§ FINAL CASL REFLECTION §

Thanks to CASL I have been able to complete all of the projects’ requirements I’ve been involved in school; such as the President Award Scheme, Interact Club, Brainshine School on Wednesdays, MUN, and Sports like Basketball, Soccer and Volleyball. It changed my perspective of “community service”, its not anymore wanting to finish the required number of hours, now I just want to continue what I have started because I have learned that volunteer work is not something you just do for the sake of it; it is something you love to do and I did that by: reaching out to children, being exposed to diplomatic views, and continuing being a part of a team sport. CASL definitely prepares you for what is coming up next year, the CAS program, which I am starting next year in 11^th grade. From the moment I started CASL I have learned to balance, Creativity, Action and Service.

           

For action, I decided to try out for sports, such as Basketball, Soccer and currently in Volleyball. Basketball season was on for 4 months, with 3 days a week practice and matches at different schools, likewise in Soccer and Volleyball. At every Sport season I was able to achieve my objectives, which was to learn new skills, such as; ball handling, shooting, endurance, offensive/defensive positioning, and rules of the games. My personal objectives were: become one of the most improved players, never miss practice, attend every game no matter what, scoring points and emerging a relationship with my teammates. Basketball, Soccer and currently Volleyball, were just amazing sport seasons, we were like a family, given that we COMMUNICATED really well on the field and off the field. Our objectives during the season were ‘FUN’ and ‘LEARNING’! As coach wanted us to have fun while at the same time learn new things in an “individual/team” disciplined way. The biggest interpersonal skill that we as a team developed was learning to work together as a team and to accept each other as teammates. Although there were a couple of friend sets already established, it was encouraging to see how each of us got along well with every other player and we learned to bond together. We seemed to thoroughly enjoy being together for practices and games. We displayed good character and sportsmanship throughout the season. We always showed respect to the referees publicly even when we disagreed with their calls privately in our team huddles. Also, we were an encouragement to one another. When one of us was feeling discouraged for any reason, or was injured or sick, we would gather around her, give her a hug and a word of encouragement [A clear sign of our character of always thinking what was best for the team and not just our own individual feelings]. I came to realize in 10^th grade that being in a Team sport gives you more heart to play harder, you push yourself to be a bit better because you give your all. I love the sport, that’s why I do it everyday and it’s up to the person to manage their time in order to succeed, for example the minute I get home from practice, I take a shower, do my homework and/or revise for a quiz/test then I go to bed, I understood that this method was better then coming from practice, taking a shower, and going straight to bed, to then waking up at 2-3am to do homework, that never works.

For creativity, the main activity I participated in was being part of MUN, my objectives were to gain great research skills, and public speaking skills, along side interacting with people and cultures all over the world, and enjoy an international and professional environment. I was able to achieve that by attending the 30^th annual EAMUN here at the United Nations office in Nairobi, I was proud to be representing for the first time ever, Antigua and Barbuda, in the Human rights committee at the conference.  EAMUN was a once in a lifetime opportunity; I say this because I got to meet about 950 high school students from 61 schools [from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Sweden, Tanzania, and Uganda. Students from the DRC, Malawi and Sweden were participating in the conference for the first time]. Surprisingly, we all were involved in the same projects at school! During this conference we were challenged to adopt views and attitudes other than our own; breaking away from narrow self-interest and developing international cooperation, which is one of the core values of the United Nations. We also met Ambassador Solomon Maina, the Director of the International Organization and Conferences Directorate in the Kenya Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he urged us to engage our energies in "activities that would help make a difference in the environment, culture and enhance diversity in the world.”  He underlined how the Government had pursued the youth agenda through the Ministry of Youth and Sports by establishing the Youth Enterprise Fund. The Fund has been instrumental in the creation of over 300,000 job opportunities and disbursement of KSh 5.9 billion to over 157, 000 youth enterprises across the country. The EAMUN conference is one of three such conferences hosted by the UN in Nairobi. Thanks to the EAMUN Conference I was exposed for the first time to authentic simulations of the UN General Assembly, Security Council and other multilateral bodies, which introduced me into the world of diplomacy and negotiations.  EAMUN provided a forum for discussions on different topics of international concern, and since I was in the Human Rights committee, we addressed issues such as; Women’s rights, Child labor in Africa, Human Trafficking, Modern day slavery, Education in south Sudan, and Malnutrition in central America. Currently, we are writing resolutions and preparing for the Portugal MUN Conference! With the skills I have learned I am ready to face what’s coming next.

For service, I had two major projects, which were the Interact Club and Brainshine School on Wednesdays, but the main one was the Nairobi service Trip to Brainshine. The Nairobi Service Trip for me was more than just traveling daily to the Brainshine School and teaching small children between the ages of 4-12 years old for 7hrs, this trip was all about reaching out to these children as well as facing and studying about Kenyan culture and building a relationship with the local community. Leading an educational curriculum was no easy job, we had to put into consideration not only the grade level, but also knowing our roles at all time, being very flexible, developing a high energetic voice, making the kids participate more in what we are teaching, having a good pace and speed, and lastly constantly defining vocabs. However, what we thought was going to happen didn’t, given that the local school gave us a whole different teaching schedule, which left us to make one ourselves. This situation shows the Kenyan culture, as Kenyans love to please to make their visitors feel more contented which however backfires on them most of time so giving us a different teaching schedule at the beginning was to make themselves look good, Nevertheless the bright side is we got to experience the culture and we as a group we not only quickly adjusted and able to adapt to these last minute changes but also made the effort to do what we have now, like Mr. Bismeyer said “you do what you can with what you have”,  in other words we’ve shown as a school that we were resilient. Teaching the kids was no easy job too as most of them didn’t speak English and looked puzzled, so we’ve tried every possible angle for them to learn as well as understand, we’ve used methods like taking them outside to teach, known as “exploration time” and we’ve also tried incorporating our teaching with singing and dancing known as “sing a song”. The effort of not giving up in trying to reach out to the kids was something we definitely took from. This trip became a very significant part of my life, because I not only bonded with these kids but I feel like I’ve known them for such a long time as I cared for them like my own sisters and brothers would to me. No matter what the lesson was that we were teaching them, confused or not, they never gave up, they would always be smiling and looked forward to seeing us, they just loved us. Its really fun working with kids, it was a great experience, especially knowing that we are making a difference for these kids’ lives. We learned a lot for example; the adaptation skills we used are gifts we will carry on for the rest of our everyday life. Most importantly everyone on the trip made some sort of contribution, like Mr. Bismeyer said “its like putting together a big puzzle” without everyone’s contribution it wouldn’t have happened.

Like I said before, CASL has taught me that volunteer work is not something you just do for the sake of it; it is something you love to do and most importantly something you continue no matter what, because you love it. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do next year and the years to come; I’m going to continue to reach out to children at OVC, Runda and Brainshine.

Creative - EAMUN 30TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE (3)

30^TH ANNUAL EAMUN AT THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE HERE IN NAIROBI, KENYA

I had the opportunity to participate and be part of the 30^th annual EAMUN Conference at the United Nations Office here in Nairobi Kenya, from the 13^th to the 17^th February 2012.

EAMUN is a once in a lifetime opportunity; I say this because you get to meet about 950 high school students from 61 schools [from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Sweden, Tanzania, and Uganda. Students from the DRC, Malawi and Sweden were participating in the conference for the first time]. Surprisingly, we all were involved in the same projects at school!

During this conference we were challenged to adopt views and attitudes other than our own; breaking away from narrow self-interest and developing international cooperation, which is one of the core values of the United Nations.

We also met Ambassador Solomon Maina, the Director of the International Organization and Conferences Directorate in the Kenya Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he urged us to engage our energies in "activities that would help make a difference in the environment, culture and enhance diversity in the world.”  He underlined how the Government had pursued the youth agenda through the Ministry of Youth and Sports by establishing the Youth Enterprise Fund. The Fund has been instrumental in the creation of over 300,000 job opportunities and disbursement of KShs 5.9 billion to over 157, 000 youth enterprises across the country. The EAMUN conference is one of three such conferences hosted by the UN in Nairobi.

Thanks to the EAMUN Conference I was exposed for the first time to authentic simulations of the UN General Assembly, Security Council and other multilateral bodies, which introduced me into the world of diplomacy and negotiations.  EAMUN provided a forum for discussions on different topics of international concern, and since I was in the Human Rights committee, we addressed issues such as; Women’s rights, Child labor in Africa, Human Trafficking, Modern day slavery, Education in south Sudan, and Malnutrition in central America.  

Service-BrainShine School on Wednesdays (15)

J BRAINSHINE SCHOOL LAST WEEKS ON WEDNESDAYS J

The last 2 weeks [on Wednesdays] was real fun at Brainshine! We continued the “Cleanliness is godliness” activity, this time we taught the children how to brush their teeth properly. That [Wednesday] day we provided each child with a toothbrush [they were so happy to get free toothbrushes, the girls wanted the pink princess brushes, while the boys wanted the panda brushes] and toothpaste.

Srusti and I partnered, and we took charge of the Pre-Unit class, they were so adorable and eager! When they finished brushing their teeth, we moved to the next activity, which was showing them how to wash their hands and face properly, they lined up with the pieces of cloths we provided them with.

Soon after, we showed them how to cut their nails, using gloves and detol [disinfectant] we cut each of the children’s nails. At first they were a bit scared, but we assured them that if they don't cut their nails it will be filled with dirt, another problem we had was that all of the children had really short nails, so we had to be extra careful when cutting their nails.

The holidays are coming up for the Brainshine children; they will be on holiday for the next 3 weeks. I am really going to miss them! I really enjoy spending Wednesdays with them, I get to no them more and more, for example Kariuki [he is in “baby class” he is super active!] his best friend is Simon, and in pre-unit class there was a new girl, her name is Mary. Tracy loves number, if I asked the class to count to 10, she is the first to raise her hand and recite [she is sooo cute!]

Service- Interact CLub (14)

Today was the last Runda Feeding Activity for this year.

We all met at Gigiri Java, then we set off to the Runda Feeding place promptly at 10:45am. The minute we arrived, we helped the Rotary International people to set up; we opened tons of biscuits, breads, milk, candies, bananas and croissants. Then we waited for the women and children to line up.

These unfortunate people, who come to the Runda Feeding Program to be fed, come from different parts of Nairobi, some of them didn't eat for a week or more, so when they hear about the Runda Feeding happening, they all gather, young, old, men and women.

I was stationed at the Banana and croissant station, so whenever a child comes to my station I give him or her a banana and a croissant, but when they are siblings we are supposed to give two of everything.

Towards the end, one adult didn't get enough food like the small children, so he picked a rock and was drawn to get food by force, but later he was ashamed and dropped the rock. Sometimes the food we distribute is perfectly enough for the hundreds of people, and sometimes it isn’t, five to ten persons don't get enough or hardly anything.    

I was particularly pleased when this little boy said to me “THANK YOU” so sincerely, I had tears in my eyes, the fact that I gave this boy food and he said THANK YOU honestly was the most touching thing ever. I am really privilege to have participated in this program, and I will continue to do so the following years to come.

Volunteer work is not something you just do for the sake of it; it is something you love to do, as you reach out to children.      

Service- Interact Club (13)

Today was finally the “Easter Party” for the OVC children.

First things first, I arrived in school promptly at 9:30am, I met everyone in Mrs. Henderson’s room, then we divided ourselves into groups, my group leaders were Ashika and Chloe. The plan was to go get the kids then come back to ISK with your group of OVC kids.

Each group was required to complete the following activities: Swimming, Multi-court, Playground and have breakfast. My group had 22 kids, we first went to play basketball at the multi-court, most of the kids just wanted to play with the mini scooter and the hula hoops, they really enjoyed themselves. When it was time to go swimming, they changed their clothes in the changing rooms, most of them were at first very scared to go in the water, but later they had fun playing with each other and splashing water at us everywhere. When 30 minutes was up, we went to have breakfast; the menu was hot coco, chocolate milk, sausages, eggs and mandazis. Yumi!

Today was really amazing, I was especially really happy that all 60 OVC children received clothes, toys and reading books, which we had collected from the clothes drive we did at ISK weeks ago. Dorothy, one of the OVC children, told me that she enjoys spending time with us, because it is really memorable! These OVC days will stay with me, probably for the rest of my life, because I know that I touched a kid’s heart, I reached out to these kids!

Action- Zumba (6)

J ZUMBA ZUMBA ZUMBA EH! J

Since the Zumba program has began at ISK, I have been a regular student every Fridays, as I had previous experience in Zumba, specifically during last summer holidays in June, I signed up for Zumba classes at the Silver Springs Hotel here in Nairobi. However, the minute I heard Zumba was going to start here at ISK I decided to instead continue Zumba here in school, along side with my friends. Even though it’s an hour-long class, it’s really exciting. I’ve been learning the basic steps in “salsa”, “calupso”, “samba” and “meringue”. I learn something new every time. And I’m planning on continuing on improving at it. Last class on Friday, Assiatou, Danielle and I conducted the class, we worked together as a group and conducted the class, I used all my knowledge in  “Cha cha” steps in Zumba, it was really electrifying!

I am really glad that many people joined Zumba classes Fridays here at ISK, we’ve almost become a family, and we now know all the steps the Instructor conducts by heart. In my opinion, we should also have this as an option during our fitness days in the 10^th grade PE class, along with Yoga, Dance, and Team sport.       

Action-Soccer (5)

JUNIOR VARSITY GIRLS SOCCER

November 2011- 6^th March 2012

JV Soccer Season was AMAZING! We were like a family, given that we COMMUNICATED really well on the field and off the field.

Our objectives during the season were ‘FUN’ and ‘LEARNING’! As coach wanted us to have fun while at the same time learn new things in an “individual/team” disciplined way.

First things first, we were expected to be at each practice early, Tuesdays in the morning, Thursdays afterschool, and Friday mornings, even though I live significantly far from school, I would still make it to practice before 6:50am (start time) as I was committed to training and learning.

We were expected to follow these 3 simple rules. First you are expected to attend all training sessions and matches, uniformed absence from either will result in suspension from the following match. Second you are not eligible to compete on a match day if you have not attended school on that particular day. Third you are expected to maintain high academic standards throughout the season, as your training/match commitment do not serve as excuse for incomplete/ unsatisfactory work.        

We regularly worked on so many skills and drills that helped us in both offense and defense mode and I showed a marked improvement in these areas:

            One-on-One: this was the area that needed work, we would pair up with a ball, player 1 has the ball and is ‘on the attack’, while player 2 is ‘on defense’. Player 1 would try to dribble to any cone; at the same time ‘defense’ player 2 tries to prevent this from happening. Here I was required to move and think quickly at the same preventing the defense or attacker player from possessing the ball.

            Endurance: speed is important as you can blast past defenders, which creates openings and increases the chance of scoring a goal.  Shuttle runs, 3 lap runs and bleep tests in soccer are really fun, given that we run together as a team and we don't let anyone down, instead encourage them to keep up. Endurance was a main key I improved in soccer before I would stop at 4 in my bleep tests but now I was able to go as far as 6 or 7.

            Ball handling: this included many different drills that had to do with controlling and handling the ball in a very small space, we also did ball tap drills which including taping quickly the ball, and lastly maintaining possession of the ball with first touches. This helped me a lot as an offensive and defensive player in matches.

            Shooting: This was an area that needed the most work from the beginning, so we would line up and take turns shooting at our goalie, we all improved on our shootings, including our goalie.  Given that we would first dribble up, then shoot, our goalie would roll the ball to the   shooter, and just like that we would also practice one-touch shots.

            Rules of the Game: My knowledge of the game improved this year as well as my knowledge about the positions. Since I’m mostly in defense during the matches I learned that my defensive girls and I are supposed to play narrow and in a chain like, while the rest of the team is suppose to play wide and passé to one another.

In terms of winning we only won 1 game, which was against St Christopher School, 2-0. Even though we lost the other games, we made them look bad and good, otherwise we were terrific we made several attempted goals, and we did a lot of passing between us. Nonetheless I believe we, the JV Girls, are winners in our hearts.