I personally found this assignment very challenging but interesting, as me and my team worked hard together to formulate a research paper which we feel is beneficial towards NGOs and thus the greater society. We poured countless hours of thought into this assignment as it tested our writing, researching and even critical thinking skills. We would have to search for reports and statistics, then evaluate their authenticity and meaning, as some research papers presented information that was either inaccurate to local contexts or were too vague in their definitions, making them useless as research. Moreover, the covid-19 pandemic is too recent of an event to find even basic and general data for writing this research paper, especially considering our research paper topic is entirely online research-based. Additionally, we found that our research topic would not benefit from interviews and surveys. Then, we would have to analyse what this information meant, so that we could write our discussion and conclusion parts, which was difficult because much of our research content was purely statistic based with very little meaningful solutions provided, meaning most of our solutions had to be unique. I also strengthened my interpersonal skills, as I needed to communicate constantly with my team to make a cohesive research paper. Since our team was close-knit, we always managed to adapt to any obstacles we faced. This was made possible by having constant meetings with my team and constant in depth discussions.

This module taught me a lot about community service, but most of all about the technical aspect of community service: analysing the ways NGOs can make the most impact on the elderly. This is especially important to me because I have always been active in community service, helping out the local orphanage when I visit my grandmother’s hometown with her. Having my own grandmother living with me in the house right now gives me even more motivation to imagine how others may need assistance when dealing with their elderly counterparts.