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 * II. Reflection Essay **

**__Reflection Essay__**

Service is often described as the action of helping or doing work for someone. When

doing service, one must take into account the needs of others and they need to be able to see

the bigger picture in order to properly address the multiple issues. I decided to join the service

learning class this year at CAC not only because of all the positive feedback I had heard from the

people taking it but because I knew that it would help me grow as a person in the sense that it

allowed me to physically improve the quality of life of those individuals who are less fortunate.

Being in service learning class this year also proved to improve my academic learning by

learning new basic skills such as how to manage my time, be resourceful, and think of different

yet creative ways to approach the issue that is meant to be addressed. The learning about the

subject of service was also enhance in such way that I learned that making a true difference

wasn’t as easy as it took. It was a lot of hard work and dedication, but soon enough all that hard

work and effort that was put in was finally paid off due to the amazing results at the end of our

project.

During the course of the year, improving the issue wasn’t the only thing that was

achieved. We also grew as people seeing as our thinking skills reached a new level. It was hard

to pick a project, which was not only effective to our target group but achievable as well. As

high school kids, we may not possess as much resources to accomplish a big service learning

project, but we can still make a significant different. Problem solving and decision making skills

were also refine owing to the fact that our service project required a lot of critical thinking as to

how we were going to raise a certain amount of money in a short period of time. We also had to

work out way around the obstacles that our service learning project brought upon us such as

referring to how we were going to raise the money and if there would be enough time to

achieve our goals. By improving our problem solving and critical thinking skills, we were able

to work our way around these obstacles and actually manage to raise more money than we

expected.

Our service project has also helped be become more aware of the changes in myself

because now I’m more appreciative of everything that surrounds me. You never know what’s

going to happen, so it is better to seize the moments as they come. Leila is a perfect example of

this. So much was taken away from her in just one night due to a car accident. Now, she has had

to be subject to several surgeries in order to improve her condition but little by little she is

improving. A developed sense of community also has emerged because now I realize that it is

my job as a community member to help others that seriously need it. Since a community is

described as a group of people that live together in one place, I must take into account other’s

situations and assess if help is needed. It is important to, in these certain kinds of situations,

place other’s needs in front of your own and think of other people. Over the course of the year,

my group and I faced various challenges but it was Leila and her story that managed to touch

our hearts and give us the extra push that we needed in order to do what was in our power to

raise money that we would give Leila.

Regarding the service project itself, I believe that we did make a difference and improve

the quality of service. Leila has received a lot of very kind and generous donations especially

from the Latin community. The Latin Community has organized fundraisers and lunches in

which a reported amount of 7,000 LE has been collected. Even though we only collected 3,000

LE due to working in the Maadi Catholic Church and sorting clothes for orphans all over Maadi,

we believe that this amount of money is still enough to help Leila and her family even for the

smallest provisions. Not only did we help Leila, but also, our method of collecting money also

benefited the church community in the sense that we would help with clean ups or after mass

on several days or even with the kids that would attend church classes on the weekend. We

would get paid 10 LE per hour, and we would work about 3 hours once every week. Also, with

numerous bake sales at school we collected a lot of funds for this good cause. Despite all our

hard work, it was all very worth it because we deeply believe that we made a difference in

Leila’s life, including her family. They have had to go through so much, and have literally lost so

much in so little time, that we felt that it was the righteous thing to do.

Despite the money that we now raised, we know that money doesn’t last forever. It

won’t be as sustainable as we wish we would be and we can’t supply money as often as we

want because it would take time. Also, there is no guarantee that Leila won’t have to undergo

another surgery again since her condition is very delicate and unpredictable. We do however

pray that Leila will get better and will begin walking step-by-step everyday. The amount of

money that has been spent on her treatment is a large sum, so we don’t think the money raised

has covered it all. Overall, we expect to keep on helping and once every two months donate

money to Leila and her family that way we would be helping in small amounts as much as we

can. We are also confident that other people, now that they are aware of Leila’s case, will help

out and contribute to such a good cause. This will improve Leila’s financial future and will allow

her to receive more treatment for her situation. We feel that this service-learning project has

definitely educated us in such a way that it changed us. It has and it will continue to inspire us

to be the better person we can possibly be. As Andy Warhol once said, “They always say that

things change with time, but actually you have to change things yourself.” If we want to actually

make a difference, we must be the first to take the initiative, with unconditional effort and hard

work.