Creativity, Action and Service (CAS) activities form part of the IB program. Creativity points are gained for spending free time in learning something new, or organizing something, like a school/organization party. The Action points are gained by doing sports or participating to various clubs and activities. Finally, the Service points are gained by helping people, volunteering in various associations and many useful and helpful things. In this piece I will tell the things I have done, observed and learned, describing a typical day, of doing some Service.
In the beginning of the 2009 summer, I joined three service organizations: Auser, CUCUAS and Horse Therapy/Pony Rides. Auser helps old people by doing their shopping, since they are not able to do it themselves anymore. CUCUAS is a religious association that is entirely ran by charity and looks after bout 30-40 handicapped adults. The Horse Therapy is a very interesting organization: it allows children with handicaps, disabilities and syndromes to go horseback riding and distract from their though lives and have some fun by doing an amazing sport. The Pony Rides have the same aim as the Horse therapy, but the children do not have handicaps. I have taken the job as Teacher, but I have asked not to get paid for it since I do it to help the organization due to a lack of Teachers in the summer season.

Auser

On a Thursday and Saturday morning, I wake up at 8 o’clock, do my daily routine that consists in showering getting dressed and having breakfast and be done, like always, at quarter to 9. At 9 I meet with the Auser organization, where I get a shopping list from the head and do the shopping. Since I do this in Italy, most of the people are short, and reaching the top shelves is a problem. Therefore, I often hear people calling my name, because they can’t reach the article, and from their point of view, my “gigantic” length is very useful. After approximately half an hour, the shopping is finished and we can pay thanks to a preserved spot, avoiding queues since we have around 10 or 15 full shopping carts. Here the work is not yet done. We have to double check the lists, and cross the items out when they go on the treadmill and often something is forgotten or the wrong thing is taken (most of the elders are very, very extremely picky, and get annoyed easily if something is missing or is wrong), so some people rush back to the shelves find or replace the article. The paying also takes around half an hour, and usually we are back outside at 10. After, some people volunteer to go along with the bus and help deliver the food and items to the elderly people. Once, we had to stop at a house for almost one hour because the lady could not find the money, since she had forgotten where she had put it. This was because she suffered from Alzheimer.

CUCUAS

In my last weeks of holidays, I heard about an organization in Bracciano (next to Rome) which had some problems due to the economic crisis since it is 100% run by charity. Less people are willing to donate money and that was a problem for the CUCUAS organization. I heard about this through my girlfriend and I took this opportunity to be with her (since she lives far away), and also help the society for free. They were really happy to get another set of young strong arms, which were needed since there only ten guys to do the hard jobs.
My day started at 8 o’clock, and immediately there was work to do. Prepare the tables for 40 handicapped people and about 40 people on average helping out. The adults took care of the handicapped and the teenagers did all the muscle work. After breakfast, a lot of jobs needed to be done: carry around beds, move things, prepare… one time, we woke up in the middle of the night because a tree full of ants had fallen because the ants had eaten away too much of wood. That meant a lot of work for the guys the next morning.
We had first to get rid of all the branches, then cut the trunk up in blocks, weighing 200kg, and all of this while being attacked by millions of ants. (we tried to kill them, but after one hour we only killed a few thousand, and there were at least six million ants in the tree). It was a nasty job, but it had to be done. This took around 6 hours under the Italian midday summer sun. it was a terrible job, but we also had fun because all the guys knew each other and we also fooled and joked around.
On the last day of the camp a party was organized, and the teenagers had to build the stage and set the tables up for the special final dinner. This was a simple hard job, which took a few hours. Bed time was at midnight, and everyone was happy to go to sleep since all the jobs of the day were extremely tiring.
All in all, I have learned how to work hard and how to act around handicapped people since I lived with them for a week. I am looking forward to next summer and to helping the three organizations out once more.

Horse Therapy/Pony Rides

On Monday Friday and Saturday evening, I go to the riding school, I usually start at 3 o’clock. For approximately two hours I clean all six ponies and saddle the ones that are needed for the lesson later that evening. This summer I have though only two kids, L and R. L suffers from Aspergers Syndrome, and R is not able to use his legs since the muscles are not sufficiently developed and therefore also has a lack of balance.
L is six years old, and he can also trot on the pony, R is just four, and since he does not have good balance, he cannot go faster than walking speed because he might fall off the saddle and get seriously hurt since he is fragile. I am helped by a 19 year old girl named Martina (she has been doing horseback riding since she was 7 years old and is almost a Professional), and she takes care of L, while I take care of R. In the first half an hour, we do laps and exercises to help them with their handicap, and after, we let them play together. Of course L does not care to play with R since he is constantly in his own world and really dislikes losing a game with R. We usually take a napkin and hide it somewhere in the field. The first one to find it wins. Usually R sees it first, so he technically wins, but since he cannot walk, he cannot get it. So that is why we let L pick it up, and then we say that they both won through teamwork. It is not nice to turn them against each other in a challenge.
It is very noticeable that L just wants to find the napkin, but R wants to find it and when he sees it, he giggles and laughs, so he really has fun playing the game whether he wins or loses. I admire him for that. He is a very special boy and he does not seem to be bothered too much by his problem.
I have learned a lot from these young children, and I enjoy working with them. It is a world have never before been introduced to and I find it very interesting to see how happy R becomes when he sits on the pony, and how concentrated L is in what he has to do.