Dogs are a species of animals which are adored and loved by many all around the world, there are also many who keep them as pets but there are many dogs who have to live on the streets, their situation is worse than that of a homeless person, so I decided to help them out locally, by feeding stray dogs. This experience is service because it is an actual need not in human society but the whole society which also includes other animals/species in the society and these dogs were in actual need of food because they were just newborns and the mother as well was really weak, you can see it in them, the need for food, every living thing needs food not just humans, pets get food but the street animals don’t and this is why it is a service.
LO 1 : Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
During this experience I identified on of my weaknesses, which was that I was bad at dealing with dogs and animals in general, after being aware of this weakness I started to feel that if I did not overcome and let this weakness be with me then I would need to avoid so many places for the rest of my life, because animals, especially dogs are everywhere in the world, I cannot runaway from it because wherever I go, they would be there, it is important to know my weakness because if I know about it, then I will be able to do something about it, and if possible, turn that weakness into my strength, if I don’t do anything about it then it is going to be there for the rest of my life and it will have a negative impact. I did overcome this weakness over the process of a few days.
LO 2 : Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
The challenging part about this experience was that I was really bad with dogs, any animal in general, it was just that they were quite unhygienic, smelly, they make a lot of noise etc. which caused me to not being able to be deal with them properly, and it was after a long time that I interacted with dogs again. I overcame this challenge by first feeding puppies and then feeding grown street dogs. I feel that when I undertake this challenge it will definitely help me overcome my fear of dogs and be able to have well interactions with them. It is important for me to undertake new challenges because it helps me grow and the impact it has made will be there in my life.
LO 4 : Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
Perseverance and commitment was required because I needed to feed newborn puppies which were only a few days old and other dogs which were really skinny, so if not feeded then they would have probably died, and it was also needed because I needed to be better at dealing with animals. It made me feel that dogs are not as disgusting as I thought they were and the puppies were actually quite cute. I needed to commit myself to feed them time to time and gradually be familiar with them. It is easy for me to commit myself to do things but difficult to have perseverance.
LO 6 : Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
The issue over here was that animals, street animals don’t have enough food to feed themselves in a world which is ruled and industrialized by humans to such extent, the difference is that in some countries mainly developed countries they have animal shelter where animals are treated with care and in underdeveloped countries it is the opposite. It is something that happens on a global scale, it is also that the animals, dogs which are pets are well fed and looked after than stray dogs/animals.
Conclusion : During this experience I developed the LP caring, it made me give more and care for others. This experience benefitted others by them not engaging themselves with street dogs and giving them food, I went ahead and did that. The highlight of this CAS experience was me overcoming my fear of dogs and be more familiar with them, this also changed my perspective on dogs, in the beginning I thought that they were just wild animals and would be able to survive by themselves, but later on out of the 5 new born one died, this made me feel a little bit guilty and made me care for them more. In my opinion I achieved success as I was able to overcome my fear and feed the dogs, it was a win-win situation. I learned from this experience that every living thing should be treated equally and be cared for.
