Author: alaqla

 

 

Avery Park is a public park where everyone can do a lot of activities such as enjoy watching the rose flower, play in the playground zone, and picnic under the huge trees. In fact, Avery Park is the park here in Corvallis that I love to hang out in with my friends the most. What I have known about this Park is a huge number of volunteers are participating to make this park organized. Also I have known the other services that we can get as visitors. I was looking forward to having this experience but I was wondering what kind of work we were going to do. I thought it would be kind of what we did in SAGE garden, which included weeding, mulching, making paths, and cleaning. I was sure that we were going to enjoy working over there, but I was hoping we would have pleasant weather in that day.

I was not feeling well in that day even though I enjoyed going there to help. It was one of the experiences that I liked. First, we started walking from INTO heading to the Avery Park. We were talking about general topics while we were walking which makes the walking more enjoyable. Second, we arrived at the parking and we looked for the guy who would guide us. Shortly he came and started telling us some information about the park and what we were going to do to keep the park healthier. Third, we split into two groups; the first group would do weeding while the second would do the mulching. I was with the second group who were taking the mulch in the wheelbarrow. And then we took little by little from the mulch to fill the small part that needs a little mulch to give a better appearance for the roses. Mr. Steven, who was helping us on the site, told us that the mulch comes from pruning some trees which I had never thought about it. In general, I enjoyed doing this work and I hope everyone will do something for the nature to keep our planet healthier.

 

Abdulrahman Alaql – Saudi Arabia

Habitat for Humanity

Pre-service

What I know about habitat for humanity is that they are a huge organization around the world. Their mission is helping people especially who are low-income to won their dream house, by giving them a loan with no interest and helping them physically to build the house. By the way, those people who get the benefit from this program have to become involved in building the houses with a certain number of hours which is a really great idea. Another thing that I know about this great organization is they have a department called Restore where you can donate your stuff that you do not need anymore. These donations will help those people to Furnish their house with less money.

I think this experience will add new knowledge to me, and I will enjoy it as well, especially if it is going to be building a house, but I will be still happy with any kind of help. I am looking forward to seeing what I can do to help this awesome organization.

 

 

Post-service

Saturday morning, I woke up as early as any normal business day because I had to go to help with Restore, which is part of Habitat for Humanity. Our instructor Dr. Cate divided us into two groups to go these. I was with the first group, and we met our coordinator Mr. Ron.

He started by introducing the organization for us and how it works. And then he showed us the store, and everything there was donated. In addition, there was a part of the store for the not working stuff where they “repurpose” those things. The important thing and what we were waiting is what is our job would be and how we could help. Mr. Ron took us to a big messy garage and asked us to organize it and then clean it because they would start building a new house next week and they wanted to use the tools in this garage and they wanted to make more room for the new stuff too. We started classifying the tools and the equipment. For instance, we put all the construction tools on the left side of the garage and we removed a cupboard to the edge of the garage. Furthermore, we shelved all the hardboards in the side shelve. The last thing we did inside the garage was, we cleaned  all the surface from the dust. Mr. Rom came to give us another job which is transferring the palettes to their appropriate place. Eventually, we took some wooden boards and we leaned them against the wall.

I am delighted to go into this experience. In the end, I want to thank this incredible organization who is making people and the community going to a better level. And my thank goes to Mr. Ron who makes us comfortable to work with them. Last thanks to Dr. Cate who gives us this valuable chance to volunteer with this organization.

Abdulrahman Alaql – Saudi Arabia