A short reflection of how I did my community engagement through Monash South Africa.

1. Mbulelo Musa Nhlapo 29769485
Community Engagement Reflection
Monash SouthAfricahas a wonderful ADPProgramme whichpromotesthe workof engagingwith
the communitythroughcommunityservice.CommunityEngagementisavailableinthe UnitZHC
1034 Change and Critical Thinking.The programme challengesstudentstothinkcriticallyin
university throughconceptsfromthe book, Studentvoices. Furthermorethe processof critical
thinkingdoesnotend,ittransferstochange,as throughthe critical thinkingone canchange and
improve theiruniversitylife. Itisveryimportantforstudentstogive backto the communityinorder
to learna life skill of comradeshipandfriendship.
My groupmembersMelokuhle,Eunice,Lesego,Wongani andKoketsoandIhadit difficultwhenwe
startedthe CommunityEngagementproject,due tothe fact thatthe workof the ADPProgramme
was accumulatingandthusit affectedourplanning.Althoughthroughthe painandplanningwe
brainedstormedasa group and decidedtodosome sort of communityservice thatengagesthe
groupwithpeople notanimals.We thencame upacross the beautiful Gateway Society,whichisa
Non-profitorganizationandalsoandeducational researchinstitution.The GatewaySocietyoffers
the highestlevelof care to people of all disabilitiesrangingfromneurological tophysical disabilities
for life.The GatewaySocietyalsoprovideseducational servicestochildrenwiththe same disabilities
and alsoproducesresearchesbasedonthe childrentohelpbetterandimprove theireverydaylives.
Moira, a veryinspirational and hardworkingladyisone of the care takersat The GatewaySociety.
Two weeksbackfromexactlythisdaywe had ourfirsthour througha briefingof whatThe Gateway
Societyprovidesandthe newaimsof the societyandas well forvolunteerworkerslike ourgroup,
the way to nature and addressthe disabled memberof the society.Moiratookus throughthe
gatewaysocietywhere we sawthe workshopwherethe membersof the societymake things,the
kitchenwhere the foodforthe membersispreparedandthe highcare unitwhere the members
there receive fullcare ineverythingtheydo.The groupmade a collective decisiontocookforthe
members,soMoiraput us inthe kitchenwhere Mariusthe headof the delegated afew jobsthatwe
had to do lastweekThursday.The firstjobwe didas a group wasto cleanthe windowsof the dining
area byusingclothsand bucketsfilledupwithsoapywater,the secondjobwe preparedbreakfast,
lunchand supperforthe membersbybutteringbreadandputtinghamand cheese,grated
beetrootsandalsocleanedthe kitchenafterourworkandwe accumulated5 hours lastweek
Thursday.The followingdayonFriday,the groupwasback inthe kitchenwhere we preparedfood
for a party forthe membersof the societyandtheirfamiliesbypreparing'wors'throughthe intense
rain withlightening,makingmeatballsandalsopreparingthe bunsforthe membersof the society
and theirfamilymembers.Thisgave the groupanother3 hours.Asa groupwe thenserved the food
personallytothe people andalsoenjoyedthe partywiththe members.

2. Mbulelo Musa Nhlapo 29769485
Thisexperience hastaughtme a lot as to notjust tothinkabout myself buttoalsothinkabout
othersintermsof randomacts of kindness.The experiencehaschangedinways that I thoughtI
wouldn'tchange asI want to go back to the societyandwantto supportsomeone whocan't support
themselves.