Social work was introduced to me in high school. The inherent desire to serve the less fortunate in the population was coined, planted and nurtured by my parents. I always accompanied them to social welfare organizations like foster homes, and community based organizations, to grant basic needs to the less fortunate and the endangered. When social work was introduced to me, I really liked it especially the principles of, a social worker his /her roles made me get an inherent power that propelled me to consider studying the course at the deepest end. I want to credit my parents for encouraging me to study social work by supporting my education both morally and financially.
The basic purpose of social work profession, is to promote the advancement of the community by ensuring that social justice exist, and that the poorest of the poor gets their basic necessities, just like other members of the community, Noel Timms (1983:5-15), The social work profession like other professions is based upon a set of core values. They are important tools that every social worker must possess. A value is an object of desire; therefore core values are simply the conventions set aside by NASW to prescribe the actions of a social hand as he or she responds to issues in the process of human resource interaction.
In my human service interaction I have always incorporated the core values service; in my capacity as a graduate social work I have assisted many people in, need and always tried to address social problems. In the process of rendering service to the poor the vulnerable and at times, victims of a tragedy I have always volunteered a part of my professional skills without any significant financial interest. A case in point is the Haiti earthquake which rendered more than two million people homeless while thousands of others were left dead. Through the international federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, I requested to be deployed as a volunteer rescuer which they swiftly responded and airlifted me to Haiti where I rendered my service by ensuring that everybody got basic needs, including medical care. The vulnerable among them: Women, children, physically challenged and old men were given close attention .In situations where the United Nations humanitarian Aids were limited and the need was high was supplemented by our own savings.
I have always strongly believed in social justice ,as such am always troubled when the international media highlights the plight of the innocent people ,who go through social injustices like rape, lack of education, neglect , unfair trial and suffering. On many occasions, I have mobilized fellow social workers to support the civil society movements, which advocate for social justice and balance, in countries where there is no freedom. Also on volition I have visited several African countries amongst them, the war torn Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi to assist them pursue social change. Given that the centre of social change is always based on the issues of education, poverty unemployment, and prejudice I have always tried to sensitize the communities through, guiding and counselling,in schools, offering alternative practice and sponsoring cultural events ..
Every human being is entitled to dignity and respect. In the field we interact with many people from different walks of lives, but I have always maintained the principle of respecting worthiness of a person, as a social worker you must treat everybody equally, aware of diversity in culture and individual differences. Kendal, R and Linda, Woodhead( 2006:102-108). The society is structured in such a way that people are clustered based on wealth and social class in which one was born. Worthiness of a person is of prime importance because a human being is rational creatures. In (2008) when I visited Kenya I interacted freely with people who were extremely poor, illiterate, and somehow neglected, I even stayed with one of these families in their grass thatched house.
I have always struggled to maintain personal integrity, by being honest all the time, especially with the organizations which I have worked for and interacted with. As a professional social worker I have always been aware of the professional mission, values and ethical principles, thus behaved in a manner consistent with them.
Acquisition of expertise in your area of specialization, is very important, I have always yearned to improve my understanding of the scope of social work. I also contributed to the creation of new knowledge, by engaging in various research activities. I have been doing my personal research since I graduated, based on what other people have done, I have suggested revision of existing theories of social work ,to improve the image of course, so as to meet the needs of the modern society.
I have worked with the African communities. Kenya is one of the countries in Africa that I have toured and worked. It is occupied by forty two tribes. My experience with the majority of the tribes was nourishing, as I learned many things. Some of them still practice some cultural activities that are repugnant. The most severe social problems that affected women and young girls, was female genital mutilation, the Maasai women were going through, traumatizing experience, as a professional social worker, I had to use my diplomatic skills, and research tactics to gather necessary information, in aid of communal sensitization, to discard the outdated cultural practices , in a manner that would not raise eyebrows, together with the local nongovernmental organization, we came up with a development program ,to empower men and women to engage in more important and beneficial activities, other than female genital mutilation. Although I was working very far away from home, the community took my endeavors positively, because they realized that I was aimed at improving their way of life .women in this society appreciated so much, because before we set up our programs, they used to walk, for many kilometers in search of water.
Social welfare is the absolute betterment of the society. Social welfare cannot be evaluated because it entails the ends and objects of desire, Jeremiah, W (2006:78-83). The social welfare areas that interest me are those that deal with the vulnerable in the society, that is orphaned children, dumped children, and the elderly who cannot cater for their basic needs. They interest me because; they usually empower a portion of the community that could be neglected and wasted. The orphaned children, the dumped are picked up fed and given the parental love that have missed, by so doing they are then given a second chance in life, to improve on their status. This welfare also ensures that this category of people maintains their dignity in the community.
A social problem is an issue that must be perceived by a potion of the society, as undesirable. Almost everybody would agree that actions to do with murder, increased road carnage amounts to a social problem. (ibid: 56-65).some people cause a social problem without themselves knowing, while others regard it as a publicly undesired, but some other people may, consider it an undesirable social condition.
The social problem that concerns me, that should be addressed by MSW, is the increased rate of drug abuse amongst university students, the increased rate of drug and substance among students are evident through abnormal behavior among the university students, and increased rate of criminal activities involving students. MSW should move swiftly to save the image of the university.
My undergraduate academic life was quite interesting, the normal first year, confusion coupled with the hassle to meet the paper deadlines, made my whole academic life at the university very interesting, and enjoyable.
I was academically fit in all the social work courses, because of the inbuilt desire to study the course. Although I was good in social work core courses, my weaknesses were evident in university common courses that I never performed well.
My desire to study social work, has always been driven by my parents and my personal desire to study the course, to the deepest levels, so as to satisfy my intellectual curiosity.
REFERENCES
1.
Noel, Timms (1983), Social work values, Routledge, Publisher.
2.. Jeremiah, W (2006) Governmental Action for social welfare, PublisherREAD BOOKS.
3.
Kendal, R and Linda, Woodhead (2006) God and human Dignity, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
