December 18!

This break has been packed with CAS, for the first two and a half weeks of vacation all I did was think and work on CAS. At the beginning of the break I knew exactly what I had to do in order to be successful in my project. I needed to wrap the gifts, organize them by number then family and get them to CEPIA. It sounds simple but if you are doing this for 600 kids, trust me its not. I was extremely stressed and worried that I wouldn’t be able to get each kid a gift that I thought would make them happy. Once we had organized the majority of the gifts in their correct number group I felt really confident. The gifts were all really fun and had lots of cool items. I was super excited and my stress started to leave.
At this part in the project we were being helped by about 3 or 4 volunteers. We managed to do most of the work but on the last day we realized that we were really behind. We had all the gifts and they were organized according to number but not according to family. To an outsider who hasn’t been invested in the project and hasn’t seen this princess in the past this might seem like a very minor problem. This is not the case. Organizing these presents according to family takes a whole and in the process you realise past mistakes that were made such as poorly made gifts or not getting a kid a gift. The day before the event many people spent 12 hours at our work space ensuring that we were ready for “Christmas day”. I came in the morning and left thinking that the work was almost done. I was called back around 6 and didn’t leave until 10. We finished bagging the gifts and managed to bring them all to SEPIA with the help of many amazing people. The stress levels were back up. But, I was so excited for the nest day. I was going to conclude my project and I would get an amazing reward form all my hard work.
The next day I woke up at 6:45 and my mom and I want to CEPIA, we picked up a friend on the way and when we arrived at CEPIA the hard work began. We organized our area and prepared to deal with 600 kids and their families. At around 10:30 the families began to come. I started off stressed because i was nervous that we would mess something up. After about 10 minutes we got into the rhythm of things and everything was working out. I was so excited and overjoyed. Seeing the faces of the children when they would open their gifts was one of the most rewarding feelings I have ever experienced. I am not saying this to see passionate or fake my love for this project I am saying this because in that second that I gave a barbie or a toy truck to a little kid I felt so rewarded and proud that I was able to uphold my promise. Byt the end of the event we were left with several gifts so we started giving then out to people who were not registered. This was my favorite part because we were able to personalize the gifts. We gave out bikes, skateboards, drones, flying helicopters and other really exciting and quality gifts. It was also the first year that we didn’t take money from the Black and White party.
Once the event was finished all the volunteers went out to lunch and we spoke about all the ups and downs of the day. I was so relieved that the project was done and so proud of everyone that helped. This project has helped me realize how lucky I am and how important it is to help those around you. You don’t necessarily need to help 600 people but any little thing that you can do can positively impact someone’s life. I have grown from this and I have learned about the reward associated with hard work and this will motivate me in the future to continue helping others. After this project I have decided that in the future I hope to work at an NGO beucas the feeling that I received on December 18, 2018 was one that I hope to replicate and gift to others.