Personal Definition of Help

Help
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Help
From a personal point of view, help is the individual or collective commitment to identify and understand a situation with the motive of changing the difficult aspects of the identified situation either voluntarily, upon request, or as a matter of social or civic responsibility. Therefore, the change is brought about by doing part of the job or facilitating others to achieve a specific objective through material assistance or advice. My definition of help has been informed by personal experiences of witnessing, giving, and receiving various forms of help. A case in point was my participation in a seminar last summer to educate members of the local community about organic farming in general and how to make and use organic pesticides in particular.
The decision to organize the seminar was a culmination of months of research among members of the environmental club on an issue that was affecting the health and well-being of thousands of local farmers and those who depend on their produce. After many sessions of fieldwork, library work, and consultations with various stakeholders (church leaders, farmers’ associations, and community organizations), we concluded that the watershed in the local community was facing an imminent threat of widespread pollution because of the extensive use of chemical pesticides.
The findings also showed that although the community heavily depends on agriculture, the majority of farmers lacked knowledge of how chemical pesticides were affecting one of the key social determinants of health: the sense of collective or personal efficacy. This concept denotes peoples’ perception of being in control over key aspects of their lives such as health (The University of Kansas, 2019). In the present case, the use of chemical pesticides to grow almost all foods that people consumed in the community adversely affected their collective efficacy. Moreover, the majority knew the potential health consequences of pesticides but had no alternatives as farmers had not embraced the concept of organic farming. Therefore, the environmental club took the initiative to organize the seminar to help local farmers address a critical area of their farming activities that could reduce the threat of illness and destruction to aquatic organisms.
The seminar was held at a local showground on two consecutive Saturdays from 9: 30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Apart from the research information that informed the decision, thorough preparations were done to ensure the seminar was a success. Fifteen volunteers and twenty environmental club members of our school collaborated to design and distribute flyers and posters for five days. I and four others also approached the concerned authorities to allow us access to the venue by requesting a permit. Among the equipment that we needed for the work included a public address system consisting of an amplifier, three loudspeakers, and three microphones. These we borrowed from a local church as the church leaders had expressed their commitment to protecting the water resources through such noble initiatives. A projector was also provided by our school while I volunteered to giv...