06 Oct Service learning at Ave Maria Palliative Care
The students of Mount Carmel at Ave Maria Palliative Care
The students of class XI of Mount Carmel Central School (MCCS) along with a few students of Kindergarten visited the Ave Maria Centre for Palliative Care, Vamanjoor on October 6, 2018. The Director of the institute Dr. Mrs. Lavina Noronha accorded a warm welcome and oriented the students on the causes and prevention of Cancer. It was very informative and enlightening and the students were shocked to see how the present lifestyle can be a major cause for Cancer. The little kids of Kindergarten put up a dance and entertained the inmates singing rhymes, going from room to room of the patients. It was overwhelming to see the smiles on the faces of these inmates amidst great pain.
The students then were divided into groups and they helped in cleaning the rooms and veranda. They worked in the garden outside, cleaning and adding beauty to the greenery. They also helped to prepare medicative gauze. The students were very happy to do this bit of service for the people who are on the last lap of their journey here on earth.
After almost two hours of service, the students interacted with the inmates, listening to them, comforting them and easing their pain to certain extent. It was an eye opener to the students to be grateful and appreciate the caring love that they get from their parents and teachers. They also felt the need to give company to these cancer patients with smiles on their faces, in their insecurity, loneliness and pain.
The students on their return expressed that the soul stirring effect of this service learning reminded them of Thomas Gray’s immortal lines –
“Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
and waste its sweetness on the desert air”.
