Being a part of Lion Befrienders has made me rethink the goal of UWC service itself. At points I found myself questioning whether being a part of/doing service was performative. People occasionally didn’t show up or they found it to be mundane. I am sure that the IB wanted students to do CAS and learn the value of giving to the community, but was this really the best method? By making it mandatory? Because it is the way it is, people aren’t as enthusiastic. But then again, I can’t definitively say that those same people would take initiative and join a service out of their own volition. I saw service as a business and a duty. Our duty as students is to make the elders in our local community happy.
I imagined myself growing old, maybe my family members live too far away, or perhaps my friends had already passed away. I would be living alone, probably very bored, which wouldn’t be healthy. And it would make me feel very happy if once in a while, I had the chance to make some genuine conversations with the younger people. This is why I see great importance in Lion Befrienders, because I know that I too would appreciate it as an elderly person.