The Challenges of Volunteerism

As I have considered this institution to render my service there are certain expectations that have

crossed my mind seen that I have to assist girls between the ages of 18 - 30 who basically failed

high school due to different reasons , however being at this institution for two months and a few

days there are some issues that I have witnessed during my placement and I will now guide you

throughout my essay as to some of these issues that I have come across, also being primary

witnessed to these issues I have quickly recognized that to some extent it would reflect problems

that are prevalent in the wider Jamaican society today. I will also enlightened you as to what

impact I think these problems will have on our ability as Jamaicans to achieve the goals laid out

in vision 2030. However seen that the issues were something that I have witnessed I will

therefore outlined the possible solutions that could be used to iron out these problems.

When I just started volunteering at this institution I was basically assigned to everyone seeing

that seeing that the batch of students aren’t a lot. However being at this institution assisting these

girls in becoming prominent woman of society there are some problems that I have witnessed

with this set of students, the problems that have jumped out to me are as follows, the dialect

spoken by the students is strictly basilect, ‘straight Jamaican patois’, this has resulted in poor

writing skills when the girls are given writing tasks such as letters to do. Additionally their

insolence is something quite unappealing; the way they address their teachers with little or no

respect , causes me to sometimes wonder why did I choose this institution to offer my service,

but in the end everything happens for a reason. Despite being rude majority of the times, the

potential that these girls possess is quite evident, but is somehow locked away under all of their

ill-mannered ways. This somewhat impenetrable husk of bad attitude makes the job of getting
information across to them a whole lot harder. Correspmdingly paired with their insolence is

their ignorance of basic concepts of the English language and Mathematics. The level Maths and

English being taught to them is of the grade 7 level but yet still the capacity to grasp these

concepts is still lacking by some of the girls in the class. Because of this one topic has to be

repeated consecutively before they fully grasp a understanding of the concept. Hence the growth

that was predicted to be reached at this point in the academic year hasn’t being met.

To what extent did these problems that I have witnessed in my placement reflect

problems prevalent in the wider Jamaican society? Well Volunteerism at the Good Hope Partners

opened my eyes to a new phenomenon in the education system where student’s bad attitudes

form a learning blockage preventing them from learning what they need to. This was evident in

this set of students at the Good Hope Partners institution. Their approach to education are

contrary with that of the wider Jamaican students were more focus towards their school work are

evident in their exam results. A situation of this nature mirrors the wider society of Jamaica

where a set of girls tend to detour from the route of education and indulge in wrong doings while

on the other hand some are furthering their education to empower themselves. As a result a

barrier is created towards achieving the Vision 2030 goal of empowerment. Education is a form

of empowerment and clearly some girls of the society are oblivious. The goal of empowerment is

a contributing factor to Jamaica, the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business.

This desired status will forever be out of our reach due to the fact that majority of young females

are not empowering themselves through education.

The thought came to me that I had to make a change as this was the main reason for

carrying out the act volunteerism so I decided to have a conversation with the class. As we spoke

it was revealed to me that these girls had dreams and aspiration of becoming competent citizens
of Jamaica but their self-confidence is lacking hence they manifest their thoughts through

insolence. Without a doubt these girls have the potential to excel, but first thinking positively and

seeing their paths to success are quite mandatory in changing their current status. Therefore

words of encouragement was given. At the same time positives of education were revealed in

order to indicate that education is useful in making their dreams a reality. After the conversation

their attitudes change for the best although there are still challenges in their level of

comprehension but in I believe they will improve.

Sometimes volunteerism will not always be smooth sailing and it is up to the volunteers

to not throw in the towel. If it is a case where people are the beneficiaries of the service

especially those from volatile communities the situation will be challenging. Therefore

volunteers should always remember their purpose and with faith and dedication the outcome

shall be positive and the Vision 2030 plan without a doubt will be a reality.

Lecturer’s signature: Date of submission:

COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT (CSP 1001)

REFLECTION #3

NAME: Davion D Tracey

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2015-2016

SCHOOL: Faculty of Engineering and Computing

LECURTER: Miss E Francis James

NAME OF AGENCY/PROJECT: The Good Hope Partners

ID#: 1402673

SEMESTER: 1

TUTORIAL DAY/TIME: Fridays, 10:00-10:50am

AGENCY SUPERVISOR: Mr Kelvin Clarke.