Blog #5

Looking back on all the experiences that I had throughout this service-learning experience, the two types of events that we participated in were very rewarding. The first of these is packaging meals at the Open Hand kitchen. It was really rewarding to actually see how many people were going to benefit from these meals. For four continuous hours, we helped package about twenty to thirty meals. Just being able to be part of a process that was providing healthy and nutritious food to some of the people in Atlanta without which would certainly die really gave me a lot of self-satisfaction.
The second Open Hand activity that we took part in was meal delivery. This part of the community service was even more rewarding than simply packaging the meals. Even though we weren’t able to do as much meal delivery as we intended to do, it was really rewarding to see the faces of the people we were delivering food to light up when they saw the Styrofoam boxes in which we were delivering the food. To see how happy these people were when they saw the meal that they were getting for the day, really made me appreciate the volunteer work I was doing for them. Also, it was really sad to see the conditions some of these people lived in. The major delivery we made was in downtown Atlanta, near Georgia State. It was some sort of rundown apartment building that had been turned into a center for people with AIDS. It’s very sad that these people are forced to live in these kinds of conditions, mainly because they have contracted AIDS.
This experience will help me in the future by enabling me to better communicate with people I don’t know, especially in enabling me to have prior experience in making a professional presentation to a group of people. The making of the brochure was the area that will help me the most by teaching me how to present information in a professional manner. The experience I got through making that brochure is something that could significantly help me in the future.
I can see myself doing volunteer work for this organization again, but only once I get a car. I enjoyed the work I did for this organization, but it’s very hard to get to by using Marta. The work that this organization does for people with AIDS is something that very few organization do exclusively for these people, who are as much human beings as the rest of us, and whose needs are completely ignored by the government and the general population. I have previously done a lot of volunteering at a soup kitchen with my school, and enjoy it very much liked it. I also do not know of any other places to volunteer at, so this one is the most convenient. If I found out about another soup kitchen that was closer to campus or more accessible, I would volunteer there as well.
Volunteering with Open Hand did not actually help me understand the issues dealing with AIDS that we discussed in class because we did not actually deal with issues revolving around AIDS. The kitchen in which we worked could have easily been one for homeless people, or people with very low incomes for whom we were preparing food. The only difference is that since Open Hand prepares their food for people who had AIDS or other terminal diseases, they take extra precautionary measures to ensure that the kitchen is a very clean environment which helps prevent the spread of infection which could be deadly for many of these people.
This service-learning project helped me improve my woven communication abilities by making me have to communicate with others whom I did not know. Through this project, I had to communicate with both people at the Open Hand kitchen, as well as with the actual people to whom we were delivering the packaged lunches. Furthermore, this Wednesday, I am going to have to make a presentation about the work our group has done for the organization, which will also help me work on my oral communication skills. The brochure that I worked on for the organization helped me improve my written communication skills. In the creating a professional brochure with a purpose of explaining food-safety instructions to future volunteers, I had to help make a layout for this brochure that was appealing to the people who were going to read it, as well as easy to read while providing all the necessary information.

Blog #4

Many interesting topics were covered during the sex education talk about contraceptive options and STD’s that we had in class on Wednesday. What I found the most interesting out of all the things we talked about was that a huge portion of the talk was not actually about sex, but rather talking about human sexuality, and what it means, especially areas of which do not directly involve sex. Another thing that I found very interesting as well was that in Georgia, all the schools many of the schools are allowed to teach a comprehensive sex education, but that instead of doing that, each school board makes their own agenda, which more often than less ends up being an abstinence only program. Finally, the last thing that the speaker discussed that I thought was very interesting was the part about the laws concerning minors, especially girls, when it comes to going and getting treated at clinics. Planned Parenthood, on the behalf of which the speaker was speaking, lobbies the government in order to pass or retain laws that allow teenagers to make their own choices when it comes to having sex as well as the treatments they receive afterwards. What amazed me is that the government is trying to pass laws that make it harder for teenagers to receive these types of treatments by trying to make parental notification mandatory. What the government seems to not realize is that if they do this, they are going to increase the number of unwanted pregnancies, which is going to lead to more poverty, which leads to more crime…
This sex education talk directly intersects with the ideas, issues, and thoughts that were discussed during the viewing and our class discussion of The Education of Shelby Knox. The ideologies of Planned Parenthood of Georgia when it comes to sex education very closely parallel those of Shelby Knox. The documentary of Shelby Knox discusses the abstinence only sex education program that is present in most of the schools all across the United States. She discusses how it is flawed in that discussing sex only encourages teenagers to have sex, and doesn’t teach them how to have safe sexual practices. Planned Parenthood is also against this type of sex education because if teenagers decide to have sex even after having these sex education talks, then they are often very ignorant of the types of diseases out there, as well as what they can do to prevent them as much as possible.
Another thing that Shelby Knox discusses in her documentary is sex between non-heterosexual couples—gays and lesbians. She strongly believes in the universal right to know safer sex practices as well as the universal right to treatment when necessary. In the current sex education taught in schools, gays, lesbians, and bisexuals are completely ignored. Planned Parenthood knows that gays and lesbians, especially gays have a wide range of STD’s that affect them as well, the most serious of them being AIDS. They also include the sexuality and safe practices of gays and lesbians in their talks so they educate everyone, not just the majority of people. They also commonly treat gays and lesbians when they come in to their clinics.
This talk by Planned Parenthood of Georgia was the first time I have had a non-abstinence sex education class. Although I strongly believe in abstinence till marriage, I believe that it is up to every person to make that decision, and that there are many couples who are not going to make the same decision as me. If feel very strongly that the government needs to stop the abstinence only program, and begin to move towards a comprehensive sex program, which will continue to support abstinence, and will spend most of its time discussing this, but will also cover safe sex practices, when it comes to preventing pregnancies as well as STD’s. It is important for teenagers to know how protect themselves as well as how to have sex without becoming pregnant in the process, and the current education system does not provide them with this vital information. As long as our government doesn’t change to a comprehensive sex program, they are to be held accountable for a large majority of the unwanted pregnancies in this country.