DR RADICA MAHASE
Last week, the Ministry of Education announced 100 national scholarship winners. We at Support Autism T&T proudly celebrated with our youth volunteers who are scholarship recipients. This week I am happy to feature an article written by Emily Ramgoolam, the recipient of an additional scholarship for mathematics. Emily is 19 years old and presently works at the Trinidad Eye Hospital. She spends her weekends volunteering at Rahul’s Clubhouse, an autism centre located in Gopaul Lands, Marabella, which is run by Support Autism T&T. Here is Emily’s article:
“My alma mater, Naparima Girls’ High School has a strong connection with non-governmental organisations geared towards improving the quality of life at all levels of our society. My involvement with the NGHS Interact club exposed me to the excellent work done by Support Autism T&T and naturally, I gravitated towards becoming involved because of my desire to help others. I had an opportunity to be a part of this organisation and I joined the Support Autism T&T family in August 2021. I started virtually volunteering through the variety of online activities it offered, such as group projects with other volunteers to make videos, graphic designs and birthday cards for the children and attending youth volunteer training to raise awareness of all what this NGO represents.
"In 2022, I started physically volunteering through the VIP Kids Club and the STAR programme offered at Rahul’s Clubhouse. I made this decision as a learning initiative, to become more sensitised about autism. I wanted to stay persistent, positive and driven, all while giving back to my community through learning different ways to interact with autistic children.
[caption id="attachment_1005514" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Emily Ramgoolam with other youth volunteers at Rahul's Clubhouse making birthday cards for the NGO's autism birthday club.
Photo Courtesy - Rahul's Clubhouse - Rahul's Clubhouse[/caption]
"The experiences that this NGO afforded me have been indescribable. I have learnt and continue to learn so much about different ways to interact with children on various ends of the spectrum; to promote their social engagement. For example, some children enjoy doing puzzles, playing with building blocks to construct castles and towers while others may prefer to play a game of football or hide and seek. Interacting with the children has been the highlight of my time here. We sing songs, do art and crafts and spend time in the sensory room, when things get a bit chaotic with all the fun we have together.
"On my first visit to Rahul’s Clubhouse, I was greeted by warm and welcoming people. I cherish being a part of the family that Support Autism T&T had created; the new friends and memories I’ve made thus far with both the children and other volunteers. I have become more outgoing, patient, understanding and I’ve learnt not to take things personally, if they may react differently to what I anticipated a
