Community Service
Youth Director
Once I started my second year working with Support! I was 'promoted' to the position of a Youth Director which meant that I was in charge of the site that I had been teaching at (Man Kiu College). My responsibilities included leading the team of teacher volunteers, managing the finances of the site, designing the curriculum, and working with a teacher representative from the school. It did get tough to manage at times because I had to manage it on top of school and all my other activities but because I still continued to actively teach every week I found it very fulfilling.
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This year unfortunately we've only had 5 classes. In term 1 we had to cancel lessons because of the protests in Hong Kong and we had to completely cancel term 2 and 3 because of COVID-19. But even in the 5 lessons, we had fun! This term we had done something slightly different, we were teaching them what they were learning in school but with a different approach and covering a wider range of topics. This was different for the separate classes so for class 1, the grade 7 students, in school they were learning about describing people and their personalities so in our lessons we taught them about advanced vocabulary and grammar structures that wouldn't have been covered in their regular lessons. For the second class, grade 10 students, in school they were learning about emotions so we looked at how that is linked to art and photography and teaching them techniques related to that. We also covered topics like associations of colours with different emotions and how that can be manipulated to convey different things in art and photography.
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One major problem we faced was from our first teaching lesson on 14th. That lesson we focused on grasping the student's English levels and capabilities since that was something we were unsure about before teaching. For the group that I was teaching, we focused on testing their knowledge on shopping since that is what they have been learning in school. But we learnt that they have actually already learnt that topic and now they have moved onto learning about emotions. This was an issue since we had to completely change all of the lesson plans because we had prepared based on the assumption that they are learning shopping. I looked at their school syllabus and realised that when looking at emotions, they are focusing on depression and family issues and how to describe those, which is something we can't really teach them about since it is a sensitive issue that needs to be tactfully dealt with and I don't think we are the best people for that. So I had to change the entire topic and I decided that we will focus on teaching them emotion through art for the rest of the term. They can look at colour association with emotions and so on.
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Although our term was short, it still was fulfilling. For me personally, I learnt more about what goes into a role like the Youth Director from the lesson planning to expenditure forms I got to experience that for one term. I feel like I did learn a lot, learning how to manage time effectively both for myself and for the team. I learnt a lot about organisation since there was a lot of administration that came with this role. But above all, it taught me people skills, how to effectively lead and manage a team and be able to problem-solve and put out fires when necessary.
Delhi Hygiene Packages Initiative
I started an initiative in Delhi to give hygiene packages to those affected by the lockdown in Delhi. The packages contained basics like toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, detergent etc. I found a local grocery shop which provided everything and we made the packages at home and we donated 500 packages. They were distributed from May 10-12th May. Then I also created a poster to raise donations so we had family and friends donate to support the initiative.
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I think this was a very fulfilling experience for me, even though this wasn't about me. I am so grateful that I was able to help the small percentage of people that I did help. If I could have changed anything I would have gotten this done earlier because it did clash with my internals so I wasn't able to dedicate as much time as I would've liked. I definitely did develop skills that anyone would through a project like this, skills like organisation, planning and time-management. It was also a very humbling experience and put lots of things in perspective for me.
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I blogged the process below:
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7th-9th May 2020:
Now we've started putting the packages together. We make each of them at home (everyone wears gloves and masks with regular sanitisation). For the first weekend, we are making 250 packages, not all 500. My dad contacted some of my grandpa's friends who organise places to give essential goods to the underprivileged.
Update:
I went to the place where they were giving the packages and did actually help out (everyone was maintaining social distancing) we gave 80 packages with one organisation and 80 with another.
Around 1 km from our house the government is using a public school to distribute food 3 times a day and we've spoken to them and we will give packages there as well because they already have a system in place that is working well.
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Planning process:
PLAN:
What: Preparing packages with basic goods
For how many people: around 500 (to be adjusted)
People Contributing: Aiming for 40-50 people in the neighbourhood each contributing 2-3 packages each
Cost: ₹150
PACKAGE BREAKDOWN:
Toothpaste (1 toothpaste)₹10
Toothbrush (1 toothbrush) ₹20
Normal soap (4 soaps) ₹40
Handwash (1 bottle) ₹50
Washing detergent (1 cake + 1 powder) ₹20
Biscuits (2 packets) ₹20
Right now I have found a grocery shop to supply the goods, I decided to work with a local shop as opposed to larger supermarkets because its important to support smaller local businesses during this time. A few items like the handwash and soap will be supplied from one of the companies my dad works with because we were able to get the same goods at a lower price and I don't want the packages to be really expensive because then that may deter people from supporting the initiative.
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Easter Holiday Planning:
During Easter, I had decided that I did want to start some sort of charity initiative here. Some ideas I had include:
- trying to set up some of app or database where people in this area of Delhi can inform if they cannot go out and buy groceries (for example the elderly or those who are immunocompromised) then the people who can go out will buy groceries for those people and find a way to deliver it while maintaining social distancing.
- setting up fundraisers to give either essential goods or gifts of appreciations to the frontline workers, doctors and nurses
- setting up hygiene packages to give to people who cannot afford those things
- setting up food packages with basic necessities
Update: I've decided to focus on hygiene packages because I think realistically it is something that I can do and I have decided not to do food because I found out the government and other volunteers are already giving food and I cannot match their scale. But also hygiene is more important now than ever and it is vital people have access to things that can help them live cleanly.