Bal mela is an event organized by our school every year where we invite underprivileged children from nearby village schools. The purpose of this event is to give them some joyful, unforgettable and happy moments by making them play tons of activities. We, students, volunteered for this event and carry out different activities for the kids that were invited to the school. The activities included dance, tattoo making, face painting, sack race and stone painting. I was selected for stone painting.
The learning outcomes achieved during the experience :
LO 1 : Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
Through this experience, I was able to identify my strengths and areas for growth. I recognized that I was good at communicating with people as I was able to understand how they wanted their stone paintings to be done. I understood that I needed to improve my ability to handle large groups of people. It was difficult for me to manage so many people however this experience helped me develop new skills. I also realized that I need to work on my patience because I was easily getting frustrated when children wouldn’t listen to me or waste the resource provided by the school for stone painting. This is an area where I could improve.
LO 2 : Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
Managing time was challenging. To ensure that everyone has the opportunity to participate each activity planned for them, the event coordinator divided the kids into groups. After a set period of time, each group switched over to a different activity. I had the responsibility of finishing everything quickly so that other group of people can have a chance to do the stone painting. Also, a lot of chaos was created as everyone was excited, to begin with, the stone painting. Therefore, we had to effectively manage our time to ensure that everyone had the opportunity to paint a stone.
LO 5 : Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
For this experience, collaboration was important as I had to work with other volunteers to make the event run flawlessly. With few volunteers, it was challenging to manage over hundred kids, but we were able to manage it thanks to our collaboration. We worked collaboratively to make sure the kids have a good time and we were able to accomplish our goal by working as a team.
LO 6 : Engagment with issues of global significance
Bal Mela was intended to reduce the economic gaps and inequalities that the kids in government school face by allowing them to take part in activities they would otherwise be unable to. The event helped bring kids from diverse backgrounds and age groups to have memorable moments together. To conclude, they learned, enjoyed, and get exposure to resources that aren’t readily available to them.
LO 7 : Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
It was my responsibility to ensure that children invited to our school felt comfortable and equal to us and are equally involved in the event as much as we did. I could have just done it for the sake of doing it however I made an effort to engage and get involved with all kids by interacting with them. Which shows the ethics of choice and action that I made while doing the experience.
Thus, witnessing their smiles was priceless and so was this experience. This event was the experience for a lifetime with a lot of learning and fun.
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