For our school CAS trip we went to Savarkundla which is a village near a remote area near to a forest. It is situated in Gujarat. I have never done anything like the work that I did in savarkundla and it was an experience which I will not forget for a long time. I faved a lot of difficulties during my time there, for example it was the first time that I have ever done any work that has anything to do with metalwork and welding. The heat was also very much unbearable in how the housing facilities did not have any air conditioning and cooling systems. I also faced difficulties adjusting to the work rate in which the local people work there, all day and all night; pretty much until the work is completed.

LO 1:

I identified my strengths and weaknesses by working on aspects that are not in my daily routine. I had never ever before participated in welding and the various other tasks.  I now feel as if I can do all of these tasks again and they have made me into a much more interesting person as they add to my skill set. It is very important to know one’s strength

I achieved a sense of pride knowing that a typical city boy like me could come to the rural areas and work like the villagers and eat like them and live like them. I could say how it made me one with the village.

This activity benefited others because of the way it had bought all of us together . Everyone had to work the same and without each other the fence wouldn’t be made and our outcome wouldn’t have been achieved. We have helped a lot of wild animals that would have fell in the well unknowingly.

This activity of metalwork has brought out a new skill in me that I didn’t think I could’ve bought. It also improved my teamwork and workmanship skills as I learned a lot of new things. The activity had required a lot of initiative from me and from my fellow students because we had all the work divided among us; no one was going to do it for us and that is why we all had to take initiative be it alone in a small job or in a group where you must understand each other work together.

LO 2:

This was very challenging because of how we had to travel in the outskirts of Gujarat and live in places that we would never even dare to live in. Bugs and mosquitos everywhere and we had to eat traditional meals that were indigenous to that area.  I hadn’t done anything even similar to this experience so I knew that I needed to adapt; and once I started to take in all the nature and all the exposure, I actually started to like the place. I feel like I could go to any place in the world because of the challenges that I faced in Savarkundla. Facing and conquering challenges is a very essential part of life because it teaches us things that we didn’t know we already had in us. For example I never knew how good I was at gripping rocks until I almost fell into a ditch!

LO 3:

We were divided into groups for the actual welding and handwork that was involved in the making of the fence. This was the way I organized myself into the group that I knew could make effective use of my skill set and so that the task can be completed in less time and in better quality. I chose to help weld because it seemed very interesting. Usually i’m quite organized in things as I have an everyday schedule and things move around like clockwork. The initiating was difficult because it was something that we had never done before. I found out how “OK” I am in welding and how this can be a future asset in my life. Every now and then people need to “plan and initiate” in order to know what they are capable of and where they stand in terms of productivity.

LO 4:

The hard part was when we had to cut the metals off into smaller pieces in order to fit in the final fence. This required a large amount of perseverance and commitment because of how I was really scared of the entire process but I knew that if I did it once then I would get the hang of things. And that is exactly what happened; once I tried the full process I was so used to it that even though it was grueling I could still do it. For me, committing to things depends on the things i’m committing to. If they are easy for me or help me in some matter then they are easy to commit to, the problems occur when I don’t want to commit to things because of the difficulty or no source of instant gratification. This is important because it shows how mature you are as a person. If you will commit to petty things then you will have difficulties committing to the things that actually matter in life.

LO 5:

Teamwork is essential to any task. In this activity we had to team up to achieve common goals such as to make the border for the fence. Doing this alone would be very time consuming and practically impossible for someone who doesn’t have the experience. I don’t find any person difficult to work with because I believe that every person has their strong points and weak points and who are we to judge. So if there are any conflicts between me and someone else we would simple solve it by confrontation and talking to each other.

LO 6:

The numbers of lions in the world are steadily depleting and knowing this; any sort of action that we can take to prevent this is something that I would love to do. The disappearance of any single animal in the food chain would have massive repercussions for all. I know all of this because of the daily news that I read, this is a global issue as not only the Asiatic lions but all the lions in the world are endangered. Knowing how I can help these issues is quite enlightening because I know what I can do to play my part in the prevention of animal extinction.

LO 7:

The ethical issues involved were if the wells were all covered up then what would the other animals drink from such as the birds. This was indirectly affecting me because we weren’t going to stay there for long. The issues remains weird for me but I have moved away from it and now it is long past me. I’m sure there would be a way for the animals to drink and not drown.

This activity did  require sorts of creativity because sometimes the instructions not were given to us and that meant that we had to use our creative skills very much and we just needed to follow what our superiors told us and we would finish the job pretty soon. The activity was quite challenging and it did bring out a very big feeling of accomplishment in me as I had never done something like this before. In the beginning I was very frustrated but as time went on I started to adapt and enjoy the small things and that definitely masked a difference in the entire learning process. The only things I would change would be the duration of the trip. It was too short!