Hope for Kids: A New Approach

As a result of the pandemic, our service group ‘Hope for Kids’ that visits the Maharagama Children’s Cancer Hospital is now restricted from visiting. We now have to think of a new approach to help the kids. Finding ways to boost their mood and improve their mental health at a distance was difficult but I think Hope for Kids has found ways to overcome the issue.

In view of the fact that it is the Christmas season, we are in the process of sending Christmas gifts to the hospital for the kids and their parents. Generally, we would go distribute the presents ourselves wearing Santa hats but we are since unable to do that. In addition to the gifts, our group has decided to send handcrafted Christmas decorations for the kids to hang or keep wherever they like. Since we cannot go to the hospital ourselves and make the Christmas crafts with the kids, we have decided to make tutorial videos and send them to the hospital so the kids can learn through the videos and make the Christmas decorations themselves. Any supplies needed to make the decorations will be sent to the hospital along with some yummy homemade butter cake for everyone in the hospital!

For this task, our service split into different groups, each assigned a specific Christmas decoration and tasked with making and editing a video suitable to send to the kids. We have also decided to either voice-over or edit in the directions on how to make the ornament in Sinhala and Tamil. As one of the Sinhala speakers in the group, I have been given that responsibility for making snowflakes which is the group I am apart of. I have been crafting snowflakes at home and I must say I found it very fascinating and exciting to make beautiful snowflakes with just a piece of white paper and a pair of scissors.

Another goal of the group this year in light of our ‘new approach’ to aid the kids at the Cancer hospital at a distance is by starting a media campaign. Cancer in children is a sensitive subject matter that is not much discussed and our group hopes to raise awareness on the matter as well as highlight the work we have been doing over the past few years. We plan to spread awareness of cancer and our group’s endeavors beyond the school community. We have currently created a ‘Hope for Kids’ Instagram account and are in the process of designing and producing content to post. I suggested to one of our service leaders, Kenji that we should also create a youtube channel and perhaps post the tutorial videos on that as well as any other content that could benefit the community. Moreover, I also recommended that we create a Facebook account to broaden our audience.

Personally, I really miss visiting the kids and playing and doing various activities with them as it not only boosts their moods but it has a very positive effect on me as well. It warms my heart whenever I see them smile and I would love to be the one to put that smile on their face again.

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Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Due to the coronavirus, Hope for Kids has to think of alternate ways of helping the kids and making them happy. As a result, we sending videos for the kids to make various crafts. The media campaign is also a different and modern way of raising awareness for the kids.

• Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

Our service group had to carefully discuss and plan how to approach service this year. For the Christmas decorations, we split into groups in order to carefully plan and craft decorations.

• Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

Helping these kids and boosting their moods is something I and those apart of Hope for Kids are very committed to doing and will continue to do so even in these unprecedented times.

• Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

COVID-19 is a danger to everyone but for these kids, it can be fatal. Thus, our group intends to respect the hospital’s decision of restricting visitors and has formulated new ways to support the kids. We also plan to take all precautions when sending stuff to the kids and their parents.

• Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

Cancer in children has always been a prevailing issue in the world. The Maharagama Children’s Cancer Hospital is one of the main hospitals in Sri Lanka treating children with cancer. Our service group hopes to raise awareness for the kids as well as the hospital providing the treatment.