2) Pros: Service Learning gives us the unique ability to make history as opposed to watch it/learn it, it can also help us give us an new outlook on the world around us, and it gets us out of a morning class (let’s be honest). Cons: It takes away teaching time, that is about it…
3) I am and have been a member of the Order of the Arrow, so service projects and helping the community is not at all new to me. However, I have always taken community service sort of for granted, what I mean by that is that I always thought that everyone did it. In other words this project made me see that every community needs something like the Order of the Arrow, a group that facilitates service projects and other such things. But as far as “poverty, hunger, sickness, generosity, raising awareness, compassion, or fair housing” I really did not learn much. Humanity as a whole is a caring race as long as it is aware of its needy.
4) NGO’s operate as well as they are managed, the orphanage’s employees may be in need of so retraining or a nap whereas the FTK crew is pretty lively and helpful. Personally I do not think that forced donations (taxes) are a good way to help the community as a whole so I prefer my helpful organizations to be NGO’s to GO’s.
5) I think the public is interested in society’s problems, but not so interested that they want to hear about it all the time. The people at the orphanage were right on par (as far as my experience goes) with those that are constantly working in that field. In other words, they are less generous then portrayed by mass media.
6) I know what my ability is (at this point) to contribute to “the greater good.” I know there are things that a group can do that an individual cannot. The only real drawbacks to working in a group can be poor communication or people in the group not being interested in the same things as the rest of the group. I think if we had done a bit of teambuilding beforehand it might have helped a little. However, as a whole the event went very well.
7) I firmly believe that the class’ actions at St. Pjs improved the quality of life for the orphans that participated in the actives and thereby helped them get through life at least for that day. I also believe that such actions are necessary to keep the whole world at least mildly sane.
8) I think that all world issues can be addressed as a grassroots level, the coordination of such efforts is of course important but it is possible. National and global solutions always need to be thought about but it is though work in the field that experience that lends itself to such solutions is gained. In other words, us as a class would have a very hard time coming up with a global “solution” to orphans. However, if every class at every collage did help the orphans for a day then the problem would defiantly be significantly helped.
This blog was written in response to these questions: "Evaluation Questions:
1. What project did you participate in? What was your role?
2. What were the pros and cons of a service learning project?
3. What did you learn about and of the following: poverty, hunger, sickness, generosity, raising awareness, compassion, or fair housing
4. What did you learn about NGOs (non-governmental organizations)? How well do they seem to operate?
5. What do you think is the general level of public interest in poverty, hunger, sickness, raising awareness, or fair housing? Were people who volunteered for the organization more generous or less generous than you imagined?
6. What did you learn about your own ability to contribute to a greater good? Do you think there are things that you can achieve as a group that you could not as an individual? Is there power in working as a collective on a project of this type? Are there drawbacks? How could the class have improved?
7. What is the overall value of a collective volunteer action such as the St. Pjs Fun Day?
8. Can world issues be addressed, as we have done, at the local level? Alternatively, would our efforts be better directed at working toward national or even global solutions? Explain."
