Making a Difference During COVID
by 1st year WIT Teen Lila Chitayat
Co-founder of Creative Sanctuary
There were often times where I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to live through an event so historically significant that my children couldn’t help but voluntarily ask me to tell them stories about it—perhaps something akin to Pearl Harbor or the Great Depression. But as I’m sitting here, writing this blog post, weeks after the initial novelty of a mandated break from social interaction has worn off, I can’t help but think that never in a million years would I have believed you if you told me I’d be adjusting to a new way of life in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.
On that fateful Friday morning as I sat in my friend’s car before school, absentmindedly tracking the windshield wipers moving back and forth over the rain-splattered window, I sent up a fervent prayer to anyone listening that school would be shut down. But, hey, cut me some slack. I was (and still am) a burnt-out, overworked, sleep-deprived second semester junior desperately seeking a momentary reprieve from the monotony of an academic and extracurricular ridden life. The first few days of quarantine provided me with a much needed dosage of relaxation and rest, but as the days have stretched into weeks, I’ve found myself growing more and more restless and dissatisfied.
The transition to online school has been relatively smooth, but I’m still struggling to accept the fact that many of my service-based extracurriculars have been moved online. I’m no longer able to engage with my community to the degree I had pre Covid-19. I work with a lot of non-profit organizations that not only encourage me to learn about issues plaguing our community, but to go out and solve them—whether that’s through outreach projects, lobbying, interviewing nonprofits, and visiting their facilities. I’m even working with a non profit that’s offered me the chance to visit Sierra Leone in the late summer and help support a new educational program being developed there. Community service has never been something I do with the desire to put on my college application. I do it because it makes me happy and because it gives me a genuine purpose. And the fact that it was taken away from me scared me.
There are simply so many new variables that come with this new life, and for a while I did nothing but sit around and binge random Netflix shows because by getting off the couch and actually doing something I was being forced to confront this uncertainty.
But with the help of WIT, I did get off the couch (literally and figuratively). This year, another WIT teen and I co-founded a non profit called Creative Sanctuary. Our mission is to help local refugee children who have escaped ethnic cleansing and social persecution in their home countries access opportunities that we have been lucky to experience during our childhood—namely, art. And during this time, it’s more important than ever that people, especially young people, have outlets they can use to express themselves and how they’re feeling. We had spent months establishing contact with a local refugee organization, talking with the art teachers at our school, brainstorming ideas for art projects we could do with the kids, calling, emailing, communicating, and scheduling, and had finally confirmed a regular, weekly time to visit the center and lead art projects, the by-products of which we would display in the San Diego community, for it to all fall apart in the face of the pandemic. I made a half-hearted attempt to offer to help with online after school tutoring with the refugee children, but encountered yet another roadblock- many didn’t have access to the Internet and were instead more preoccupied with putting food on the table.
Our first real attempt at a pivot was inspired by my WIT Peers. Watching all of them as they found ways to adapt, improvise, and succeed during this time convinced me that I could too. So, we reached out to the organization once again, and after a bit of discussion, scheduled an art supply drive. This weekend, we will be assembling personalized art packages including markers, colored pencils, notebooks, and other supplies we have collected along with a handwritten note and a booklet of instructions for fun art activities the kids can do while in quarantine.
Not only has this project been so incredibly meaningful and rewarding for me, but doing WIT has catalyzed within me a desire to change and pivot and find new ways to serve my community. I reached out to a local retirement home with a friend and set up a pen pal program with the residents there. I’ve had the opportunity to speak with local policymakers in an on campus service group to discuss homelessness in San Diego. I’m helping plan a student-led diversity conference for next year.
You don’t have to do something big. If helping your community means dragging yourself out of bed and helping your mom cook dinner, or delivering a meal to the elderly, then I’m here to tell you to just need to get up and do it. Now is not the time to shy away from serving your community—if anything, the time to act IS NOW.