Reflaction on NHS Project: Support to Aringay

Maybe, it is because I expected too much. I was so disappointed about this project. I truly thought that we are all doing this for the benefit of the others, not us. It started when NHS members, faculty and other people were gathered in front of the Griffith’s in the morning. I saw the bus that we will travel with. The funny thing is that it had a tarpaulin attached to the front of the bus. Some of the students including myself were thinking why are we putting that thing there? We do not need to advertise everywhere that we are helping other people. Then the second time was when we all gathered in a small church in Aringay. There were so many people that needed help and I can see that without thinking about it for the second time. After distributing the food, an organization distributed small packs of toothpaste. Then some people told the people who got the toothpaste to hold them high in the air, and then took the photos. Then what was more surprising was that they took the toothpaste back and they will be distributed later. This does not only end with toothpaste, but also with bread. What is this? They are intentionally “making” the photos, and from there, I can already see what Brent will say on the next Tuesday morning, in the chapel time. When the lunch time was near, NHS members were told to distribute the packages of food that we brought. As I was handing out more, I was told not to give anymore. The handing out was just to take photos of us giving the food. I was so shocked. I was not there to make evidences of us helping the people. I was there to help the people. If we show those photos that were “made” in the chapel, as if that is what we did, then I will truly be disappointed at Brent. There are small details that we could have done better, which include posting the tarpaulin that has photos of poor people in their faces. Later, I heard about the real places, where the people live with hardly any walls, and the roads are flooded with muds. I was thinking why didn’t we go to those places. We can learn and experience a lot more than just handing out food and taking made-up photos. In the first place, the ultimate goal of us going there was to see the reality and come up with a long term goal. What long term goal have we made? We did not even care about the long term goal. We were all busy trying to act as if we are helping. When I heard people saying thank you, I really felt bad. We do not have any more plans. We cannot bring food every weekend. People will not donate anymore. And there are people looking at us thinking that their life will be better. This experience was a terrible experience to me. I learned something. When the more fortunate ones are helping, it should not be seen outside, and should not even brag about the help. Because that thoughtless help to brag that we “helped” can actually result in the ways that we cannot think of. There is a saying in Korea that when your right hand is doing something, do not let your left hand to know about it. I now know what this means. Anyone who was in this place on Saturday, should not be proud of was we did. In fact, we all should be ashamed. If anyone does feel proud, then I would have to say that the person is either dumb or ignorant.