Week 2 Journal Entry

How are you feeling at the beginning of the project? Describe your feelings and how you are using strategies to manage them.
We are at the beginning of a beautiful project and I feel very excited and hopeful that it will be a success. I can’t deny that I have had moments of doubt. I have been comparing my project with my classmate’s and I have come to think that helping people in extreme poverty is a complicated project compared to others. There are too many variables that I have to take into account before making any decision and limits that I need to respect , for example there are many poor people and at different levels. There are people who live in dumpsters with no home or anything and there are others who have homes but find it difficult to bring food home. There are many ways to help these people and identify specifically who to help, because there are thousands of people. The strategy I am using is to take small steps at the moment my partner and I have made a Gantt Chart to establish what needs to be done, this will help us to clear doubts, identify problems that arise. We are also looking for a mentor who is updated with this issue in our community. One of our mentors is Zelenia, a student who had a similar CAS project but now has other interests. I think it would be a great help to get a mentor who helps low income people as a primary interest.

Create SMART goals for your project. Explain how they are SMART and when we can review them to see if they have been met.
“To create a small association that provides help, impact and change people’s lives in extreme poverty in Costa Rica Guanacaste areas through the 2 year IB CAS program with the support of the community. Not only economically help but also emotionally that will make them share that kindness to whoever needs it. To maintain myself engaged and make my community be part of this project through daily communication, updates and activities”.
This is a SMART goal because is:
S: specific (help people in extreme poverty with economic and emotional support)
M: Measurable (this goal can be measure through the amount of families that we help)
A: Achievable (Is a challenging goal but is also achievable with effort, responsibility and perseverance)
R: Realistic (this goal is realistic because there is no need to be rich or giveaway expensive gifts in order to help people)
T: Timely (this goal wants to be achieved through the 2 year IB CAS program)
We can review them to see if the goal has been met every 2 months.

What are your perceptions of the project at the moment? Does it solve a need in the community? If so, what? Are there people that are willing to help? If not, how can you find them? And what is the vision for the project at the end of the duration? How will it benefit the community?
At this point, although the next steps are not permanent, my impression of the project is positive, as is its goal and purpose. I am a little afraid of the failure of the project but it is worth a try as it solves a need of the community for the lack of awareness and support of the community to the lower social classes. There are many people who are willing to support the objective of my CAS project but of those many people there is a low percentage who are willing to take action and help. My goal is to provoke the urge to help in the majority. I plan to find these people through social media, an effective means of communication, as well as through the help of the La Paz Community School community. The vision of the project at the end of its duration is to implement the responsibility to help others out of kindness and love. This will benefit the community because it will show that through small actions we can change the lives of many, it will change the mindset of both those who help and those who are helped.