Introduction.
What is Community Service? From ABCs when we first hear the term ‘community service’ the thought we get is that it must be something regarding giving back to society. Having a look at the proper definition, Community service is when individuals or groups of people come together to volunteer to help improve a community, with no hope of getting any reap from the community. It can also mean helping non-profit organizations or doing positive things that lead to a better society.
Learning institutions, especially institutions of elevated education such as universities tend to carry out community service as part of their course work. A reason for this initiative is that it trains the students to gain hands-on experience. How to deal with the outside society. It also helps in developing personal growth since one gets to learn positive qualities like being sovereign etc. In addition, one also ends up gaining skills such as problem-solving, communication, managing time, etc enabling the development of the social life. These are the reasons why educational institutions like universities include community service as part of their curriculum despite of the degree that the student pursues.
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What I got to know differently about community service is that it is not only about giving back to society but also about learning a lot from it.
The organization assigned was ‘The Rescue Dada Center’. It is in Ngara, Nairobi Kenya. Who owns and manages this organization? This organization is owned and managed by ‘The Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi. The center takes good care of approximately 70 girls from ages ranging between 5 to 16 years, and to take good care for this center it has a good hardworking staff of 26 members who help in the rehabilitation of these girls.
What’s the main aim of the organization? The main aim of this center was to rescue the street children, more specifically the girls who have gone through human abuse and assault on the streets by rehabilitating them, therefore, changing their lives. In addition, they also tend to create equal rights and opportunities for these girls giving them importance and making them part of society.
The Rescue Dada Center has a strong mission, to reduce the number of children living on the street mainly focusing on girls by rescuing and rehabilitating them (The Rescue Dada Center, 2020).
Nature of the project.
The Rescue Dada center was home to 70 girl children who were rescued from the streets. Therefore, the aim was to improve their quality of life by assisting them in the ways we could.
As a team, we first came up with a problem statement. There are various challenges faced by this center, and financial constraints are among them. When we visited the center, we noticed that apart from aids and grants the principal source of income for the center was from cosmetology. However, this cosmetology had its own challenges since they were not able to set up a standard one. The cosmetology department did not have sufficient equipment, and the one that was available was not effective since it was not in good working condition. Secondly, we also perceived that the organization used to outsource the food from suppliers to feed the girls. As we continued having a look at the center’s surroundings, we noticed that they were much of the center’s space left unused. We came up with a plan, converting the unused place to a useful place by converting it into a garden where they could plant kale and spinach. This would save them from outsourcing the vegetables that would be used in their meals. It was a good initiative since they would be able to plant a good quantity of these vegetables and the surplus could be sold off to the market hence earning the center more income.
After having sat as a team, we decided to have two projects for the center that would help them in the long run too. One of the projects included the purchase of a beauty salon, which the center uses as vocational training as part of the rehabilitation. We decided to purchase the following for cosmetology.
As mentioned above, we then decided to come up with a garden within the center’s premises to grow a few vegetables that would help them cut off costs when they used to outsource the veggies from suppliers. In addition, we shall equip the center with a few pieces of garden equipment for the sustainability of the garden. This initiative would be able to assist the center in obtaining good financial terms.
Budget.
When carrying out a project, it is always effective to have a budget prepared. This is because the budget shows how the funds shall be raised, the approximate that will be raised, and how those funds shall used for the project. It also helps in ensuring that no funds are mislocated.
Our main source of funds was from internal means. Each group member was asked to raise a minimum of Ksh.3000 per person. Any other donations from the society were accepted too Unfortunately, we were not able to outsource any income. Since we were a team of 14 members, the amount we managed to raise was Ksh.42,000 (Ksh.3,000*14=Ksh.42,000).
S.W.O.T analysis.
This basically stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This analysis helps in understanding where the organization is at and knowing how it can improve itself for effective running and overall improvement where necessary.
Strength.
It is basically the power to outstand the forces that affect something. The Rescue Dada Center has the following strengths.
Committed personnel. The center has a dedicated staff of 26 persons who take care of the center. This is taking care of the girls, others teaching them the vocational training of cosmetics, some overlooking the hygienic conditions of the center, a few of them preparing good dietary meals, and others teaching them common skills such as communicating, etc.
Social media page. The organization has a well-developed and managed Facebook page. This page allows them to portray their image to the outside world of what they do and therefore, this assists the center in attracting more individuals towards the tremendous work they do. These individuals then assist the center by donating and doing other social work, which in turn assists the whole center overall.
Financial stability. When we had a background check of the organization, we saw that the center has never seen itself having financial constraints. This is because the center also receives funds from other countries to keep it running and from the local community as well.
Weaknesses.
The lack of manpower. The center itself runs on donations and grants and hence cannot afford skilled manpower for the center like in the case of training the girls on cosmetology training. It becomes difficult to outsource this skilled labor. The manpower that works in the center voluntarily agrees to work for the center at cut-off wages as they are too of the center’s situation.
Inefficient equipment. We see that the center doesn’t have good equipment that would be used to train the girls. Some of the equipment they have is either outdated not replaced for a long period of time or doesn’t work effectively hence also affecting the teaching methods.
Improper use of the facility. The center had a lot of unused surroundings until our team came up with a suggestion. This affects the center's productivity.
Financial inadequacy. Even though the center raises funds from external sources it is only able to raise just enough and no surplus. This limits the organization to limited options. It cannot expand its facilities since it runs on a tight budget.
Opportunities.
Receive grants. The organization can receive grants for example from government bodies. The administration bodies can decide to supply good services at a discounted price. Or if the center proves that it’s a genuine organization whose aim is to help and protect society, it may be ruled out of paying taxes and other related administration fees. This saves the center on funds.
Building partnerships. The center can build partnerships with the local community e.g., with suppliers who supply them with the good services they use in their everyday activities.
Expand their social sites. The organization can expand its respective social sites by creating webpages on apps like Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn rather than only on Facebook which shall enable it to outreach to more people across the globe and attract them to the organization.
Threats.
Negativity from the people. It has been seen that such non-profit organizations tend to face a lot of negativities. For example, many people say that in the name of NGOs, people tend to carry out illegal activities like drug smuggling, money laundering, etc. However, they are bodies that follow up with such as NGOs by investigating whether they are all doing the correct thing in the name of NGOs by assisting the needy and not carrying out illegal activities by taking assistance from the law that has been put in place by the governing bodies.
Competition. Even though these organizations do not run as businesses whose aim is to make profits, they do face competition. An example of such competition is when they cannot be able to attract donors if their organization is not portraying good results, and the donors decide to donate to better-performing institutions.
Unpredictable circumstances. We know that unpredictable circumstances usually end up with unavoidable results. For example, Covid-19 has unexpectedly brought a lot of issues to the global. We see that some donors only end up donating 10% of what they used to donate initially, and others don’t even donate anything. This is because of all the financial crises that have been brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. This ends up the center in financial constraints as well.
Impact of the project on society.
Since the organization deals with the rescuing and rehabilitation of children from society especially the girls who have gone through or are about to go through human abuse assault, it in turn reduces the number of street children countrywide by rescuing the girls from the street and taking them to their respective rescue centers.
Another impact would be that it would attract more individuals to come and assist in doing community service. This is when the outside community sees what a certain organization is doing, and therefore, 3 or more persons may decide to come up with their own similar organization that would foresee the betterment of the community.
As we all know all the children are naïve and therefore, all these street children need to be taken care of and loved the same way. Hence, such organizations really impact society. This is because they rescue the children from society take care good care of them and show affection since they provide better standards of living for the children.
When the organization grows, it not only creates local job opportunities for society, but also it can be able to increase the capacity of children being taken care of. This comes about when the outside community sees the progress of a certain center and decides to assist in all ways either by donating funds for building a new block that will be able to house more children and equip the center with the necessary equipment for effective running.
A major impact would be that these children in the rescue center end up being educated like any other child outside in the society. These children are taken through vocational training, whereby when the children are left out of society, they can be able to try and become independent on themselves. For example, The Rescue Dada Center teaches the girls it hosts cosmetology and when these girls go out to society, they can help themselves by attaining a job in a cosmetic area. This in turn has improved their own overall lifestyle.
This specific center (The Rescue Dada Center), the center has since seen a great improvement due to the effective use of the available equipment. This was seen because due to the pandemic, the organization was not admitting any more street children except those that need the utmost care. In turn, they were no strain on the available equipment and hence the deliverance of the services being offered was at its best.
Personal learning experiences.
Community service is not only about giving back to society, but with it one gets to educate themselves a lot. As an individual below are some of the following personal experiences I gained.
Teamwork. I saw that when a team comes together to achieve a certain accomplishment, it can be achieved more effectively as compared to an individual. Since we were a 14-member team, we decided to group ourselves into manageable groups each group handling a specific area to deal with. I was able to develop team building, good management, and effective communication skills. I would proudly say if in the future I am given a project to handle, I can give my 100% and carry it out effectively without any disappointment.
Another experience I gained was that life is not always the same for everyone. Everyone has gone through something worse before they reach a good turn in their life. I understood that the less unfortunate suffer a lot if it were not for this organization, they would be living in the open and get affected by the harsh weather conditions, sicknesses, lack of dietary food, and in a nutshell poor standard of living. As an individual, I would like to thank God for giving me such a prosperous life and understanding that when I have a chance, it is always good to give back to society without any hesitation.
Another skill was time management. This was very important while carrying out the entire project. One had to allocate enough time to do all the activities. Therefore the time management factor was very crucial. Some of the activities during the project were inspecting the site, and having a regular visit to see how the center is doing in terms of performance.
Another experience was that you get to engage with new individuals. This is because they are people from different diversities and different backgrounds that you get to work with and on the way, you get to understand and appreciate each other.
I have never taken part in any type of charity work, and hence I found it that it was something that is difficult to do. However as I progressed ahead and with the involvement of the lecturer and my fellow team members, I found out that it was actually interesting work to do. With the help of the entire crew, it looked easy as everyone was involved.
These are not only the skills I gained but others also like patience, budgeting, understanding, communication, leadership management, time management skills, problem solving, connecting what we learn in class to the outside world, developing a good viewpoint on life.
Recommendations.
No doubt the organization performs well, but there is always room for improvement. The following would be some of my recommendations for the center. Firstly, they should involve the surrounding community heavily. The center heavily depends on donations, therefore, involving the community would be really helpful. When the community gets involved after the organization portrays the good deeds it does, the community gathering may then decide to donate to the organization assisting it financially or in any other way possible.
Secondly, the organization should work on its social media sites. The organization should use social sites to show the work it does for the community to the outside world. They should create posts and upload them to their social site occasionally. This would help them to be known by the outside world.
Another thing would be for the center to come up with a strong board of management team. They should have a goal-oriented team that should drive the organization. These management team should come up with strategies that would lead to the survival and effective running of the center. For example, to cover the financial area they can organize harambees in the community to raise funds. A team with goals can always be successful.
I would recommend the center develop and maintain good partnerships with the externals especially the suppliers. This is because if they have a good relationship with the supplier, they can always ask for good, discounted rates for the things they are being supplied with. These would save on the expenses being incurred by the center. It is all for the benefit of the organization at the last.
Another thing is that the center should look at rescuing and rehabilitating all types of genders both male and female. This is because not only the girls are exposed to human abuse but also the boys, it is just in rare cases very unnoticeable. This would bring about diversity in the center which is a great step to be taken. Both genders would be able to share the different types of experiences which act as lessons to one another.
Lastly, the center to use its facilities effectively. The center has a lot of unused space which part of it we converted for them to be a garden to plant some of their vegies as per our budget. From here it’s the center's responsibility to take good care of the garden and expand it so as to accumulate more vegies and hence buy less from the outside, and the excess could also be sold to the outside market and hence earn income revenue back to the center.
Conclusion.
In conclusion, I would really like to thank everyone who thought I would be a good person to take part in this project. Doing this community service project really educated me in various aspects of my life. It was not until that I knew that such small things in life would have great everlasting impacts on others' lives. I also learned to appreciate everything in life. The things we have as an individual that others do not have and are struggling for such as a roof to stay under, good nutritious food, access to good medical facilities and many others not to mention.
The organization has such a powerful impact on society in that it tries its best to reduce the number of children who are living on the street by rescuing and rehabilitating them. They also teach them a few skills of cosmetics which would help them to get a good job in society. They would appreciate from where they have come back to where they are standing now.
Lastly, not forgetting the skills I learned.
References.
- https: blog.prep scholar. somewhat-is-community-service
- https:www.alleghenycourts.usdownloadsfamilyjuvenile sectionBrochuresCommunity Service.pdf
- https:www.eacs.wa.edu.au201709top-5-benefits-of-community-service-activities
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