Community service is where we students could volunteer over a specific skill like teaching sports, art and craft, cooking, computer science and further. I selected art and craft to teach the kids, however at the beginning of the service sessions I was not happy to teach art and craft as I wanted to teach a sport but I couldn’t because of my injury. As 2-3 sessions went by I actually started having fun with kids. I learnt and taught at the same time!
I identified I was creative but not a good communicator. I was sad that I could not communicate with those kids fluently or freely while being reflective over my weakness I asked my team members about it and they suggested me to talk to them as a friend and not someone who was there to teach them something. The idea did work but I was a bit nervous while communicating with them. I am glad that I tried to overcome my weaknesses.
One of the challenges I wanted to overcome was to adapt to the place and situation quickly. Starting a conversation was sometimes difficult for me but my team members gave me an opportunity to work over my challenges. They let me start the conversation with the kids and sometimes even explain what we were going to make such as photo frames, bookmarks, name cards and more. This initiative helped me learn how to be confident while initiating a conversation also helped me adapt to the situation quickly with the children. Accepting the challenges and working over it helped me gain two positives, hence I believe that working over our weaknesses and overcoming our challenges will gain a lot of benefits to one and all.
It was easy to commit but was difficult to be persistent during weekends. Being present during the weekends was like to be attentive in class while yawning throughout the class. However, this experience helped me understand it is important to grab opportunities and explore in the searching for the best you.
I am grateful, that I attended these sessions even though I did not want to some days! I met a lot of people, talked to them, worked in a team, learnt to start a conversation, learnt to adapt quickly and more.
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