“There is incredible value in being of service to others.”

– Elizabeth Berg

Service, this semester, has been great.

Really, it has.

Not only have we been able to accomplish most of our goals established for this year but, as a service, we have truly grown. Given how new, and young, our members were, collaboration and team building were essential and through our numerous activities, I came to love these people and see how committed and capable they were.

I was a critical thinker throughout this semester, coming up with new ideas and taking initiative to plan and organize various activities that better helped us reach our future goal, the sterilization and vaccination camp. We earned around 100,000lkr in funds and that is truly a height, given how our aim was simply 40,000lkr.

We initiated four main events this semester:

1. Anti-Animal Tourism Pledge
2. Animal Rights Awareness Day
3. The Home Run, in cooperation with Housing and Habitat service group.
4. Pre-order Bake Sale

It was no easy task, organizing all these events and it took the most out of myself and my co-service leader, Disara, who continuously supported my ideas and kept me on track. We both grew as service leaders this year, learning about the importance of communication, patience and even being more responsible.

Personally, I could never describe myself as a patient person but this semester, with my young crew, I learned a lot about patience, acknowledging the efforts of others and designating appropriate jobs to different people.

We were also globally engaged in our activities, thinking of the greater good all the way through, in all our activities. The Anti-Animal Tourism Pledge directly worked towards this and was very effective in sending out a message about animal exploitation in Sri Lanka. This was also very much directed towards the learning outcome Ethics of Choices & Actions which was addressed through this pledge as well as the Animal Rights Awareness Day.

I would like to end this post by stating that I was really committed and persevered in all service-related activities and I hope that we can grow even more as a service in the future and reach our future goals, which also were laid out this semester:

1. Dog Wash
2. Veterinary Clinic Program
3. Food Drive
4. Re-Vaccination Camp at Asiri Uyana
5. Sterilization Camp

Thanks a bunch for all the support you’ve shown our service! We hope to see your continuous support next semester as well!