Posted in What We Do

What We Do

We plan weekly sessions with YMCA on Thursdays after-school where our service partner’s children can meet up with the students to play various sport activities and games. This is a relaxing Thursday afternoon for the students where they can spend time getting to know children that are much less their age and students are able to also let loose and focus on developing leadership and motor skills. 

 

We get to engage and spend time with the children in order to entertain and learn how to interact with kids of different ages.

Posted in Who We Work With

YMCA Student Care Center – Who We Work With

Our service works with YMCA Student Care Center to help create children from the ages of 8 and above to have opportunities to play, learn and socialise with other children by hosting them with active activities. As these children are from underprivileged families, their parents do not have the time to play with them after the long-hours of working. This is where we come in to provide these children with sports and activities which can “provide each child with the educational, emotional guidance and support they need.” (YMCA)  We believe that good health and well being is crucial for young children so we focus heavily on the different types of sports and activities that also consist of educational motives. Our service collaborates to deliver high-quality activities that will satisfy and improve children’s welfare.

Posted in Reflections

Reflection from a grade 11 student

“These past few weeks we have finally had the chance to begin hosting the sessions with the kids! They have been coming to the school for5 weeks in a row and I have been super impressed with their enthusiasms and joy to be with us. Every-time we announce an activity they are so excited to get started and it’s really nice to see that what we are doing actually is enjoyable and beneficial to them.

So far we have had no major problems with organising the activities or hosting them. Most of our activities had been well thought out in our planning sessions and all the kids seemed to enjoy the activities we had offered them each time. I have noticed they prefer really active activities which requires them to run around as they have lots of energy to spare! I also noticed one of their favourite activity was Just Dance. They absolutely love dancing and they always request that we do some Just Dance at some point in our sessions.

Overall I think this service is going well and I can noticed that I am becoming more comfortable hosting the sessions and participating fully in them. I think I have definitely improved my communication and cooperation skills, however I am always looking forward to improving further whilst spending more time planning, working with my fellow service partners and interacting with the kids.” (Sunny Henon)

Posted in Reflections

Reflection on service from a Grade 11 student

“In my local service, we corporate with the YMCA student care centre to organise activities and learning sessions for the kids who are not under very good financial conditions, and I have volunteered to be the service cheer because I am very passionate towards kids. Our service focused on the global issue of poverty and the children. Last time, we went to the YMCA centre to visit them, which was the first time we meeting them. Through this visit, I have a clearer understanding towards what they need and how to achieve them.

The kids were all in a pretty young age, at about 7 or 8, and therefore they were extremely energetic and active. We first sat in a circle and had a conversation with some buddies. I tried my best to remember all of their names, because that would seem more friendly and polite. I found myself very good at interacting with kids, because I would play with them as if I was in the same age as them instead of being like an adult and request them to do something. Also, based on my research on the psychology behind poor children, I found that sometimes they could be very vulnerable and sensitive if we touched the sides that they didn’t feel comfortable of, even if we were not intended to do so. Therefore, I was always mindful of how to talk to them and what kind of things should I talk about, with awareness of our different backgrounds. Through my conversation, I got to know lots of their hobbies, which were mainly sports. One kid told me that they had a football court and they often played football there. Some of them really loved swimming, but there’s no swimming pool in the care centre. Therefore, I think that it would be good if we can organise some sporty activities which can bring their energy up.

Although the kids didn’t grow up under a good financial background, they didn’t seem to be humbled or unhappy because of this. Instead, throughout the visit, they seemed extremely optimistic and happy, always engaging with us an their friends activity. I was very glad to see that poverty wasn’t an issue which gives negative impacts to them, and they can still have access to education and various activities. I think our mission is to provide more opportunities for them to access to different things by using the resources available in our school, such as technology and arts classes which they didn’t have in the student care centre. This service helps me to see the situations of the poor children and reflect on my own way of living, that I need to cherish the plenty resources I currently have. Poverty is a critical issues nowadays, but I don’t want it to influence children’s lives and take away their access to educational resources. I really hope that our service can help the children build confidence, collaborative skills, creativity, critical thinking, and most importantly, make them feel happy.” (Gwenda Gu)

Posted in Uncategorized

Who We Work With

Our service works with YMCA Student Care Center to help create children from the ages of 8 and above to have opportunities to play, learn and socialise with other children by hosting them with active activities. As these children are from underprivileged families, their parents do not have the time to play with them after the long-hours of working. This is where we come in to provide these children with sports and activities which can “provide each child with the educational, emotional guidance and support they need.” (YMCA)  We believe that good health and well being is crucial for young children so we focus heavily on the different types of sports and activities that also consist of educational motives. Our service collaborates to deliver high-quality activities that will satisfy and improve children’s welfare.