Being deeply immersed in a society plagued by inequality, corruption and poverty, it is often very easy to fall into callousness to the needs of others, fearing falling victim to a scam, fraud, hijacking or robbery. This semester’s Community Service Objective, however, has opened my eyes to the genuine reality facing many South Africans – including, but not limited to – the elderly, the sick, the orphaned and vulnerable children. This reflection will take an in-depth look at my personal experience completing my 8 hours of community service. The reflection will commence by looking at the importance of community service to both the recipients of the aid and the givers of the aid. This will then be followed by an in-depth analysis of what we did at our Community Service of choice, Floroma Old Age Home, and what we took away from the experience. This will all be concluded by a summary of all the key points mentioned in the essay.
Community Service is an initiative taken up by individuals, a group of people, organisations or communities to help people less privileged than themselves, whether it be monetary assistance, helping clean the surroundings or taking time to do an act of kindness for someone who is less privileged. Community Service spans the decades and has even been mentioned in great literature such as The Bible. Societies all over the world view Community Service as something that is very beneficial and that the person doing it should be commended on.
Besides the obvious reason of Community Service being done to help people who are less privileged, it also helps you build character. This same character is the stuff that multi-million rand organisations look for in employees, hence why Varsities make it compulsory. Furthermore, it helps you develop a greater appreciation for the belongings you have, and changes your outlook on life from pessimistic to optimistic. Community Service also allows us to apply what we learnt practically into the real world, for example; I applied the Theory of Anomie to determine what it was that made the people back at the Old Age Home so unhappy. Community Service also exposes people to multiculturalism and diversity.
Our Community Service Group, The Generals, spent an invaluable ten hours at Floroma Old Age. We started off by facilitating a few rounds of bocce ball, whereby the contestants would be split up into two teams. Each team has a balls whose colour is specific to that team only. They would then try use the respective balls to hit the white ball that was placed somewhere along the ground. The intense concentration and carefulness in the elderly when trying to hit the ball instilled a sense of appreciation in me. Appreciation of the fact that I have the ability to do things without being confined to a wheel chair or a walker. It also taught me that the simplest of tasks that we often take for granted could mean the world to people.
The following day, we started by wiping the kitchen windows from outside. This activity had us very unnerved as we had not interacted with the elderly that day. We were boiling with anticipation. After a few hours of cleaning the windows, we were asked to make our way back into the kitchen, where we were met by a silver plate a cutlery tray. We rolled the tray into the dining hall, where we were met by a sudden hush, followed by multiple eyes gazing over at us. We began serving the elderly breakfast. This task had me quaking. Each table had two different personalities sitting at it. It was rather intriguing to see some war veterans, imagining their stories as we rolled passed. We were met by an array of reactions, some good and some bad. This predicament taught me always to be courteous to people, even when they do not deserve it.
After the elderly had eaten, we were tasked with the objective of packing up after them. We then washed all their cutlery whilst getting acquainted with the rest of the kitchen staff. After completing this task, we cleaned the rest of the kitchen – still getting acquainted with the staff. They showed us where the home kept different food items and how exactly they went about preparing the lunch time meals. This was a rather humbling experience because we often look at jobs such as working in the kitchen to be inferior and simple but the intricacies and dexterity required at said jobs is far too complex for someone who has not experienced it to fathom.
It was truly an irreplaceable experience going down to the old age home. I learnt not only how to be thankful for all my possessions, but I learnt to mostly be thankful for good health and my youth.
Kitso's World 