Monday (03/16)

The day began with calm and quietness as the sun was shinning brightly everywhere. When I saw the morning delight that was enfolding in front of me, my mood immediately lifted, and the stress that I had been carrying around dissipated. After having breakfast with my group, I was doing the excursion of Columbia, South Carolina without even realizing that I was about to embark on my first service of the trip. Walking around the downtown area reiterated my perception that South Carolina was definitely not Maryland. Churches of different kinds were popping up every corner, and the weather of the place reminded me of the arrival of spring, a stark contrast with the harsh winter I had been experiencing in Maryland. As my group was getting more and more into the explorer mode, I noticed a shift in the attitude of the group as a whole, where we became more open to each other and allowed jokes to drift between one another. The lunch time, consisting of sloppily made ham sandwich and carrot dipped in yogurt, came around noon. By that time, I knew I was excited and anxious simultaneously because of my anticipation of the unknown, a service event at children shelter.

I tried my best to picture the different situations that I might be facing at the shelter. As my thoughts about the shelter permeated through out my mind, I started to rehearse how my interaction with the kids should consist of. Someone in my group blurted out that we had finally arrived at the shelter, pulling me back from my deep thoughts to the present. Walking into the house, I readied myself for the scenarios that I had been conjuring up in my mind. I, however, was not prepared for the calmness that I experienced in the house. The calmness just might be from only having a few kids present in the house at that time, but my mind began to feel at ease. After the introduction to the house and to the kids, I was ready to assist the kids in any way I can. Interacting with one of the older high school kids made me realized that she was in need of assistance with her Algebra 2 homework. I knew I would have to try to remember all the concepts of Algebra 2 if I were to help her. I luckily managed to accomplish that goal, which gave me a chance to interact with her for extended amount of time. As I became more familiar with her, I realized that all the kids in the house cared for each other even though they might not display it fully all the time. My biggest accomplishment that day would have to be learning more about the lives of the children who were in shelter system.

Based on my experience of interacting with the kids, I had learned to take the values from life as they were instead of fretting on every little detail because the issues that I tended to face became inconsequential compared to these kids'. My time with these kids was short, but I was glad that I was given an opportunity to interact with them on a day filled with sunshine and newly formed friendships. Even though each day on this trip offered me unique and intriguing experience, I can honestly say that I will be remembering my time with these kids for a long time.                 

Pre-Trip Service

On February 20th, 2015, when we had our Pre-Trip service meeting at South Campus Commons 7 in the main lounge on University of Maryland’s campus. The meeting started out with an ice breaker asking those in attendance various questions, such as what we know about South Carolina, who our celebrity crush is, what we’re excited about for the trip, what we’re nervous about for the trip, who our heroes are, etc. The purpose of the questions was to get to know each other better, after all, we’re going on a trip with 14 strangers. The questions did help us get to know each other better. For example, we found out that we had commonalities amongst members in the group, such as our favorite movies or how much we know about South Carolina, which was nothing… No one knew anything but more importantly, we were all ecstatic to learn more about South Carolina and the community partners we’re going to be working with. After getting to know one another better, we discussed more of the logistics of the trip, such as our community partners, the types of services we would be doing, the demographics of the community we would be working with, etc. Possible services we discussed were health screenings, being a walking buddy, and building a garden. Talking about these types of services made everyone even more excited to leave for the trip because before this point, not that much was known about the specific types of service we would be doing.

The pre-service consisted of painting garden pots for the community garden we were planning to build in Columbia. Everyone was able to get creative and paint what they wanted on his or her pot. It was not only for a good cause but it was a relaxing bonding activity for the group especially in the midst of finals week. We spread out newspaper on the floors of the Commons lounge to ensure that acrylic paint did not spill on ground because that would cause us to be fined and get in trouble by the building. Our team got right into it and grabbed all the paints needed to put their artistic abilities on display. Silence ensued while everyone was busy painting until one individual reached for bright lime green paint and ACCIDENTALLY spilled it on the one part of the carpet that was not covered in paint. Crisis proceeded… but the team handled its first predicament together very well. Everyone stayed calm and collected and began collecting the necessary supplies needed to clean up the big green mess. Everything from paper towels to foaming Kaboom and everything in between was used and eventually the carpet was spotless (or as spotless as we could possibly make it). After dealing with the chaos, everyone returned to painting their pots and we were able to make enough to fill up an entire box. This meeting allowed us to get to know each other better before heading to our trip, and allowed us to get glimpse of the service we would be doing.

-Maisha and Michelle

Post-service reflection

When I first thought of service, I thought of myself. How would I feel when I volunteered? What experiences would I have? What memories would I create? That’s a lot of “I’s” and during my week so far I realized that serving is about the other person. I began thinking, this woman whose husband died- I hope she has the strength to make it and to realize that her health is more important than she is letting it on to be. The man who lives alone, and at 61 is studying to get his general education diploma (GED)- I hope he remains resilient and continues to persevere despite the myriad of medical problems that he was suffering from. The veteran who at 83 calls himself the free spirit- I hope that he continues to use his unique sense of humor as a vehicle for therapy. The young mother, who at 24 had to learn how to handle balancing depression while also raising two young kids both younger than 6- I hope that she continues to remember what an inspiration she is to her kids.

The alternative break experience has reminded that service is more so about who is being served rather than the individual who is acting as the volunteer. I know calling this experience a life-changing event would be clichéd, but I also know that I’ll remember the experiences I captured during this past week for the rest of my life.

Volunteering at Healthy Columbia and being part of the check out station, in which I served as a community health advocate, showed me how a small act can go a long way. I informed a woman that eating candy every 2 hours could lead her sugars to spike to unhealthy levels and result in diabetes. To me, giving this advice it seemed banal and even trivial. However this woman expressed to me that I had altered her perspective on her health and helped her realize how attainable a healthy life style actually is. When a woman whose blood sugar was dangerously elevated at 300 mg/dL, I learned that there is more to a person than her numbers or test results. She broke down in front of me and explained that she stopped taking her diabetes medication after her husband died suddenly. She told me how he was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to his brain and a week later, he passed away in her living room. I learned that this traumatic event is what caused her healthy lifestyle to unravel. When I let her convey her feelings and told her that I wasn't judging her for not taking medication, she felt comfortable opening up to me. She was so brave because she was willing to change despite the overwhelming grief she was experiencing. Even hearing her story and being a listening ear was gratifying because afterwards, she thanked me for listening to her story. Service has taught me that I am helping real people- I am not volunteering for an image or an ideology. This past week taught me that volunteering and community service in general is not a one sided ordeal. I learned more about myself than I could have ever attained during self-reflection.

Monday, March 16

Today was our first real day of service. The day started off with a scavenger hunt for the right gym at USC to take our first shower since we arrived in South Carolina. After we freshened up, we had a chance to tour the State House and learn about some of the history of South Carolina.

After a quick lunch, we headed over to the Palmetto Place Children’s Shelter. When we arrived, the children were still at school, which gave us a chance to learn about the shelter. The children in the shelter ranged from three to twenty years old but they can keep the children to the age of twenty-four. For most of the kids, they stay for about six months.

Once the children started trickling in from school, I’m pretty sure we overwhelmed them. With 15 strangers standing in your house, we could understand their feelings so the group split up. Some of us helped the children with homework, others played outside with the kids and another group prepared dinner.

For the group, it was hard for us to come into their environment for only four hours. We wanted to stay longer, do more, and donate if we could have. It was challenging to see the dynamic between the kids. We noticed how the older kids looked out for the younger ones and have adopted a parenting roll. One of the older girls asked the younger girls if they had homework once they got home. It’s so hard to see young kids having to grow up so fast because they want to protect their younger siblings and housemates. One of the girls was a senior and we asked her about prom. She told us how she already got her dress but she didn’t seem to excited. We thought this might have been because she plays the parent figure in the house that prom might be trivial to her. This is the time of their life when they should be enjoying their life but instead they are worried about the younger kids.

During reflection we talked about the language and violence we saw between the children. One of the young boys told one of the group members that he had been cursed out by his mother. From that little bit of information, we were able to understand why he had so much built up anger. For some of us it was really hard to see kids in this predicament because no child should have to go through what any of them have been through.

Experiences like these really make you sit down and reflect on yourself, what we might be taking for granted and just trying to empathize with these children and put ourselves in their shoes. We were so excited that they opened up to us and accepted us. This also made it hard to leave. Although we might not have made a big difference in their lives, they did in our lives. I think I can speak for anyone and say that this experience will always stick with us.