Plans for Community and Service

I have joined Habitat for Humanity and i am going on a build either this saturday or next saturday or both. This will be good because i will be working collaboratively with others to help rebuild the homes of people who cannot rebuild it themselves or need help doing so. I went on a build and we had to brake up into 3 groups the group i was in had to break and remove the floor of the house as it was concrete and the house was sinking and instead of fixing the problem they just layered more cement onto the floor. One of the other groups was digging and the other was fixing walls with wood.

WWW

On Week Without Walls we went to Hambantota, the bus ride took a long time but i got a chance to see the highway which was good as it shows the Human Inginuity of Sri Lanka. We got to the hotel and put our bags in our rooms, after that we went to check out the two schools that we would be working on for the next two days, in my opinion we needed another day to complete it as some things were left unfinished, like the slide for example. After we got back from the schools we met in our groups and planned what we were going to do and what we needed, next we set goals and reflected on our day then we had free time untill we went to bed at 10.30. The next day we woke up ate breakfast then went to our school that we were assigned to, the children greeted us and gave us a flower then we interacted with them for a bit then went to work. I started on painting the inside of the school, we started with a light blue on the walls. At first we only had brushes because the van which had the rollers in was getting supplies so in the beggining we started of slow but then the van arrived with the supplies. We went around with the rollers and did most of the wall leaving the edges then someone came with a thin brush and painted the edges, we worked collaboratively and this was good as we finished the walls pretty fast and soon moved on to the pillars. We ran out of light blue paint though so we couldnt finish the main walls yet but later we got paint from the other school and finished them off, then i helped out outside for a bit till the day was over. The next day at school there was alot that got done by everyone, i was working on fixing up a homade swing to make it safer unfortunately i stood on a wooden plank which had a nail sticking up and it went through my flip flop and into my foot.

Saisa Boy's Football

I am currently training for Saisa boy's football and have been selected for the team and am planning to travel to Bangladesh. This would be a good opportunity as i didn't get to travel last time so hopefully this time i can go. The training is mostly fun but at some points is very tiring and it is especially hard in the morning practices as it is so early but it has its advantages as it is cool in the morning compared to the heat during after school and Saturday practices. This makes me undertake new challenges in terms of fitness, playing a game, taking a shot, etc. Also it involves working collaboratively with others as I am playing in a team. Going to the training sessions and the games lets me develop new skills as each time i will try something new and different to see if it works or not.

Saturday 26th November

On Saturday I went to Vajira Sri Childrens Development Centre which is a tax exempted social service charity institute in Kotte that is run by a monk. In 1983 the orphanage was established when ethnic violence started in Sri Lanka. The orphans are given shelter, food, education and vocational training to make them valuable citizens of Sri Lanka. The home started with just boys and later included girls and infants, presently the children are admitted through the probation and childcare services as well as the judiciary. Currently there are 205 boys and girls, 32 infants and only 11 teachers also it is the largest Children's orphanage in Sri Lanka. I visited the school in the morning to see what could be done and when, i spoke to the monk and he told me that they were short of necessary supplies for the students to learn, i decided to undertake this new challenge. So i got a time to come back by with all the things and then spend some time with a few of the kids. I went to various shops and i bought supplies for the 15 kids i was going to spend my time with, i bought for each child; 2 pencils, an eraser, a book to write in, and a box of colouring pencils. I wrapped them up in brown paper bags and gave them to the children, they were all really happy. I spent some time with the children and we worked collaboratively together to draw and colour some pictures with them, after this we took the kids outside to play a game of cricket with them. All the kids had a lot of fun playing with us but we had to say goodbye because they needed to wash and get ready for a ceremony. I took a look around the rest of the school to see what ideas i could get for the next time i go back because then i can plan out exactly what i need to get and need to do before i go. Next time i am thinking about taking some sport supplies like a few footballs because when i was speaking to the monk to see what games i could play with them they only had some volleyballs and some cricket bats. I think that our school should set up a permanent CAS group to raise money for this school as it needs a lot of work throughout the school for example their playground equipment is old and unusable. For this, we must plan and initiate activities so that when we go back to that school we will know exactly what to get and what to do therefore saving us precious time on the day. Other volunteers help out, at the childrens home we talked with a volunteer from England and she explained how she has been here for 2 months and is helping out the school by teaching the children English.

DJ

On Saturday the 29th of October i got the oppertunity to DJ for a freinds Halloween party. I enjoyed it alot as music is a passion of mine and also i got paid for it which made me feel like i had accomplished something good. Hopefully next party I will have that same oppertunity. when someone asks me to play sometimes I undertake new challenges for example the host of the party likes rap and hip-hop and they asked me to mix alot of that, this was a new challenge to me as I had never really mixed with rap and hip-hop as i mostly mix with techno, electro, and dubstep. This also means that i develop new skills as im practising and creating serlists for parties. Once i finish playing i am able to see myself as an individual with various skills and abilities because when i listen to the mixes i make as i go along, i hear some of them that i really like because they flow well and are smooth. When i reflect upon my mixes it increases my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth as i look back and see what i did well and what i could change, i also record the mix and take it around to my freinds house and show them and they give me feedback because they might notice soemthing that i didnt or have a different opinion to me.

Sports Day

I took part in sports day this year and played various games of football, basketball, volleyball, and kickball. I am in red house and in the end we won the sports day because the primary school red team did really well apparently and we did alright but we had a little amount of people actually participating so it was rather difficult even though we worked collaboratively together. I enjoyed football the most and we did pretty well in it, we drew and lost against yellow house, beat green house, and lost to blue house. I found a picture that shows me playing a game of football. I also enjoyed volleyball as i dont get the chance to play it much therefore it gave me the oppertunity to develop new skills and in basketball i had to undertake new challenges that i thought would be impossible for example we had to play green house which had 3 saisa basketball players on the team and one of them was David who was beast at the sport. i thought that we wouldnt stand a chance but in the end the game was close and we just won.

How im going to get my CAS

The CAS that im doing is habitat for humanity so that I can get action and service. I am also going to be trying out for boys football SAISA which would also be action, for creativity I am in HL Art. In habitat for humanity we travel to plaves in Sri Lanka that are under developed after the devistating effect of the tsunami and we help the people rebuild their destroyed homes. I have done habitat for humanity last year so I am not a stranger to what happens but i still might be able to do something that I've never done before like lay bricks down to make a wall and in doing this, I will learn a new skill.