The Sunflower project will be starting on the 1st of September. We are expecting about 12 children between age 8-18, who are unable to swim, to come.

The purpose of this community service project is to teach the children from the local school how to swim. This has been the convention in this project, but this year, Avin and I have decided to twist the routine and add some computer lessons into it as well.

As the project starts from 2:40 pm to 4:00 pm, the plan is to teach the children the basics of manipulating computers until 3:00 pm, then go to the swimming pool and teach them the fundamentals of swimming for 40 minutes, and the rest to play water-polo or some other activities. By adding the computer lessons, we believe that it will make this service more meaningful, and allow us to widen the opportunities to interact with them. For computer lessons, we are planning to teach them the fundamentals of typing first.

The general aims in this community service are:

  1. To teach the children the fundamental swimming skills with the assistance of Mr. Stanley
  2.  To ensure that by the end of the year, everybody is capable of helping themselves in the pool without our assistance

My goals in this community service are:

  1. To undertake the challenge of teaching non-swimmers how to swim
  2. To undertake the challenge of teaching children who are not familiar with computers
  3. To plan and initiate activities and work collaboratively with Avin (the leader), Ms. Abeyawardene and Ms. Bertus (supervisors) for each session
  4. To show perseverance and commitment in this project by attending sessions every week and ensuring that others are attending each session as well
  5. To realize the significant and the implication of the activity on the children
  6. To develop a skill to teach non-swimmers how to swim
  7. To interact with the children and get to know them well, despite the language barrier

As I’ve taken part in Sunflower project in the 1st semester of last year, I’m already familiar with the routine, and I hope that as a vice-leader, I’ll be able to initiate this project smoothly without facing big issues.