Community Observation

Volunteering at a camp for serving food to the homeless children was a great opportunity. The camp was organized by a not for profit organization and gave an opportunity to high school students to volunteer. They do not approach the students directly, they do it through high school. The camp took place in a small village, about two hundred miles far from my city. The camps' duration was for three consecutive days. It was one of the greatest experience of my life, I learned many new things and values, met with different people, explored new places and observed some different cultures.

It was just before the winter break, my high school made the announcement about the camp and only seniors could participate for the camp. There was a limit of

There was a total of like fifty children. There were lot of other things needed to be done before and after the food was served. As soon as we woke up in the morning, we had to prepare for the rest of the day. Food was to be served three times a day; breakfast, lunch and dinner. The breakfast was served around 8:30 am and finish around 10:30 am. The lunch was served at 12:30 pm and finish around 2:30pm. The last portion, dinner will start at 6:30 pm and finish around 8:30 pm. Every person in the serving team can volunteer for only two shifts a day. For example, if a person volunteers for breakfast and lunch, he or she cannot volunteer for dinner. I volunteered for breakfast and dinner for all the three days because after breakfast, I had some time to rest or explore some other things around there. There are many things needed to done before and after the food is served. Some of the duties which are needed to be performed were like, arranging the table and chairs, cleaning the carpet, distributing the plates and bowls, and passing the napkins to each child. Once they have settled, we start serving the food. After serving, we must stand there and ensure that they have enough quantity of everything. For instance, if a child needs an extra bread or ketchup or water. Subsequently, once they are finished eating, we had to trash the plates and clean up the

First, there was no bed available for us to sleep. One comforter was given to each student to sleep. I had a hard time adjusting sleeping without the bed. I was awake till three in the morning the first night of the camp because I was not used to this sleeping manner. Although, the next night I did not have to struggle a lot to sleep. One of my friends couldn’t sleep all of the three nights. We ate the same food which was prepared for the children. None of the dishes were my favorite but there was no other choice available there, I have to eat that only. In the morning, to take a shower one has to stand in a line because enough bathrooms are not available for all to take the shower at one time. Consequently, the amount of hot water was also limited, one cannot take a shower for a very long time. Out of all the things I disliked waking up 6:00 am in the morning. This is the saddest thing to do, when the vacations are going on. Although, I was able to explore more by waking up early and volunteer for the breakfast and lunch shifts. I saw lot of ancient sculptures and monuments and learned about history and culture. In future, if I have the opportunity to volunteer abroad, I would love to do something like that and explore more places. Although, according to wrote Prof Richter, executive director, South Africa-based Human Sciences Research