisfaction – I have had a lot of fun, was in a leadership position which improved many skills useful in many areas of life, and most importantly, helped people in my community who are in need. The last point is very important to me, and I am very happy I got this opportunity. I am sure I will look back at the sessions with great happiness later in my life.

One Response

  1. ilockwood at |

    This is a fine post Luca, wrapping up your service experience with the Hope for Kids project. I hear your frustration with not being able to have as much contact time as you would have liked. You and the group have done a good job adjusting to these unprecedented times that we are living through. I trust that you have gained significantly and learnt a great deal about this global health issue during your time with Hope for Kids.

    Reply

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