BEYOND ME

The John Oliver Independent Studies Fair, more commonly known as the IDS Fair, is an annual
event in which students from mini school and STEM programs choose a project or topic that they want
to learn about. Some students even choose projects from the previous year and try to expand on it. The
IDS fair allowed us to expand on the topic of homelessness which is what Divjeet and I chose as our
topic. The IDS fair not only let us explore our topic, but it let us understand what it really meant to both
of us. We were able to practice our presentation skills as we had to present many times. The first few
times Divjeet and I presented we seemed to stutter a lot, but after a couple of presentations, we felt
way more comfortable and were able to expand on what our project was about. As for the visitors we
seemed to get lots of adults and everyone seemed quite interested in our project. From all the visitors I
think that Ms. Laumen was the person we had the best conversation with. She asked us about more
than the information we had on the board and she seemed to be really engaged through the entire
conversation. The most challenging part of the IDS fair was probably being active and enthusiastic from
the beginning of the fair to the end. After doing so many presentations it was difficult to be as engaged
as we were in the start. My favourite part about the IDS Fair was probably that this whole process was
an experience led by students. Yes, there were teachers involved, but the experience depended on
self-made decisions. I think more attention should have been brought to those in the auditorium, but it
was very well organized and planned. Overall, this project gave me an opportunity to sympathize and
empathize with the homeless. I was most surprised to learn about how many people within our
community lack knowledge in the topic of homelessness.
With the help of technology, we were able to find out different organizations that were giving
aid within Vancouver and globally. With the help of social media, we were able to learn about Khalsa
Aid. We both decided that we wanted to volunteer but we wanted to create our group. We first went to
a meeting they held in Surrey to learn about what goals they had and see if they were going to have
time to help us. This meeting was truly an inspirational experience since we got to learn about their own
goals and how much they had already achieved. This helped us create an outline of our project and help
set forth our own goals. We first began by collecting clothes from the Ross Gurdwara and we were given
some good feedback. During the process of people donating clothes, we were given some information
that places like Big Brother may not always donate to clothing donation centers that need it the most.
So with this information during the IDS Fair, we told many of the adults the best places to donate clothes
that are directly given to the homeless. We were able to collect information through media and simple
conversations we had at the temple.
Our visit to the Khalsa aid meeting allowed us to expand on the topic of homelessness. This
meeting allowed us to come up with what we wanted to do as part of our group. When we both went to
the gurdwara a week before collecting clothes and we both recognized that many people within our
community don’t know where to donate traditional Indian clothing. Most clothing collection centers
don’t take Indian clothing, but this was something many individuals didn’t know. As part of our goals to
bring awareness we decided that we would collect clothes and donate them to less popular clothing
centers. In the first few months, there was some setback that we experienced the largest bring the trips.
The trips would take away a weeks worth of time to research and collecting more information. The trips
also set us back on our timeline and we had to find a way to work around it. We dealt with this issue by
coming together and thinking of ways the goals we set forth could be completed. Adjusting the timeline
to which we would still have everything completed by May was quite difficult. We were determined to
stick to the goals but we needed to develop them so they could be accomplished. While doing research
we made sure that websites were legit and tried looking for the most accurate information to present to
our visitors. Some people said we should provide aid to the downtown eastside and clean it up while
others argued that if that is done the issues there will arise again. We realized there were many ways we
could help, but it all had been done. So we decided to raise awareness about clothing donations and
food banks that were less popular.
We firstly set out a timeline that we had to follow in order to complete our goals. We wanted to
learn more about the issue of homelessness and how it affected the city. We did this by doing research
whenever we had time to do so. While doing research we were made aware of how many people in
Vancouver was homeless and how we as a society tend to donate during the holiday season but not
regularly throughout the year. The research phase was quite intense, learning that there were so many
homeless people in Vancouver and how that number was increasing yearly. Even though many are
sheltered they are the most sterile and drugs are still being used in these shelters. For our goals, we had
to make sure that we had enough time to complete each task and giving ourselves enough time so that
even if we didn’t complete it we still had some time to have it accomplished. This strategy was quite
useful since it helped reduce stress and made us not feel that we had everything to do till the last
month.
Our visit to the gurdwara allowed us to understand the perspective that people had. Many felt
that they couldn’t trust us as we were students from a to overcome this issue we simply informed them
with different places they could donate that don’t get a lot of donations. We understood their viewpoint
on this situation so we didn’t push too much for donations.
The creation of beyond me helped me understand what homelessness really meant to me. We
all have created this false definition of homelessness to be living on the street and having absolutely
nothing. As said by mother Teresa “the poverty of being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for is the
greatest poverty”. We can help the less fortunate community in many ways as a little can go a long wat,
but through this project, I have learned that we must first create awareness. It is not ok that people felt
as if Indian clothing was not donatable. To be able to help overcome homelessness in this society we
must first have everyone on the same page. This project allowed me to learn many important skills such
as having time management skills, being able to communicate, and most importantly being positive.
Through this project, I learned that work culture is very important to me. Having a positive and engaged
partner like Divjeet allowed me to be confident in the completion of our goals. I also learned that I am
very unique and that it is really important to speak up when you feel like you think that something else
will work better. Little things like speaking up can create a big change in the project as everyone has a
different view. This project meant way more than academic exercise because it allowed me to
understand homelessness through first person. From the beginning of the year, me and Divjeet chose
this project not as an academic exercise, but as a way to give back to the community. I want to continue
to help Khalsa Aid change the world as bringing awareness and change means a lot to me.