IB Creativity, Activity, Service: Food Distribution Project in India

IB Creativity, Activity, Service: Food Distribution Project in India

For my CAS project I wanted to do something thoughtful and helpful for the people in need. My initial idea was to help some of the homeless, unemployed community in the slum area of Sujangarh, India. So after thinking about it and discussing it with my parents and grandmother(who is a retired teacher of a government school in India) we came up with the project of making and distributing food to some of the families in need.

The main goal of this project was to raise social awareness on the issue of hunger, poverty and unemployment and to help the hunger of the kids and families living there. My family usually donates food and clothes at least once a year so I thought that I could be a part of it and organize it as it would be a great CAS project. So this was a one time project but my parents still continue a to do in back in India. 

I had asked for volunteers to help me make the food and the project was successful only due to the support of my team. My team members were my mom, my grandmother, Ajay who donated 5000 rupees to buy some savory snacks, Gopal Ji who arranged the boxes the food, Ramchandr who was the vice organizer in the project, he has lived almost all his life in Sujangarh and he is also conscious towards the environment as he also has a plant nursery to invoke a greener Sujangarh and is planning on opening more around India to provoke greenery. 

The plan of the project was to pack the food in boxes so it would have been easier to distribute the food. We prepared sabji- which is Indian curry, roti- an Indian bread and savory snacks. There were almost 100 boxes of food. 

On 26 August 2022, we drove to the slums to distribute the food, first to the kids and then to the rest of the people. I was very happy to see the smile on the faces of the kids. It was heart touching to see and feel that I was able to help someone in need as I consider myself lucky to have food and shelter and privileged as I can study in this school especially by seeing how bad the conditions are in some places of India as people of these areas suffer from hunger and sometimes they sleep with an empty stomach. 

Some more pictures from the project are below.

This project held high value for me as even in our culture it's said that the good that you do to the people comes back to you and the wishes and blessings that the people give you when you help them is one of the most valuable things. This CAS project helped me learn a lot such as the importance of respecting everyone and helping one in need, being kind to people and valuing what we have in our lives. 

By Mahak Guleria, Year 13 IB Diploma Student