How can I bring about Change to my Community with my Skills? – My Initial fuzzy thoughts.
As expected, this week’s challenge is to identify issues within the community and discuss them with the rest of the course cohort. Following on that, we are to choose focus on one of them and put together a visual summary of the issue in question and a proposal of an eventual project to address the issue.
So far, I have come up with three potential ideas for this week’s challenge. The first one has to do with the services that are currently offered by the government in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak that go beyond healthcare. These include deliveries of food and medicines to those on quarantine to even helplines to those who just need someone to talk to. Also, many buildings are being repurposed to as the needs arise in the country. It is not an issue per se, but rather a showcase of how people from different professions are contributing to the cause and make a change for the better. This idea is very fuzzy still and also a bit far-out.
The second one is related to obesity. Obesity is a major problem in Malta, both in children and in adults. The speedy lifestyles and juggling ten tasks at once, children were often given a microwavable dinner or some cheap take out and for adults, many resorted for such options out of convenience. In addition to this, exercise and dieting are often perceived as something daunting, stressful and spending endless hours at the gym. What I want to address here is that a fit lifestyle starts with the correct mindset – that of ‘knowing’ (not ‘believing’ or ‘hoping’, but ‘knowing’) that it is an achievable goal. Proactivity versus reactivity can also be included here.
The third idea I was thinking of exploring relates to reading, particularly in Maltese, but I do not want to put English on the sidelines. After all, both English and Maltese are legally ‘first languages’ of the nation. I had this thought after reading a post on a Facebook group called Kelmiet il-Malti (translation: The Maltese’s Words) were they pointed out a spelling mistake in a headline during the news bulletin on national television. This was not the first case where I saw misspelled or heard mispronounced words on television. Many grammatical and spelling errors seem to be occurring. I do believe that it has to do with the lack of reading. As children are keener on gadgets these days, books are taking the sidelines. The idea here is to promote reading and also provide a means or a medium were people of all ages can access information in relation to grammar and spelling. Something like a very advanced dictionary that is updated constantly.
I definitely need to work more on these three ideas. Ideally create some form on framework and a potential ‘solution’ to all of them. I think that it is good to have an idea of a potential outcome to be able to put together a timeframe and know the kind of stakeholders you would need to involve. Maybe it is a good thing that we are headed towards Easter break next week….
