Community Engagement Reflection
Unfortunately, there were a few obstacles my group and I went through in order to complete this assignment. Most of my group members were picky when it came to deciding g which kind of work we would be doing, I found this to be very annoying and this made it difficult for us to find places to help out at. At first we had planned on visiting a children home in Cosmo City, sadly, they dropped us last minute with only three weeks left for us to complete the assignment. We ended up joining MSAs’ Thusanang group, which is an after school program at Cosmo City Multipurpose for primary school kids.
My first time going to Thusanang was on the 23rd of August. The volunteers were given the choice to either play games with the kids or to help out those who had homework. I was not up for helping out kids with their homes to I opted to play round them while a few other volunteers help with their homework. Most of the kids were very energetic and running all over the place. We played games such as tag, ball, duck duck goose, fruit salad and more. Some kids were naughty so even though I was kind and bubbly, I also had to be strong and know when to reprimand them when they were getting out of hand. At some point the kids who had homework were done with it so they rejoined the group and we had a racing game between the kids and the volunteers. Before leaving we all held hands and prayed in a circle. A few of the kids ran to me and hugged me goodbye before I went into the shuttle. I was not enthusiastic about coming to Thusanang but spending time with the kids made me realize that I could use some time away from my regular environment was good for me. I left the place feeling, content and excited about coming back the following week.
My second time going to Thusanang was on the 29th of August. I was excited to be with the kids again, the crowd was smaller but I recognized a few of them from last time. I chose to help with homework this time around because I was a tired and drained of energy from the morning I had that day. I was helping two girls in grade four. They had math and English homework. The girls were struggling with the math, this made it difficult for me to work with them but I was patient with them because I sometimes do this with my younger sister who is also in grade four. I taught the girls a method I used to apply when dealing to big numbers and they were quick to learn it. with the new method in mind, they finished the math homework quickly. Our next task was learning the words assigned to them for the spelling test. I helped them read the words, know the meaning and how to cut them in to smaller parts which aided them to properly pronounce and spell of the words. It took the girls less time to finish their English homework faster than it did with the math. We joined the children who had been playing and the girls did not leave my side at all. Time flew by and we prayed with the children then left. I promised myself to come to Thusanang every week, some of the kids cannot get help at home either because their parents do not have time for them or are not patient with them. I remember my mother was not patient with me and every homework session would have a few slaps in between.
The 5th of September came up and we went to our 3rd visit to Thusanang. We were told that Thusanang held a review before the end each year for the kids and parents, our task would be preparing the kids for the review. The review had dancing, choir, poems and public speaking sections. The kids chose which ever they wanted. As expected none of them opted for poems and public speaking so because of this we only had dancing and singing. I love singing but I prefer dancing, so I chose to handle the kids wanted to dance. We had all the kids stand in a circle and we played a game whereby they would sing a song and whoever is in the middle would pick someone in the circle to in the middle and dance then pick someone again to replace in the middle. This game gave everyone a chance to show us their dancing skills. we split them up into separate groups. The male volunteers practiced with the boys and the female volunteers had to practice with the girls, and we all used the same song. At the end of the session we put the boys and girls come together again. Using the same song, we had the girls come up to dance first and then the boys followed. At the end of the session we prayed then left.
My 4th visit to Thusanang was on the 6th of September. We continued practicing for the review. The choir and dancers came together this time and we went over everything. The whole show looked great when put together. We just all sang and danced together and had fun until the end. After the session the group and I headed to Featherbrooke to go buy the items on the list of the people template we chose. Unfortunately, the money we had did not allow us to purchase everything but when it came to items on the individuals list we managed to cover everything. We delivered the groceries on that Friday at the office.
Although some group members were unsettled knowing that the had to play with kids, doing this helped them overcome that challenge. I was able to pass on what I had learned to some children and I built new friendships and connections with them. Giving back and helping people gave me a sense of satisfaction and self-content, knowing I helped filled my heart with a warm feeling.