by Kahne and Westheimer
REFLECTION
Reading this article really made me think about my experience with community service. When I was younger and participated in CCD we were required to perform a certain amount of community service hours in order to make our confirmation. To be completely truthful I did not enjoy any of the services I participated in, and sometimes even looked to try and find someone to sign off on my hours for me without doing any service. I think a lot of the kids my age felt the same way, and in fact did the same thing. At the time I did not see it as an opportunity for me to learn about someone or something else, but as a burden or requirement that I had to fulfill.
Similarly in order to graduate from my high school we also had to perform 30 hours of community service. These hours could be over the course of all four years. My freshman year I had the same attitude about community service that I did when I was trying to make my confirmation... " This is annoying", "why do I have to do this", etc.
It was not until my sophomore year of high school when, ironically, I participated in my church's mission trip group. That April I traveled with 14 other students and adults to Nicaragua to help serve the Mustard Seed Community. This was one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had with community service. We stayed for one week in the Mustard Seed Community, which took in disabled orphans, ranging in age from infants to 23 years of age. Each individual had a different story of how they ended up in the Mustard Seed Community varying from being dropped off by adults, found on the streets, and even in one case being chained to a pole on the side of the road and left there. For the full week we were there, we worked everyday from 7am until about 5pm to help build the community a chapel and dig a trench for proper plumbing. This was some of the most vigorous work I had ever done, in some of the most hot days. After completing our physical work for the day we then would take time to play with the children for about an hour. The excitement the children had for this one hour a day to be played with, loved, receive attention was amazing. The children were so happy from the smallest things. I learned so much from not just the trip itself and the country itself, but those children especially. They showed me you can be happy without material things. They taught me that all we really need in life is love and affection. And lastly they taught me to truly appreciate everything I have, like running, hot water. The entire week we were there we had no source of running or hot water. We were each allowed one bucket of water to bathe ourselves in each day. The very first day, when we found out we would have to take cold "bucket showers" I never would have thought I could have done it. But by the very last day, it was like we had all forgotten what a real shower was. We became so accustomed to living this way that realized we didn't need a full functioning shower to actually survive.
This experience taught me so much about not only the people in that country and community, but about myself. I truly wish I could go back a second, third, or fourth time and have the same type of experience. This experience showed me how a meaningful community service project can affect a person. I think the problem that high school students are faced with when it comes to community service is that they see it as something they have to do, not something they want to do. No one forced me to sign up for the mission trip, I just voluntarily signed up. Students would benefit more from one meaningful community service event that they truly want to partake in rather than 30 hours of monotonous services that they have no interest in. I think that is one of the major issues that is linked to community service being a requirement for high schools and incorporating it into the education system. If the service is truly a meaningful one, then the students learn can learn so much. However, if the service means nothing to the student, they may graduate high school but they will not have grown as a person. And isn't that what teachers and educators look to achieve for their students?
This is one of the many homes that people live in within the local dump
This is a little girl named Lola, who I absolutely fell in love with
The building in the back is the house where we (the missionaries) stayed. In front is the Chapel we were helping them to build.
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