Service-Distribution of clothes

Throughout my life I have been taught to be of some use to others meaning that what you have needs to be shared with the ones that don’t. As a kid, watching beggars and poor children on the sidewalk of the road was very upsetting and disturbing. It made me think of all the things that they deserve but do not get, as in the basics of things such as proper food,education and clothing. 

 This experience of mine is collecting old clothes from the people living in my neighborhood, cleaning them and packing them to distribute it to the children living in the slums. In order for this service to be done there was a process that needed to be followed. My main aim for this distribution were the kids as the adults in the slum worked as labourers or housemaids to make money for food but couldn’t offer their children suitable clothing. 

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

 There were several challenges that I faced but later ended up learning something new along the way. The major challenge for me was to get people to donate clothes, meaning that I had to target the parents of the kids who would want to donate clothes of their children to the poor kids. Another challenge was dealing with the people in the slums. While distributing the clothes, every kid from the slum was running around and a lot of kids were left while giving the clothes because we did not have enough clothes. I went to distribute these clothes during december of 2020 and a lot of donors said they already handed out their children’s clothes to their maid’s kids during the time of diwali. This made it harder for me to get more clothes but I contacted a lot of people and made it happen. 

  I myself have done this before but on a smaller scale, as in I have donated my clothes to the girls my age living on the streets but that was just 2 or 3 pairs at a time. This was a mass distribution and I had to collect at least 50 pairs of clothes. 

 I feel that at this age it was necessary for me to do such a thing so that I could prove to my parents and more importantly I could prove it to myself that being independent is important and taking responsibilities upon yourself is necessary at this point so you could handle things on your own in the future when you are living on your own. This challenge made me realise that we are so privileged to have so many things and so many opportunities and it made me realise that we should be more thankful and think that what I have will suffice. 

 In life it is necessary to learn new skills in order to grow. These new skills help us in developing ourselves and shaping us in a way that we will be ready to encounter every challenge. It trains us to fight for ourselves and also to understand the things that the world around us has to offer. 

LO3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

 I organized this distribution all by myself but no doubt my parents were there to help me wherever I got stuck. To start off with the experience I first targeted a slum with around 200 huts and a lot of children. I noted the approx number of children who were in need of these clothes and their age/size. I collected the clothes according to the sizes, washed them, ironed them and packed 2 pairs in one bag for each kid, both male and female. The plan was easy for me to execute because I am naturally a very organized person who likes her things to be done a certain way and I get a little frustrated when things don’t work out exactly the way I wanted them to. So this plan was easy to make but a little hard to execute but with the help of my parents I could easily get a hold of all the people I had to contact so my experience could run smoothly. As an IB learner it has been very simple for me to work on my own and at the same time communicate with the people you are dealing or working with. After this experience, I have learnt how to deal with different people in different situations.

LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

The global issues taken into account were poverty, clothing is a necessity and individuals need clothes to cover themselves from different weather or diseases. The sustainable that can be connected here are good health and well being and also a few reduced inequalities. Good health because the absence of clothing and the places that those poor people live in contributing to a lot of diseases and sickness. Also reduced inequalities because I tried eliminating one of the many things that set them apart from us. I know clothing is not as necessary as food but is one of a few basic needs every human must-have. 

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