Youssef+El+Sheikh+Reflection+Essay

Youssef El-Sheikh Reflection Essay Community service is more than just a class to me, it’s a way to give back to the less fortunate and to show how one care’s about other things than just themselves. Service learning gives you the opportunity to help people in need as well as showing you just how fortunate you really are. I joined the Service Learning class last year and with a couple of friends, we started a project where we would be going to go to an orphanage on the outskirts of Maadi to teach orphans how to read and write in English. We carried on with the same project this year as well. We were familiar with the kids at the orphanage and we felt passionate about the cause.

The first time we tried to reach the orphanage it was a bit of struggle due to a communication issue, where we were unable to find the orphanage’s number. However we overcame the issue after some research and a few phone calls. I personally called the orphanage the first time and re introduced myself and the rest of my group, as it seemed that they had forgotten about us. We scheduled to meet with the orphanage’s owner, Ahmed El Bishir. We sat down with the humble man as he slowly began to remember the group from the previous year. We explained to him how we were interested in continuing our project from the year before and he was incredibly happy. When we had this meeting, we talked about some issues within our country where I felt I had grew since the year before, in terms of awareness and insight on issues such as housing, food prices, public education and politics. He further explained to us how they are very grateful for any extra help they can get. As we continued conversing with the man, he commented on our maturity, and praised us for our good intentions. It felt good knowing that our work was so greatly appreciated, it gave me a sense of belonging and motivated me to help these orphans as much as I possibly can. Starting from where we left off last year, we could see a great improvement in the children’s English. I also saw great improvement in my teaching skills, as I was able to motivate the children to focus on the material that we were helping them with. These teaching skills further progressed through out this whole year, I now feel that I am fully capable of controlling the class and with every session I felt like both parties were becoming more knowledgeable. The kids learned more about how to read and write in English while we learned how to improve how we taught them. Teaching those kids was a memorable experience where both the kids and I benefited.

Every single time we visited the orphanage I would just become more and more appreciative of what I’m blessed with. Simple things such as caring parents, education, financial stability, food and clothes; were all things that I took for granted before this experience. Whenever we would leave with the orphanage I would get this feeling of gratitude while at the same time a bitter feeling of how lucky we all are compared to these children. It seemed unfair in my mind. However it just further fueled my motivation to help these children.

At times it was quite frustrating when they all went crazy, but I would think to myself, I can calmly try to get them to settle down, these kids have been through enough by just not having any parents or family, it made me sympathize for them but also made me eager to help them more. The feeling that I get every time after leaving the orphanage is just amazing, it feels so good to help others. If only everyone could take some time out of their day to help others for as much as they can, the world that we live in would be a much more pleasant place.

At the orphanage we faced some issues such as time and concentration from the children. At times, when we visited the orphanage, we weren’t really allowed much time to teach these children as much as we wanted to. One of the women in charge would sometimes request that we don’t stay long because of some scheduling issues. They would either have other lessons or they were to be visited by other groups. But that issue was beyond our control, however we continued to frequently visit in order to help them as much as possible. For the issue of concentration, I managed to think of a way to over come this challenge, I thought it would be a better idea, since we were 4 people, that each of us take a small group and focus with them. Also I thought a good method of keeping the children’s attention would be by rewarding them with candy every time they answered a question correctly. Both of these methods proved to be very successful and they all ended up listening to us.

I enjoyed teaching the kids and I was happy that I got the chance to interact with people that I wouldn’t normally get a chance to interact with. This service learning project gave me the sense that we are all one and that we should help each other in anyway that we can, because in life there are some who are more fortunate than others. Those who are less fortunate do not deserve to be left behind, they deserve the chance to live and grow and learn like anyone else.

I thought that me and friends’ service learning project was a very successful and productive project. We saw a definite improvement in all of the children there and it makes me happy that we were able to make a difference in other people’s lives.

When we first started going to the Yanboo3 el Noor orphanage, last year, the site seemed pretty well kept. They had a lot of food and toys and stationary items, such as pens, pencils and paper. Ever since the revolution I realized a shortage in all of these items, especially food. The man who owns and runs the orphanage once actually came up to us and asked us to donate some food that they were in desperate need of. Last year he wrote us a little note that had 4 main items that they needed; chicken, rice, macaroni and tomato paste. I held on to that note and before every visit we made sure to buy some groceries that they were in need of. Whenever we would go to the orphanage to give them the food, Mr. Ahmed El Bishir, looked extremely grateful and excited. He would always be so happy with the amount of food that we got for the orphanage, thanked us greatly and I saw the smiles on all the children’s faces and that was the most rewarding thing of all.

I believe that most significant issue that we are dealing with is education, and through my experience with these children, I have become aware of how terrible the education system in Egypt really is. It is amazing seeing the potential that some of these children have, however it saddens me to see that this potential cannot be harnessed and allowed to grow in such a terrible educational system.

The good feeling that I get after every visit I make to the orphanage makes me want to go back. That’s why I’m planning on continuing with the service learning class for my entire High School Career. I enjoy helping others and service learning allows me to do so.

The major issue that we face with our project is education, as the quality of education in our country is appalling. These children have unfortunately been born into a system that does not allow them to grow and develop as individuals; it does not utilize their full potential. This is an issue that the government must solve by improving the education in Egypt, in order to help its youth grow and become as productive as they possibly can be.