Change Your Life..
A month ago I got a phone call from a friend asking me to recommend a painter to help them in some volunteer work. I offered to help during weekend mornings if it was possible. Luckily, I was able to join them.
The volunteer work was initiated by a group of young girls calling themselves “Change Your Life - Riyadh” who are involved in various volunteer work to help those in need. Their aim is to utilize youthful energy to help the local community and to spread a sense of positivity, willingness and accountability. Most importantly, in this service they advocated Islam’s true message of cooperation and helping one another.
“Change Your Life” was a group started by a young man in Jeddah. Following his lead, an enthusiastic young girl started another group in Riyadh. I’m going to talk today about their latest project - redecorating the Pediatric Oncology ward for cancer patients at Riyadh Medical Center also known as Al Shumaisi.
With the approval of the administration of the department, we decided to redecorate the kids’ waiting room, the ward’s corridors and the patients’ rooms. The plan was to collect the required materials and find a painter to draw on the walls, then; with the help of the young volunteers we would paint the drawings. Another group was in charge of making wall hangings and other decorative ornaments for the walls.
Our budget was 3,000 SR; all from donations. We had two Thursdays to work on this project before Ramadan and we needed all the help that we could get.
On the first day we had 18 eager girls volunteering to help out. Their ages ranged from 15 - 30. Before we started we requested that the waiting room be painted white to serve as a campus for our drawings.
It was very refreshing to see young energy spent in helping others, even in the simple act of painting and decorating a hospital ward. We had patients coming out of their rooms to watch us. Their moms were so thrilled to see a positive change to their long stay at the hospital.
The first thing we had noticed were the dull and bland blue walls, those had to go. In their place, we had bright and happy figures. One of our young scientists came up with the idea of painting a solar system on one of the walls - to make a point that science too can be fun.
On the second week, we had 11 girls. Sadly, that’s how things are in volunteer work.
This time we had a young patient (Sarah) helping us. She was encouraged after she spent a while watching us shyly. It was great to see her smile and be involved in the painting process. Her mom, as well, was excited to join the group and was a great help in painting. I must say she was an impressive artist!
Patients, their families, nurses and other staff at the ward were very supportive and enjoying helping our team. It was like a bee hive; everyone on the move, coming up with creative ideas and working on different sections of the ward.
I liked many things about this project. Selflessly committing yourself to finishing something was the most important lesson we’ve all learned. Not to mention, helping others and giving without expecting something in return. We also got the chance to meet people from different walks of life who shared our passion in spreading joy and beauty in the world – one room at a time.
So to wrap things up here are our figures:
Budget: 3000 SR (donated) distributed as follows:
500 for ready made wall hangings and stickers.
300 for materials to make wall hangings i.e. papers, glue, a variety of art supplies.
170 for Toys
1648 for acrylic paints, brushes, sponges, plates and cups and foam ornaments.
Total cost was 2570 with 430 leftover and was donated to the Pediatric Oncology ward.
Time spent:
First week: from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm.
Second week: from 10:30 to 5:00 pm.
This was just the beginning!
There are plans to cover all the wards in the Riyadh Medical Center in the future. Currently the group is working on gifts for Eid. Hope to see you there!
I’ll leave you now with some random pictures. For further information and learn more about the group’s activities you can check their page on Facebook.
Last thing I would like to thank Moon Era for her help in editing this post. ;-)
The waiting room (before).
The waiting room (before).
This is what you see when you enter the waiting room (after).
We painted on the cupboard in the waiting room as well (after).
Another side of the waiting room, the Saudi wall (after).
A solar system was painted on the third wall. Waiting room (after).
Sarah painting on the corridor wall. :-)
Sarah printing her hand on the cupboard. :-)
The main entrance of the ward.
A side of the corridor.. The leaves were painted by Sarah’s mom. :-)
