My Community Service at Camilus House

My Community Service at Camilus House

I, Hanna Sammour, got the opportunity to volunteer at Camillus House for ten hours. The homeless shelter is based in downtown Miami and serves adults and children who lack a roof on top of their head. Along with offering shelter, Camillus House offers meals to the impoverished who lack a source of income. Since I have never volunteered before, I knew this was my chance to do some good for my community. The following narration will illustrate my experience at the shelter.

Figure 1:The Logo for Camillus House

I chose to volunteer at Camillus House since it offered me the chance to work with children. I love to collaborate with children since it gives me the chance to impart my life experiences on them. Additionally, this was a great opportunity to learn about psychology through observation. It is apparent that psychology relates to human experiences, so it was useful to view it in a different perspective since I got to observe children aged 4 to 10 ten years old as they horned their social skills. 10 hours at the shelter was an adequate amount of time since it gave me the space to know the people we were serving.

As I ventured into the homeless shelter, my heart almost skipped heart. Everywhere I looked, I saw both children and adults laying helplessly on propped up pillows. I was informed that these individuals had just arrived at the shelter after weeks of sheltering outside in the streets of Miami. For weeks and even months, these people lacked adequate nutrition required to sustain the life of a human being. I was particularly touched by a four-year old boy named Kyle. He was seriously wounded after he was involved in a brawl with older boys. After seeing him, I decided that the first activity I would engage in the shelter was to clean his wounds and wrap them with bandage. As my first direct contact, Kyle acted as my stepping stone into the experiences of different children at the shelter. I was touched by the experience of each child that I attended to since they had gone through many bad experiences at such vulnerable ages. I encouraged them to keep their heads up and use their experiences to make better lives for themselves.

After attending to the healthcare needs of the children, I stepped into the kitchen where I was to help to prepare the meals and wash the dishes. I was surprised to see that the kitchen of the shelter was so hectic as if it were that of a 5-star hotel. Nonetheless, everyone worked with a smile and I was welcomed with open arms. Linus, the supervisor of the kitchen, gave me the task of chopping up vegetables. It was an enlightening experience since I did this task with an experienced chef, who was also volunteering his services. He informed that he grew up as an orphan, thus, he regularly volunteered at Camillus House as a way of giving back to the community. After finishing this task, I went on to wash the dirty dishes. Even though, I do not like washing dishes at home, I was motivated to do so after seeing people who had gone for days without meals.

The director, then, informed us that he needed people at the front to serve the homeless. Without hesitation, I proceeded to the front since it handed me the chance to interact with these people face-to-face, especially the adults. I got to learn that most of these men and women were suffering from psychological problems that hindered them from becoming active members of society. My overall feeling was that the local authority of Miami does not offer adequate support structures that would enable the homeless to find a source of living.

After taking a slight rest, I headed to a room where children were neatly sat. Here, the kids participated in games and constructive activities that enhanced their cognitive skills. I decided to engage in storytelling since I am good at narration. The book that I read was the “The Three Little Stooges”, which was my favorite book while I was a child. From the reaction of the children, I could clearly tell that they were excited by the story; this warmed my heart as it made me relate to them. I also participated in a game of scrabble where I was thoroughly beaten by a high school student named Agnes. Her intellectual ability really surprised me and I encouraged her to seek scholarships so that she could pursue higher education.

Camillus House also offers a rehabilitation program whereby youth are reformed so that they can participate in constructive activities. At the day of my attendance, there were some reformed youth that were performing in an orchestra. I volunteered to arrange the stage for the performers. On the account of the beauty of the compositions, and the outstanding performance delivered by the entire orchestra, and the soloists Alice Bell on the soprano and Alexandria Johnson playing the violin, it was rather astounding to find that the event had a low attendance. Most of the concert hall was empty; this is perhaps due to the heavy rains. Luckily, the concert will be held again on a date that is yet to be announced. The mission of the performers was to showcase the beauty of classical music through the application of great technique. Through the application of technique and passion, the performers could connect with the audience. The execution of the pieces was so good that it felt as if the concert was held in the 20th century. It was a perfect blend of the piano and violin, and one could clearly tell that the performers enjoyed playing the pieces. The energy that they exhibited was passed on to the audience who were eager to hear each piece keenly. Since I took part in arranging the stage, I felt that I had contributed to the execution of the great performance.

At the end of the day, the director of Camillus House called us to the break room where she briefed us. She thanked us deeply for our services and welcomed us to come again. All of the participants were pleased and we were in unison that we would do this again. Overall, this was a wonderful learning experience for me. Serving the homeless adults and children and adults made me grow as a person and made me realize that I am very privileged to be in my current position. I would encourage people to not only volunteer, but also donate to such courses.