After hearing about the Award from her family, Anabel decided to take on the challenge of the Award. Through COVID-19 she has not given up and has continued to strive for her Award.
Read the interview below:
Why did you decide to do the Award?
I decided to do the Award as my brother did it and had a fantastic time. I also chose it because I have never camped outside or been on a hike before so it's something new I want to try. Lastly, because this journey looked interesting and will teach me a lot about being a leader.
What activities are you doing for your Award?
For Physical Recreation, I am doing fitness workouts so when soccer starts I can be fit and learn new exercises to do to stay fit.
For Skills, I am learning the theory of drama and all it's theoretical aspects.
For Voluntary Service I am trying to help the elderly and make them feel good in these times of COVID-19.
For Skills, I am learning the theory of drama and all it's theoretical aspects.
For Voluntary Service I am trying to help the elderly and make them feel good in these times of COVID-19.
What sort of challenges are you facing in your day-to-day life, as a result of COVID-19? How has this impacted you?
I am facing the challenge of feeling lonely and missing my friends which has made me much more emotional and sad. I am facing online school which I don't like as I don't learn as well as I do in class with the teacher there, this has impacted me by making my learning grades go down and get distracted easily.
Is the Award helping you deal with any of these challenges? If so how?
The Award is helping me stay fit since my soccer season has been held off and is also helping me do something I like: learning drama theory. It makes online school a lot more bearable.
Have you had to adapt your Award activities as a result of COVID - 19? if so, how?
Yes, I have had to adapt my activities for the Award. I used to do boot camp like activities at school but I now do them at home. Instead of physically doing drama I have now moved to learning the theoretical side of drama. I also used to do Vinnies for my service, but now I'm trying to befriend and help the elderly.
Are you using your Award (and particularly your Voluntary Service section) to help your community deal with the challenges of COVID-19? If so, how?
Yes, my goal for my service is to try and help the elderly in my neighbourhood in these hard times of isolation. So far I have baked a cake for an elderly couple and sent cards making the elderly couples in my neighbourhood feel loved and not alone.
What would you say to someone who thinks doing the Award is too hard right now and wants to wait until its easier after the virus?
Don't stop, don't give up, this journey is giving you the chance to learn new skills. The new skill is to be able to do things from home and modify your daily activities to make them work. It's a life lesson which can be handy when something like this happens again.
Is there anything else you would like to share about your time doing the Award?
It's been challenging but I'm definitely going to hang in there.
