Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity

I am a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. and being apart of this lifetime bond we pride ourselves in service centered on better the institution we attend and the neighboring communities. This semester my brothers and I have participated in multiple community service experiences, but what I particularly would like to speak about is a service that I am currently putting together. This service would involve my fraternity brothers and I volunteering time on Saturdays at the New Orleans YLC. What we would be specifically task with is going and spending time with kids in an underserved area; playing sports with them and just fellowshipping with them. We are having our first orientation this Wednesday February 17th. From that date on we will
be attending every Saturday, altering which individuals go. Up to this day I have been in the process of coordinating this partnership with the help of one of my prophytes (individual who has been apart of the fraternity for longer than I). I choose to use this process as my reflection because I have gained the most knowledge on how to properly orchestrate a process of this nature as well as dealing with the many challenges that are associated with it. At the beginning of this process, which started about three weeks ago, I was excited for the opportunity to be in the position to set up something of this caliber. My overall wish is for this program to be one of the legacies that I leave behind for the chapter when I graduate and that it is a sustainable partnership. As it has progressed I still feel the same passion but the challenges of coordinating with twelve of my line brothers as well as the YLC staff has led to slight frustrations. Being that we are not simply a service fraternity we have other obligations that we must attend to which cause a lot of overlap with the events that we have planned. This week with trying to make sure everyone is going to be available for the allotted time for orientation has been difficult. This week is our “Kappa Krush Week”, in which we have events throughout the week. On Wednesday we have an event at 7 and the orientation is from 5 to 7. What I had to do is plan the timing of arriving of each individual so that we will have people at setting up for the event while others are participating in orientation and then allow for time for them to switch. Luckily the staff of YLC has been very understanding and is working with us so that both are possible. Though the planning aspect has been particularly time consuming I am over all happy because there are not a lot of young men groups that are able to spend time with the youth and give the children a positive role model that they can look up to. I hope we will be able to teach the children how to respect themselves and others through our interactions. At the present time this process has caused me to reflect on how I deal with other people during times of slight chaos. For us to get to this point it took a lot of communication and at times responses to pertinent questions were not responded to in a timely fashion. I was getting extremely frustrated but I began to think about everything that we have going on and all the stuff each of us are tasked with dealing with Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. as well as with other leadership roles we have and a full course load, taking this into consideration helped me with dealing with these obstacles. I know that after the orientation the hard part will be over because all the background checks will have been complete will have full understanding of our roles and then all to that will be left to do is show up on Saturdays and enjoy mentoring the children. Due to that fact I am being into feel relieved, Thursday after orientation I will be completely relieved. I believe that God has had his hand over this entire process.
Today in class we spoke of Lent and read a bible verse from Isaiah, it spoke of not fasting as just a motion that you are doing but to truly be spiritually immersed in it. I can truly say that I am not partaking in this service just as a means to fulfill a requirement but because I feeling a calling to help. There are many young males that don’t have the opportunity converse with an older male in college that can help them on a righteous path to success. Likewise there are many young ladies that don’t know what a gentleman is and I believe that through our actions the will see the proper way that they should be treated. Hopefully they will be able to take this experience along with them and share what they have learned. This is what God has called us to do spread his message and part of that action is spreading love and that is what we are trying to
do. By taking this time to reflect on this experience I have learned an ample amount about myself.
I have come to understand that I have an innate urge to help those more disadvantaged than I. I believe that God has placed this urge in my so that I can be an instrument of his will. We all have the potential and are called to me such an instrument and that calling comes in different avenues for each person. I believe that I have found one such avenue. I learned God understands and know the potential in each person and will task him or her with only the things they have the power to handle. I pray that as the years go forth and I enter into my professional career this experience and other experience will grant me the knowledge on how to create a nonprofit organization that will help the children of Haiti gain a proper education. I this yearning to construct something of that nature could only be placed in me from God and that’s how I know that I will be able to bring it into
fruition.