"A loaf of bread is better shared than eaten alone.” We have all heard this statement at some point in our lives. To make this statement a living experience, we donated food and new clothes to Annai Fathima Illam. It is a housing facility in Sholinganallur, India, where poor young children and senior citizens are sheltered.
We (Team Unavum Unarvum) coordinated with the facility owner and went there on July 14 2024 to provide food and new clothing for young children and senior citizens, and make them feel happy and cared for.
The visit to the housing facility kicked off with us entering the area, where we were heartily welcomed with prayers from the children and blessings from the senior citizens. Next, we provided them lunch, lovingly and carefully catered by Ambi Restaurant. We served the senior citizens in the main hall, while the children were served food in another hall. The food was vegetarian, consisting of rice, sambar, rasam, kootu, poriyal and appalam. We provided the food to about a hundred people. After their meal, we asked a few people how they liked the food. They replied that they enjoyed it very much.
After providing food, we started handing out new clothes to the members of the community. We provided the clothes to the senior citizens first - sarees and nighties, for the female senior citizens, & lungi and shirts for the male senior citizens staying there. Next, we handed out the clothes to the children - jeans and shirts for the boys, and kurtis for the girls. However, we realized that there was a shortage of clothes for the younger children, so we bought them from a nearby shop - trousers and shirts for young boys & a frock for a young girl and handed them out.
Later, we met the facility owner’s mother, who was over 90 years old. She blessed us all with a kiss on the forehead and wished that Team Unavum Unarvum would stay together forever, like then.
At the start of the visit, I felt nervous, as there were many unfamiliar faces. However, as the day progressed and we started providing food and clothes, I began to feel more open and happy, Overall, I felt very satisfied, receiving blessings from senior citizens and from my own feeling that I had contributed my time and effort into helping a sector of society
I felt that after this experience, I had developed a few of my IB Learner profile skills (These are attributes/qualities that the IB school syllabus expects of its students) - like being reflective, caring, and open-minded. I feel that I am reflective, as I am writing about my experience now and reflecting upon my thoughts and emotions during that time. I feel I am caring as I have helped at least a small sector of society in a small way. I also feel that I am open-minded as I embrace being with different people from different backgrounds and places.
I am determined to keep helping others in a way that brings a smile to their faces and joy to their hearts. I would like to do so by providing basic necessities and financial help to people below the poverty line, and organizations that support them. I believe that if we all contribute to this cause as much as possible, then we could solve at least one of the Sustainable Development Goals by the UN, which is “No poverty”
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