January was a month filled with action as the preparations for the Boys SAISA football tournament were on. I was a part of the team that went to Dhaka to the American International School of Dhaka to participate in this tournament. This month was mainly dedicated to training and therefore did not leave much time for creativity though my guitar practice went on uninterrupted. The main feature of this month was Week Without Walls, a whole week dedicated to service in a under-developed area.
Action: Football training was rigorous from the first training onwards as our two coaches Mr.Campbell and Mr.Shipley wanted to decide on our final team as soon as possible. Within the first week of training the players that were unfit to make the team were asked to try again next year and the 16 of us went through intense training all the way to the tournament in February. We went through fitness training that left us out of breath most of the time and then through some work with the ball and skill work. As we started to develop a routine and get used to the training we also started integrating teamwork exercises. Training was going well and we had a few practice matches against the Colombo international school and the Colombo lions football club. I scored a lot of goals in the practice matches and was therefore advanced into a more attacking position from a midfield position.
Halfway through our season we had to take a one week break in training as we had the Week Without Walls community service project.
Community Service:
Action: Football training was rigorous from the first training onwards as our two coaches Mr.Campbell and Mr.Shipley wanted to decide on our final team as soon as possible. Within the first week of training the players that were unfit to make the team were asked to try again next year and the 16 of us went through intense training all the way to the tournament in February. We went through fitness training that left us out of breath most of the time and then through some work with the ball and skill work. As we started to develop a routine and get used to the training we also started integrating teamwork exercises. Training was going well and we had a few practice matches against the Colombo international school and the Colombo lions football club. I scored a lot of goals in the practice matches and was therefore advanced into a more attacking position from a midfield position.
Halfway through our season we had to take a one week break in training as we had the Week Without Walls community service project.
Community Service:
WEEK WITHOUT WALLS!
On the 24th of january, early in the morning, grade 11 of OSC went to Hambantota for Week Without Walls. Week without walls is a yearly excusrsion to some underdeveloped part of Sri Lanka where people live under harsh conditions.Each grade goes to a different location to help certain primary schools with maintanence of their facilities like painting their school and repairing equipment like desks and swings.This is also a program that helps the students of a grade bond with each other as they work hard together. Week Without Walls was a great experience for me as i did a lot of things i never thought i would do and i learnt a lot of new things as well like methods of removing paint stains etc. Week Without Walls turned out to be a very creative experience for me as well because i played the guitar as my classmates performed a song for the children on our last day. The following is a break-down of all our activities on daily basis according to the CAS criteria
DAY 1:
Goals for the day:
1) Making the little children who attended the school play a few games and make them have a good time. This required me and my group to plan and initiate activities.
2)Work Collaboratively with my group to make repairs and paint the school building.This was a completely new experience for me and therefore doing these activities was like undertaking new challenges and developing new skills.
3)Help the other groups with their jobs once i was done with mine.
We left for the school pretty early in the morning and it took us quite a long bus ride to get there. Once we arrived we got off the bus and unloaded the equipment we were going to use for the day's work. Then we gathered round in a circle and met the children of the school. At first the children were very shy and wary of us but with the help of their teachers we got them to trust us more and got them to play games with us. Overcoming this kind of language and social barrier with such young children was a new experience for me and turned out to be more of a challenge than i thought it would! but overcoming this challenge helped me accomplish the 'undertaking new challenges' criteria.
Once the kids were comfortable with us we came to a conclusion as a group as to what games we could make them play. After a few minutes of planning and discussion we decided on a few games that would be easy to play and fun (planned and initiated activities). The kids at first were quite confused about what we were doing and seemed intimidated by us but gradually they started to understand the basic idea and started enjoying the games. Once we were done playing with the children and giving them the gifts we had got for them and singing them a special nursery rhyme we chose for them, we headed off to do our 'action' part of the trip which consisted of painting with all its intricacies which i didn't know even existed! and of maintenance of the swings and other components of their playground.
Like i said before, painting the walls was more complicated than i expected! i initially thought that all we would have to do was dip the paintbrush into the pain and just put it onto the walls.In reality we had to mix the paint with thinner in specific quantities and use specific brushes and paints for indoor walls and outdoor walls. Also calculating the amount of materials needed was extremely hard and several different trips had to be made to nearby stores for supplies. All these difficulties brought us closer as a team and we worked collaboratively with each other to overcome the problems. Every time we solved a problem a new challenge came our way which we overcame. After hours of planning and painting we finally finished our work for the day and went ahead to help the other groups with their work. I helped in painting the mural which was a creative activity and something i had never done before. I had to be given a lot of guidance by the artists but i managed to come of some use to them.
On the first day Mr.Lockwood gave the few of us who had finished our work a special job of building a small pathway out of wooden planks and ropes in the style of a train track to lead upto the entrance of the school. There were only 4 of us who worked on this assignment. This was again a new activity for me, my third new activity of the day which proves that i did step out of my comfort zone to undertake new challenges. This task turned out to be the most exhausting and difficult task of them all because we did not know the proper techniques of hammering nails into wood. It isn't as simple as it sounds. we managed to injure ourselves with the hammer a few times but in the end we got it done. This task took all my energy but i remained committed to completing it and by the end of the day i was the only one still working on it to complete it.My arms were sore but i was proud of myself for achieving something special on the day. Completing this strenuous task took a lot of will power and showed my perseverance and commitment in the day's activities. Doing this activity also helped me develop some basic skill about woodwork and craftsmanship.
Once we were done with all our work we decided to clean up the mess we had created. Cleaning up the paint and turpentine and other materials we used led to an ethical complication because disposing of them was not easy. In the end we decided to wash all our equipment and dispose of wastes in one corner of the ground surrounding the school where other wastes where thrown. We were not too happy with our disposal method but we could not come up with a better solution. The amount of pollution we were causing also came to my mind as we disposed of our wastes as it is an issue of global importance. I knew that we were polluting land and water but we had no alternative solution so we could not do much about it.
That evening when we were back at our hotel i organised a small football match with my friends in the front lawn of the hotel as a productive way to pass our time while other swam in the pool etc.Later in the evening Skylar ,Camie and I brought out our guitars and decided to practice a few songs that we could play in our last performance for the children before we left. So we practiced before and after dinner and we decided that i would do an improvisation on my guitar while Camie and the rest of our grade sang the song "hey soul sister" and then Skylar and I would do an guitar instrumental (Creativity). After we were done planning and practicing we went to bed. I think its safe to say i achieved more than the goals i had planned to achieve so i decided not to make any goals for the next few days and just do everything that came my way and would be of some help to someone.
DAY 2:
As i said, i decided not to set any goals and just wanted to be spontaneous. So the day started off in the same way with the first hour spent playing with the kids. On this day we gave them some coloring books and crayons and drew pictures with them. After that we went ahead with our days work as the day before. On this day we decided to re-paint all the swings etc. in the playground of the school. This was again a little problematic as we had to use special paints that would cover metal properly. But we managed to overcome that pretty easily and went ahead with our work. When i finished painting the swings i was assigned i went around helping with the other swings and helping with the mural again.
Then Camie and I decided to make a sort of a mural on the back wall of the school as well. So we got together and thought of something. Camie had the idea of us painting numbers and alphabets using our hand prints which was quite a fun task. Once we were done we were quite proud of the success of the idea. Then we went on to help the others again.As the day wore on we kept completing all the tasks we had been assigned and a few a extra jobs. The day went pretty much the same way as the first. The basic design of the main mural was completed on this day
When we went back to the hotel we decided to go for a swim and get our daily exercise and at night camie and i performed what we were gonna play at the performance which was followed by my performance with Skylar and then we just had an hour of music where i played a few famous songs on the guitar while the rest of the class sung along.We also practiced a song in Sinhalese that the whole class was going to sing at our performance. This was something new for most of us and we gave it our best shot though most of our pronunciations where way off the mark.
Day 3
The days work started with us finishing up all the small jobs that were left around the school. Final touches were made to all the things we painted. Some things had to be painted again because the paint was already chipping off. We worked long and hard in the heat only to be foiled by a sudden rainstorm that we thought would ruin all our hard work. Thankfully nothing was too badly affected by the rain though final touches had to be made again. It was a fun experience scampering around in the rain trying to save the equipment we could and cover up the newly painted swings. I worked collaboratively with everyone and tried helping wherever i could.
As we finished up with all the work and the time for our performance drew nearer we went and got our guitars from the bus. We practiced for a while and then the performance started. First the children put up a show for us and then we reciprocated by putting one up for them. We sang them a Sinhalese song and then i performed the two songs i had practiced. On the last day i did not help with the mural because the final and most delicate touches were being applied to it and i know i am not a great artist so i did not want to ruin all the hard work we had done by making a mistake so instead i practiced the song i was playing for the performance. The video for one of the songs is on YouTube and here is the link to it : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj92mlEt8Z0
Once we were all done we said goodbye to the children and thanked the teachers for letting us destroy their school as we attempted to fix it. But we did pretty well especially since not too many of us had past experiences like this. We were proud and happy of what we had accomplished and also very tired by the end of it all.
We went back to the hotel and rested for a while before setting out in the evening for some swimming and a jog on the beach. Karl Camie and I jogged the whole length of the beach to get fit for our upcoming sports tournaments. Karl and i went a little overboard and decided to sprint a few times which was extremely hard to do on sand! We still tried our best and were completely exhausted by the end of it but we were happy we got a good workout and felt fit. That night there was a small dance party organised for us before we left for Colombo the next day. All in all it was a good trip.
What did i accomplish??
I accomplished all the goals i had set for the trip before we went there and many more. I also was able to fulfill all of those 8 CAS criteria that the IB has set. Therefore it was a very rewarding trip for me and i felt like i had actually made a difference in the lives of a few less fortunate people.
After Week Without Walls
The rest of January went by in a blur with a lot of football training and practice matches as well as a little community service in the Cleft lip and pallet group where i was made leader for the next couple of semesters. Now it was my job to recruit new members and lead the project by organizing fund-raisers and planning trips to the hospital to visit the affected children.
The month of January was quite a busy month in terms of CAS as i managed to have a lot of Creativity, Action and Service all combined into one month through a lot of different activities.
DAY 1:
Goals for the day:
1) Making the little children who attended the school play a few games and make them have a good time. This required me and my group to plan and initiate activities.
2)Work Collaboratively with my group to make repairs and paint the school building.This was a completely new experience for me and therefore doing these activities was like undertaking new challenges and developing new skills.
3)Help the other groups with their jobs once i was done with mine.
We left for the school pretty early in the morning and it took us quite a long bus ride to get there. Once we arrived we got off the bus and unloaded the equipment we were going to use for the day's work. Then we gathered round in a circle and met the children of the school. At first the children were very shy and wary of us but with the help of their teachers we got them to trust us more and got them to play games with us. Overcoming this kind of language and social barrier with such young children was a new experience for me and turned out to be more of a challenge than i thought it would! but overcoming this challenge helped me accomplish the 'undertaking new challenges' criteria.
Once the kids were comfortable with us we came to a conclusion as a group as to what games we could make them play. After a few minutes of planning and discussion we decided on a few games that would be easy to play and fun (planned and initiated activities). The kids at first were quite confused about what we were doing and seemed intimidated by us but gradually they started to understand the basic idea and started enjoying the games. Once we were done playing with the children and giving them the gifts we had got for them and singing them a special nursery rhyme we chose for them, we headed off to do our 'action' part of the trip which consisted of painting with all its intricacies which i didn't know even existed! and of maintenance of the swings and other components of their playground.
Like i said before, painting the walls was more complicated than i expected! i initially thought that all we would have to do was dip the paintbrush into the pain and just put it onto the walls.In reality we had to mix the paint with thinner in specific quantities and use specific brushes and paints for indoor walls and outdoor walls. Also calculating the amount of materials needed was extremely hard and several different trips had to be made to nearby stores for supplies. All these difficulties brought us closer as a team and we worked collaboratively with each other to overcome the problems. Every time we solved a problem a new challenge came our way which we overcame. After hours of planning and painting we finally finished our work for the day and went ahead to help the other groups with their work. I helped in painting the mural which was a creative activity and something i had never done before. I had to be given a lot of guidance by the artists but i managed to come of some use to them.
On the first day Mr.Lockwood gave the few of us who had finished our work a special job of building a small pathway out of wooden planks and ropes in the style of a train track to lead upto the entrance of the school. There were only 4 of us who worked on this assignment. This was again a new activity for me, my third new activity of the day which proves that i did step out of my comfort zone to undertake new challenges. This task turned out to be the most exhausting and difficult task of them all because we did not know the proper techniques of hammering nails into wood. It isn't as simple as it sounds. we managed to injure ourselves with the hammer a few times but in the end we got it done. This task took all my energy but i remained committed to completing it and by the end of the day i was the only one still working on it to complete it.My arms were sore but i was proud of myself for achieving something special on the day. Completing this strenuous task took a lot of will power and showed my perseverance and commitment in the day's activities. Doing this activity also helped me develop some basic skill about woodwork and craftsmanship.
Once we were done with all our work we decided to clean up the mess we had created. Cleaning up the paint and turpentine and other materials we used led to an ethical complication because disposing of them was not easy. In the end we decided to wash all our equipment and dispose of wastes in one corner of the ground surrounding the school where other wastes where thrown. We were not too happy with our disposal method but we could not come up with a better solution. The amount of pollution we were causing also came to my mind as we disposed of our wastes as it is an issue of global importance. I knew that we were polluting land and water but we had no alternative solution so we could not do much about it.
That evening when we were back at our hotel i organised a small football match with my friends in the front lawn of the hotel as a productive way to pass our time while other swam in the pool etc.Later in the evening Skylar ,Camie and I brought out our guitars and decided to practice a few songs that we could play in our last performance for the children before we left. So we practiced before and after dinner and we decided that i would do an improvisation on my guitar while Camie and the rest of our grade sang the song "hey soul sister" and then Skylar and I would do an guitar instrumental (Creativity). After we were done planning and practicing we went to bed. I think its safe to say i achieved more than the goals i had planned to achieve so i decided not to make any goals for the next few days and just do everything that came my way and would be of some help to someone.
DAY 2:
As i said, i decided not to set any goals and just wanted to be spontaneous. So the day started off in the same way with the first hour spent playing with the kids. On this day we gave them some coloring books and crayons and drew pictures with them. After that we went ahead with our days work as the day before. On this day we decided to re-paint all the swings etc. in the playground of the school. This was again a little problematic as we had to use special paints that would cover metal properly. But we managed to overcome that pretty easily and went ahead with our work. When i finished painting the swings i was assigned i went around helping with the other swings and helping with the mural again.
Then Camie and I decided to make a sort of a mural on the back wall of the school as well. So we got together and thought of something. Camie had the idea of us painting numbers and alphabets using our hand prints which was quite a fun task. Once we were done we were quite proud of the success of the idea. Then we went on to help the others again.As the day wore on we kept completing all the tasks we had been assigned and a few a extra jobs. The day went pretty much the same way as the first. The basic design of the main mural was completed on this day
The days work started with us finishing up all the small jobs that were left around the school. Final touches were made to all the things we painted. Some things had to be painted again because the paint was already chipping off. We worked long and hard in the heat only to be foiled by a sudden rainstorm that we thought would ruin all our hard work. Thankfully nothing was too badly affected by the rain though final touches had to be made again. It was a fun experience scampering around in the rain trying to save the equipment we could and cover up the newly painted swings. I worked collaboratively with everyone and tried helping wherever i could.
 |
| Men at work |
We went back to the hotel and rested for a while before setting out in the evening for some swimming and a jog on the beach. Karl Camie and I jogged the whole length of the beach to get fit for our upcoming sports tournaments. Karl and i went a little overboard and decided to sprint a few times which was extremely hard to do on sand! We still tried our best and were completely exhausted by the end of it but we were happy we got a good workout and felt fit. That night there was a small dance party organised for us before we left for Colombo the next day. All in all it was a good trip.
I accomplished all the goals i had set for the trip before we went there and many more. I also was able to fulfill all of those 8 CAS criteria that the IB has set. Therefore it was a very rewarding trip for me and i felt like i had actually made a difference in the lives of a few less fortunate people.
After Week Without Walls
The rest of January went by in a blur with a lot of football training and practice matches as well as a little community service in the Cleft lip and pallet group where i was made leader for the next couple of semesters. Now it was my job to recruit new members and lead the project by organizing fund-raisers and planning trips to the hospital to visit the affected children.
The month of January was quite a busy month in terms of CAS as i managed to have a lot of Creativity, Action and Service all combined into one month through a lot of different activities.
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