Feast of Nations-Interact and Artsco

At the feast of nations this friday i helped with the interact club in raising publicity of our stall and helped with Artsco in setting up their own stall. I believe the feast of nations was a success especially for interact that managed to raise around 40,000 shillings! It was also an all round good day in which to sample delicious food and watch the boys semi finals football game which of course ISK  came out as the victors.

OVC- Christmas party!

Although it was november and nowhere near the 25th of december the Interact club hosted the OVC kids at ISK for fun and games and even some clothes donations. It was two weeks ago when this happened, we had to first go and get these children from the OVC house down the road from ISK. I remember seeing all their faces seeming to glow with anticipation and excitment. There were some faces that i recognized from the last trip there and i soon began to have a flock of children on me, I joked to the others that it looked like an MSF or Save the Children advert. Once the kids were at the school i could just see the level of awe they had. for many this was the first time they had seen a school of such proportions or wealth. ISK is one of the most expensive schools in sub-saharan africa and this wore off on a couple of these children. We had three rotations of games, Football/ Basketball, Drawing, Swimming and finally FOOD!!
I feel that the swimming was the activity that the majority loved, this is because once the kids were in the water shouts of laughter and giggles overtook them. The pool was a mass of pool tubes and white smiles, something truly wonderful to see. the level of happiness was so sincere that it wore off on myself and i soon came to have a smile plastered on my face throughout the day. The children were donated items of clothing of their choice and given a feast (in my opinion) of food. The chai was especially delicious with the warm mandazis. When it was time to go i could see the contentment in all their faces, each child was happy and full and i myself felt proud in having helped them achieve some level of happiness and forget about some of the hardships they had faced. This day was truly spectacular and i hope i will be here for the next one we do which would be in easter.

Book Club

This term i joined the book club, we ordered books the previous school year. Every month or so we come together to eat and discuss the novel we have just read. There is a wide range in the books we are reading in terms of the genres and styles. The club i have found to be incredibly rewarding and find it very entertaining. I feel that the most important thing that this club has to offer is the opportunity to read more. Instead of constant television i am now attempting to read more. I have seen a difference in the way of my writing in English simply because of the increased influx of literature. I am going to continue in the book club for the rest of the school year and hope to enjoy more books and short stories to come yet.

OVC

OVC....Orphaned and Vulnerable Children. A few weeks ago i went with the interact club to a small house down the road from school. It contained a large number of children who had been cast from their community because of aids or other diseases or they had been subjected to physical, mental or sexual abuse. The thing that struck me most was the fact that a school which costs thousands of dollars yearly can stand opposite a small house containing children with no money what so ever and trying to make by. The humbleness of these children and the warmth of the man in charge touched me and made me realize how my priorities in life have been horribly astray. we stayed only for a couple hours because the children would get tired shortly there after. The role we had was simply put to make the children laugh. we played games with them, such as football or running. I even got them to have a little dance competition, which was hilarious. For a few brief hours i spent my time in the company of these kids, it was heart warming and stirred in me the need to do something. That is why i have now begun to think of possible ways in which to help children such as these get the rights and sufficient facilities they need.

Interact: Runda Feeding Program

Last sunday i took part in the runda feeding program. It entails coming into runda, a large wealthy community suburb within nairobi. It is in runda that there are amidst all the mansions and luxurious cars people who are not able to afford a daily ration of food. Some of the food that we gave to these people was the only food they would have in one week.The situation is far from being peachy and so as part of the interact we take part in feeding these hungry mouths at least once a month with another group of charitably generous people from the rotary club. I was in charge of distributing bread to these hungry mouths, most of whom were young children. It was not physically exhausting however mentally i felt a deep set emotion for these children who are surviving on a bare minimum. It put into perspective the way in which i live and how 80% of Kenyans live. This was an incredible eye opener for myself as i was able to get a grasp of the situation in runda alone! I hope to return to this program every last sunday of every month as long as i am with interact club. It was a very sincere and genuine experience that has brought me to realize the need some people within the country i live in face on a day to day basis.

Swim team

This semester i also joined the swim team, i have not swum in four years. i started about four weeks ago, the first initial sessions were incredible painful. i was exhausted and still am after every session, i am going to be taking part in some of the swimming galas that will be held this year, however i believe i will not start swimming competitively until i have improved in my own skills and get a whole lot fitter. these being the words of my swim coach. It is painful to watch the younger years zoom past me whilst i'm gagging for breath, however with perseverance i hope to enter in the nasa AA league.

Interact-first team building

This semester i joined the interact club, which is a club that incorporates all aspects of CAS in an effort to improve the community around us. it entails, mural paintings, feeding programs, interaction with dis-advantaged children, etc. a few weeks back i took part in a compulsory group building exercise. for a couple hours of the morning i we did various team building exercises such as how to construct a lego tower, and team races. theses were able to bring the very large club into a somewhat tight knit group in order to improve our ability to function as a successful club. At the welcome back picnic at school i also took part in helping to sell books for the interact club in an effort to raise money we were very succesfull and raised almost 40,000 ksh! impressive and that was just the books. there will be more to say about interact as i have not done nearly enough activities, next weekend i am going on the runda feeding program to feed hundreds of people who can not afford daily rations, these people literally live on the back door of some of my peers houses, hopefully this program improves their lives in a way.

Camp Kawartha summer camp

this summer i volunteered as a summer camp counselor at Camp Kawartha, it is a small non-profit camp that is situated on clear lake near lakefeild, ontario. the link below will show you what i mean:
www.campkawartha.ca
this experience was a once of a lifetime thing, i worked for one month; it was probably the hardest i have worked in my whole life. i spent each session in a cabin full of young boys, i would have to hustle them from place to place and always retain a positive role model on these children. while i had a cabin at all times i also had to teach classes and organize fun activities for these children. whilst it was hard work, it was incredibly rewarding to see the smiles on the children's faces when my plans worked.
i made an entirely new connection with most of the staff that work at camp kawartha. strong bonds were formed between myself and the other counselors not to mention with the kids i would constantly be surrounded by.
to describe what camp felt like in a blog would not do it justice, whilst i can explain the mechanics of it all the true experiences i could not compare with words. i feel that now i have grown as a person in terms of my leadership abilities and in the way i compose myself around others. at all times hoping to retain a positive influence amongst my peers and especially amongst children.
i have realized the impact that i can have on other people and most importantly on children. it was terribly rewarding to be called 'awesome'  by numerous children. the feelings i felt when i saw all those happy faces was too much it was to this date probably the best summer i have had to date. it was full of warmth, kindness, appreciation and above all a period in which i grew as a positive influence on others truly an experience i recommend to anyone wishing to feel an incredibly satisfying feeling of accomplishment.

German cultural and art immersion

for one week i went to Berlin, germany to experience the cultural and artistic scene of berlin. the city is incredibly divers in cultural, with street art being a large sector of the german art scene. many people take up to street art such as graffiti to express inner angsts against society as i witnessed. i was able to tour berlin and witness all such sectors like this in order to culturally and artistically broaden my horizons. i visited many historical monuments as well in order to visually aid in my understanding of germany during the 30s under nazi rule, this german trip has proved to help in both art and in history and will sure to benefit me slightly in my future excursions in germany.

IC trips!

The IC trips, all students had to partake in them our IC trip took place in naivasha and in sagana. on this trip we rock climbed, kayaked, white water rafted, hiked and painted the walls of a school.
before i going i was apprehensive of the trip and was unsure of if i would enjoy it. looking back i have no regrets, the trip was an incredible bonding experience for myself and my peers. it was also a test of physical and mental strength in relation to the exercise. i found that in all aspects i succeeded in growing as a person and finding new things that i was able to accomplish.

the painting of the walls of a classroom was exceptionally memorable as once again i gained insight into how local kenyans experience school life. this school was much more impoverished than that of chileta, there were around 500 students in an area the size of our school library. it put into perspective how i should not take for granted the education i have given to me. also i found that i was able to improve these children's learning environment that little bit more which let me sleep lighter.
this trip has inspired me to take part in more demanding exercises that will test me mentally and physically in particular i want to work with local peoples to improve their living conditions much like the work both my parents do.

Chileta primary: reading to children

chileta primary is a public school situated in runda, unlike many of the housing estates surrounding the school, chileta primary is very poor. with overcrowded classrooms and not enough teachers to fit the ever growing number of children chileta primary is a case example of the kenyan education system.
our goal in this activity was every wednesday to bring books and help children from each class read them. we would help in the pronunciation, but mostly it would be to just listen and encourage these children. after a couple of months i could really see a difference in the confidence and reading skills that some of these children formed.
this activity was truly a humbling experience for myself and gave me a perspective of the way in which many kenyans go through school life. witnessing the harshness of such circumstances and being able to see the will power of these kids and their excitement in reading touched me emotionally. this experience was priceless the activity simple but i was able to take so much more from what i learned simply observing than i would in a classroom.

Rugby

this was the fist time i had played rugby in about two years. the isk rugby team is still in its fledgling stage and is not able to rival the british schools. however this rugby team was more than that of remaining a formidable force on the feild, this rugby team showed true bonds between us all.
we trained almost every day of the week and even some saturdays, our coach (Finn) was able to instruct us and mould the group of boys we were into semi-men. not all of the players on our team had ever played rugby and so it took a slow shaky start for us to actually begin playing. we were and still were one of the worst teams to play against schools such as Braeburn and Peponi. we lost all but one of our games, we won only one. this rugby team was not about the winning that was for sure, however as we progressed i grew to embrace losing as a way of winning or learning from mistakes. we were a team that enjoyed losing simply because we each knew we had played a game.
this rugby training was short lived and lasted a month and a bit because of isk's holiday starting earlier than other schools. however we gained a lot in those few weeks we had training and playing games. it was a refreshing break to the daily routine of IB and renewed my enthusiasm for the sport of rugby. on a sad note the seniors in our team which were of great importance to our bond as a team are leaving this year and will not return to the feild, therefore it is taken upon myself and other soon to be seniors that for next year i hope to once more create enthusiasm towards rugby and hope to achieve making isk none in the nairobi schools rugby world.

Band practice and perfomance

i and 4 other of my peers in isk formed a band at the start of the first term. we practiced almost all wednesdays, and we took part in the isk talent show as well as the goals to go charity event at school. this activity although it did not give back so much to the community in the sense of service was more of a personal accomplishment. it entailed myself having to cooperate with four others who like myself had an equally large passion for music. i was able to discover the power of negotiation and compromise in order to make progress. this activity gave me the ability to find a new found confidence in myself, i was able to realize the potential i had when insecurities did not play a factor in it. this was a personal and interactive activity that i thoroughly enjoyed and hope to continue you with for some more time.

Katika Mix

katika mix was an experience i will personally never forget.  to explain to you what katika mix was, it was a group set up that got a group of young deaf kenyan students to interact with ISK students in dance. through this group i was able to gather a small understanding of the deaf language and well make friends.  after i took part in this activity i realized i would see these fellow dancers around nairobi, the club not only improved my deaf language skills but also broadened my friendship circle. to say that i did not learn something from katika is a wrong assumption, i learnt very little in the art of dance but what i took home was a humble and accepting attitude that cannot be achieved in any classroom. this group changed myself as a person. it opened me to the possibilities of others that have a harder situation than myself, thus i have now become a humbler person as it is, now i am open to new prospects. who knows maybe i'll start singing with blind people. the options are limitless when coming from katika mix. it has opened new doors to myself in the way in which i will carry myself throughout society. i recommend this program to anyone in ISK, this is because i have noticed majority of the student populace is ignorant to outside happenings. katika mix will broaden your horizons and not just on the dance floor.

introduction

this is an introduction to my blog, my blog lets you have a more detailed look into my CAS activities. in particular i hope the blog illustrates my own personal achievement throughout the IB program.