Service learning

As the starfish story goes

While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water.
He came closer still and called out, "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"
The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
The old man smiled, and said, "I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"
To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it into the back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."

I take heart that through this project, I could make a small difference in the life of one boy at the activity. This boy did not want to eat his porridge as he was sick and tired of eating porridge. As a result, he obstinately refused to eat his porridge in the session and tried to hide it in his mouth. After watching the cartoon however, with the volunteer’s help, I managed to apply the engine story in his life by telling him that like the little engine, he could also persevere and finish his porridge. He did start eating his porridge after and as he swallowed mouthful after mouthful, we cheered him on saying “I think you can, I think you can”; and when he finished, there was a little smile on his face, which to me, made all the difference.

What have I learnt?

Firstly, I gained a greater awareness of the situation of the children facing cancer. It was a good way to debunk myths and labels on these “cancer kids” as I shared about my project with my coursemates, friends then and in the future. For example, sharing that most of the kids do manage to recover, hence they are not a lost cause. Moreover, I initially thought they would be very different, similar to those children who have cancer that are portrayed in tv serials. However, through interacting with the children, I realised that, other than the fact that they wore a hat, they were just like any regular kid. They were easily excited by games, colouring, building toys just as any other kid their age would be. Their emotions did fluctuate more as they had to alternate between “normalcy” and seeing the doctor and receiving injections; this brought home the point that we need to be more sensitive to their situation not by sympathesising with them more but by seeing them as any other normal kid when they are not at the doctor’s. I feel that it is important to spread this awareness to others to accept them as that rather than as “cancer kids”, so that they too feel affirmed and accepted by the people around them.

In particular, I learnt that many teens do volunteer there by conducting similar activities. Hence, this will be a possible avenue to suggest to my students when they consider their own service learning projects. As teens, it would be a great opportunity to harness their creativity and energy and designing such meaningful activities for the children, as well as increase their empathy for them as mentioned above.

This experience has also equipped me with a better understanding on how to go about conducting service learning projects and even future school events. For example, I learnt what constitutes a comprehensive proposal in order to liase with organisations. I also learnt to be more realistic in my expectations –initially I was very idealistic and ambitious on what we could achieve with the children. This was moderated by my group members pointing out the limitations and practical considerations. I also learnt the importance of anticipating hiccups or potential difficulties when planning an event or activity and hence preparing for them by having backup plans. For example, when my group member pulled out, or when we realised we could not communicate effectively to the children- Rosalind was very helpful in that aspect in encouraging me to be more flexible and thinking of alternative solutions.

Personally, I really admire and desire to learn from the attitudes of the children’s parents. All the children at the activity were accompanied by their mother/father. As each kid’s emotions does fluctuate a lot, especially when it’s time to see the doctor, the parents displayed great strength and patience to be able to stay positive and calm though they were faced with this every day. Furthermore, they were not unreasonable even when their kids threw tantrums in a public place like the hospital, but modeled an authoritative style of parenting to their children in explaining their stand to the children. This is something I would strive to adopt when teaching my students and eventually my children as well.