Ms. Lauren Time : Community Service
“For it is in giving that we receive.” (St. Francis of Assisi)
Community Service – what does this mean to you? I know that there are many TCSH students and staff members who could answer this question with details and clarity, and many more who may never have thought about it at all. Because I discovered the richness of getting involved in community service quite late in my own life, I will try to inspire you to consider it sooner.
When I worked in Venezuela in the late 1990s, I occasionally helped out at an orphanage on Saturday mornings. It was gratifying work but for some reason it did not make me think or feel deeply. In 2012, my last year of being a principal in Canada, I took a group of 20 students and family members to Mexico with a group called Live Different.
We built two simple but sustainable houses for families who were living in one-room shacks. I cried, and so did most of my team, and so did one of the very macho fathers, on the day that we handed over the keys to the families. This time, I was struck deeply by how relatively easy it had been for my team and me to make a significant, lasting change in the lives of 12 people. I realized, as Warren Buffett says: “If you’re in the luckiest one per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.” I am pretty sure that every single member of the TCSH community is in at least the luckiest 5% of humanity, it is very easy not to think about those who are less fortunate, but once you start thinking about them, it is impossible to go back to the level of ignorance you demonstrated before.
Since I came to Malaysia, I have been thrilled to accompany two different batches of IB Juniors to a small community in Cambodia, Beng Mealea, where we helped with some projects to support the local school that serves 900 children from poor families in the surrounding villages. This community includes teachers who work for 80 USD per month and sleep in a classroom, devoted members of the Camp Cambodia team who work tirelessly to teach and empower the locals through kind-to-the-earth farming practices, healthy eating habits and English lessons, and groups of “campers” like the IB students who come and work on construction and gardening projects. I think the learning that I have gained from these experiences, and have shared with the students who I accompanied, is that community service is not really about charity, and not only about giving to people in need. In actual fact, when you do this type of community service, you gain a lot of insight and knowledge and love back, for yourself. We realized that the people who we were helping, though they are poor, are also happy and hard-working and have lots of resilience and cheer and initiatives of their own. We gave them assistance with labour and material resources, but they gave us bigger hearts and noble ideas in return. To me, this is actually the compelling part, and one of the reasons I will continue to do community service whenever the opportunity arises for the rest of my life. ”Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember, you don't live in a world all of your own.” (Albert Schweitzer)
This is a photo of this year’s IB Juniors labouring hard under the Cambodian sun on May 1st, Labour Day. Never has Labour Day meant so much to us. Our work on that day not only contributed to the local community, but made us appreciate the meaning of this “holiday” more than ever before. “When you reach out to those in need, do not be surprised if the essential meaning of something occurs.” (Stephen Richards)
There is a TCSH trip to Sabah with the same group that we work with in Cambodia, Camps International, taking place June 24th – 28th. There are still a few places left and hard copy information packages available in ECA. Please talk to me if you would like to consider coming on this trip.
Most of this article has been about doing international community service, however there are many people in need very close to our own homes. A large group of SAM 2014 students are working under the heading of MADU “Make A Difference United” almost every Friday afternoon, bonding with and teaching Rohingyan refugees who have no status in Malaysia and can therefore not go to school or do any of the things we take for granted. The 2014 Rotaract Club, along with Ms. Sarah’s Literature class, have started a relationship with another school of refugees where they plan to go and share stories and books on a regular basis. They have declared this week Refugee Week and are looking for donations of children’s books and scientific calculators. Project Adopt, the Leo Club and many other TCSH groups, tutor orphans, feed the homeless through soup kitchens, and facilitate other service projects.
If I left anyone out, it would be great if you would comment on this article to help the rest of us understand the full extent of the community service that is already going on at TCSH. And if you are not part of any of it, maybe you want to consider getting involved in even a
small way. Feel free to come and talk to me about it anytime! I end with a quote from one of my favourite inspiring authors of all time, Kahlil Gibran: “I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.”
Ms. Lauren
Community Service – what does this mean to you? I know that there are many TCSH students and staff members who could answer this question with details and clarity, and many more who may never have thought about it at all. Because I discovered the richness of getting involved in community service quite late in my own life, I will try to inspire you to consider it sooner.
When I worked in Venezuela in the late 1990s, I occasionally helped out at an orphanage on Saturday mornings. It was gratifying work but for some reason it did not make me think or feel deeply. In 2012, my last year of being a principal in Canada, I took a group of 20 students and family members to Mexico with a group called Live Different.
Since I came to Malaysia, I have been thrilled to accompany two different batches of IB Juniors to a small community in Cambodia, Beng Mealea, where we helped with some projects to support the local school that serves 900 children from poor families in the surrounding villages. This community includes teachers who work for 80 USD per month and sleep in a classroom, devoted members of the Camp Cambodia team who work tirelessly to teach and empower the locals through kind-to-the-earth farming practices, healthy eating habits and English lessons, and groups of “campers” like the IB students who come and work on construction and gardening projects. I think the learning that I have gained from these experiences, and have shared with the students who I accompanied, is that community service is not really about charity, and not only about giving to people in need. In actual fact, when you do this type of community service, you gain a lot of insight and knowledge and love back, for yourself. We realized that the people who we were helping, though they are poor, are also happy and hard-working and have lots of resilience and cheer and initiatives of their own. We gave them assistance with labour and material resources, but they gave us bigger hearts and noble ideas in return. To me, this is actually the compelling part, and one of the reasons I will continue to do community service whenever the opportunity arises for the rest of my life. ”Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember, you don't live in a world all of your own.” (Albert Schweitzer)
This is a photo of this year’s IB Juniors labouring hard under the Cambodian sun on May 1st, Labour Day. Never has Labour Day meant so much to us. Our work on that day not only contributed to the local community, but made us appreciate the meaning of this “holiday” more than ever before. “When you reach out to those in need, do not be surprised if the essential meaning of something occurs.” (Stephen Richards)
There is a TCSH trip to Sabah with the same group that we work with in Cambodia, Camps International, taking place June 24th – 28th. There are still a few places left and hard copy information packages available in ECA. Please talk to me if you would like to consider coming on this trip.
Most of this article has been about doing international community service, however there are many people in need very close to our own homes. A large group of SAM 2014 students are working under the heading of MADU “Make A Difference United” almost every Friday afternoon, bonding with and teaching Rohingyan refugees who have no status in Malaysia and can therefore not go to school or do any of the things we take for granted. The 2014 Rotaract Club, along with Ms. Sarah’s Literature class, have started a relationship with another school of refugees where they plan to go and share stories and books on a regular basis. They have declared this week Refugee Week and are looking for donations of children’s books and scientific calculators. Project Adopt, the Leo Club and many other TCSH groups, tutor orphans, feed the homeless through soup kitchens, and facilitate other service projects.
If I left anyone out, it would be great if you would comment on this article to help the rest of us understand the full extent of the community service that is already going on at TCSH. And if you are not part of any of it, maybe you want to consider getting involved in even a
small way. Feel free to come and talk to me about it anytime! I end with a quote from one of my favourite inspiring authors of all time, Kahlil Gibran: “I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.”
