On my first trip for Hope for Kids we only got to spend about an hour at the hospital, still it gave me a good introduction to the individual Service program. For some reason the first thing that really struck me was that we had to remove our shoes before entering the building. I felt this was partly due to the cultural respect, and partially to keep the germs and dirt away from the kids. When we walked into the building I immediately realized that I could return to this place to help out. As we split into groups, I was partnered with Ian and we were assigned with cleaning the common area with the toys such as bikes and toy cars. While some people might feel this was demeaning to have to clean while others got to play with the kids, I feel like this is almost as important because, while the kids need fun interaction, the area also needs to be clean to make sure their already weakened immune systems don't catch anything else.
Ian and I
collaboratively came up with the plan to divide up the area of the floor into three and move the equipment that Ian needed to clean in to the middle so I could sweep around it and under the tables at the edges of the room. After that we moved the equipment back, swept the middle of the floor, and then let our perfectionist sides take over.
We definitely showed commitment in cleaning the entire area and
we both know that an area of strength for us is our perfectionistic tendency to want whatever we start to be finished to the highest level (mainly when it comes to cleaning). We managed to completely clean the entire floor of the room and all the toys/equipment in it in an hour by
working collaboratively together.
Overall, I'm really happy with my participation in this Service project and am looking forward to continuing.
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