ServICE conference 

In late November of 2022 I, and some of my fellow students attended the ServICE conference held at Berkeley international school. 

ServICE is a student-led conference that encourages participants to engage with local communities by volunteering in order to achieve a better understanding of life outside of an international school, connecting us to a multitude of realities for many we may be unfamilar with. 

In this conference I paid a visit to 'Abundant Life', a Christian orphanage in Chonburi aimed at providing children with congenital disorders the proper medication, and a safe non-judgmental environment they need in their early developmental years. 

At the orphanage I volunteered to help clean the windows which proved to be more challenging than I had imagined.   I was met with quite a few obstacles that wore me out, namely how difficult reaching the top corners of windows are to clean, and how difficult it is to clean the outsides of windows on the second storey. However, I received help from some other students, all of whom were struggling as well which made me feel more at ease as we all took turns coming up with solutions to properly wash the windows. 

By the end of the experience I felt exhausted, but also pleased I had made some new friends and left the windows in a better state than when I found them. 

This experience taught me that hardwork usually pays off and has further intrigued me to return to the orphanage for the next servICE conference since I enjoy the feeling of partaking in altruistic deeds, and helping others even in small ways. 

Learning Outcomes: 

• Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences - persevered even when it got tiring. 

• Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively - I would have been unable to wash as many windows thoroughly without the support of the others involved since we motivated each other to finish throughout the experience. 

• Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions - We could have chosen to  absentmindedly clean the windows, but instead we wanted to do the best we could, not for a reward but instead for the sake of helping out. 

• Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance - Even the smallest tasks must be taken care of, by visiting the orphanage I also learned its origin story and was able to observe how much the orphanage does for the children in need which is what motivated me to take local action, even just by taking care of household chores so the leaders could worry about more pressing matters (e.g. the childrens' futures and raising funds).