Balmela is an event where children from an underprivileged background from around society come to our school and teach them things which we are privileged enough to know. This was my first year in Balmela, I only took part in this because of my service session experience. I just love seeing children play their hearts out. There were approximately 2000 children. There were many activities and I was a part of the tire-dragging-race game. The children who came to play the game were very happy and excited. I also gave them small gifts like pencils, crayons, scale, erase and many more to the one who won the race. There were a lot of things which I learned during this event:

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

My strengths were that I was able to connect to the children easily and was able to cheer them up. There was no language barrier as I could understand their language and respond in the same. Children seemed to like it and were more comfortable when I communicated with them in their language. At the start, it seemed I wouldn’t be able to handle many children and they won’t cooperate due to the excitement but once I made them played both them and me got comfortable and I was able to handle them.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses will help you grow more in a person and will give a better understanding of yourself.

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

A challenging part was the sun. It was too hot and it made children tired. They were not so much enthusiastic once the temperature went up. To cheer them and myself up in the scorching heat was a task. But then it all fell back in place when had a small break and returned with double energy. Also, some of the children were quite shy especially the girls, so it became for me to communicate with them, to try to figure out whether they are enjoying the game or not. They were not expressing much just smiling, so I pretended that they were enjoying and to make them happy I gave them gifts despite their wins.

LO3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

We were just given the stations randomly for different games and we needed to decide how we want to draw the activity. There were around 10 to 12 tires and the area we were given was quite small so we needed to arrange the tires in such a way that everybody could run without bashing into one another. We also decided the distance, we kept is approximately 40 meters. I was the starter (the one starting the race) and my buddy was standing at the end of 40 meters to make sure children reach till there and who has won the race.

LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

The aforementioned activity required a lot of commitment and dedication, as it was sweltering hot and due to it, everyone was tired including the children. Also, this activity was planned on the weekend near to our submissions deadline, being a diploma program student everything is important and due to submissions deadline approaching, taking out time from my busy schedule was a task. Nevertheless, being reminded by my past service sessions that how important these small things are to children and how happy they get form small games, made me come to this activity.

LO5: Demonstrate the skills and benefits of working collaboratively

I wasn’t the only one assigned the tire dragging activity. There was 1 more person with me and personally, I think it was good that I wasn’t the only one as I would have trouble managing so many children. We divided our work equally like I was the started and my buddy was at the end making sure nobody cheats, and the children who won the race, he used to send them to me for getting their gifts. I think we made quite a good team as we made sure all the children had a  good time and also made sure that no internal fights take place due to gifts.

I think collaboration improves the workflow, productivity, and efficiency between the members, in turn getting a better result.

LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

The children who came for the Balmela were from nearby villages. They were from a poor background and couldn’t afford quality education like us. Around the globe, children living in poverty are more likely to develop mental health problems and well being of children. Apart from this, the cost of school may have a deep emotional impact on the children and make them feel stigmatized and embarrassed because their parents couldn’t afford the cost of school life. Think this issue has a major impact on children as they are missing out on basic skill which may help them grow. I think this issue can be minimized my people taking initiatives of organizing such events more often and spread their knowledge, not necessarily about games only but anything like arts, dancing, ICT skills, math tutoring and many more.

LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

These children were from an underprivileged background and it was my responsibility to make sure that they are equally involved in the event as we are. We being the once getting high-education and good facility made sure that we do not seem very intimidating as that would hinder their fun and their learning. We created a comfortable environment for them so they could interact comfortably. However, not all of them were comfortable but we tired over best to interact with all the children.

To end this, I would say this event helped me boost my confidence and talk to people. It made me grow more as a person.