Interact: OVC Party

I devoted this Saturday to the OVC Christmas party hosted at school by Interact for the nearby school for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. From 10am to 12pm, children ranging from toddlers to teenagers came to ISK to receive a full breakfast and to participate in the activities we supervised. Because I signed up for helping paint the mural, I wasn't able to directly interact with the kids, but when I passed by the pool area or the playground I could see the light in their eyes and the smiles that shined bright on their faces.

I spent the majority of my time working on painting the Interact mural with Moira, Cindy, Wulan, Mamadou, and a guest artist who helped supervise and add suggestions. We had previously met a couple weeks before to outline our design on the panel in chalk, and we were worried the Kenyan rains would wash away our progress before we could get around to painting. We followed Cindy's plan that she sketched on a sheet of paper; however, we encountered several challenges because of the scale of our new canvas. The panel's size forced us to reposition several elements and cut out others completely. The sun beat down on us, which was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because that meant it wasn't raining and it was also perfect weather to swim in, but it was a curse because it was hot. Very hot. There was barely any protection from the scorching rays, and I forgot to wear sunscreen. I love painting, so I ignored the heat, and I really enjoyed helping with the mural. I do realize I am a slight perfectionist, so I did spend a lot of time on just one area of the panel, which is not very efficient considering the scale of our project. The time flew by, and before I knew it, it was already one o'clock and time to meet up for the Interact social.

A challenge we had to overcome as a group was that there was a miscommunication in the reservation of the pool area, so we had to share the pool with the community of swimmers who frequent the area over the weekend. This didn't cause a major problem and was easily dealt with; however, we had to move the Interact social to a different area. I admire how swiftly and effectively the club dealt with the situation and adapted to what was available.

Another source of improvement for the next event would be to meet as a whole group in one area and finalize the plan for the day. By the time I arrived at 9:30, Interact members had already split into several groups and communication was fractured, so several people were confused as to what they were supposed to be doing. For example, I heard the mural painting would be rescheduled for another day when I arrived, but when I talked to Moira who had to talk to Tamara, it turns out the mural activity would still be taking place. It is important to keep active links of communication so nobody is misinformed and we are still able to retain a high level of organization.

I also heard from Ms. Bock that the school sent 20 extra kids over the expected amount, so the kitchen staff had to scramble to provide food to make up for the unexpected shortage they had. Even though we'd love to have all the kids attend the party, there are limits to the amount we can cater for and supervise. Next time it would be important to get an accurate estimate of the number of kids attending as well as set strict limits to the number we can receive.

Because of my interaction with these kids from OVC, I am extremely grateful for the opportunities I have at my fingertips. I have a healthy, loving family to support me, food on my table that provides me with a balanced diet, a wardrobe of clothes, my own roof over my head and room to myself, and I have the opportunity to attend a rigorous school with a beautiful campus. Many of these kids lack these opportunities, and it made me realize how fortunate I am when I saw the kids ecstatic over being served breakfast by others at proper tables, as well as seeing the joy in their eyes when they picked out a new pair of clothes to take back with them.

Yoga

This week's yoga session was fairly different from our previous meetings. Today Vinaya focused on creating a more energetic session filled with more active poses. We started off with introducing ourselves and stating our spirit animal, all while beating against our chests to every syllable. I won't lie, I found this very odd at first, but the longer I talked and felt the resonance throughout my chest with every beat, the more soothing it became.

It's amazing to know how much you can learn about someone through the animal they chose to represent their spirit. The responses ranged from soaring birds to spitting llamas and grazing cows. I chose a cat to represent my inner self because I long to just take a relaxing nap in the sun, especially with all the work that has been piling up thanks to all my IB classes. I learned this new fact about myself because I never really gave much thought as to how I would represent my spirit. I feel like I gained a deeper connection with who I really am now that I'm devoting more time to myself. I'll now try to set aside a few minutes each day to discover what's underneath all the layers I built to shield myself and to think about who I am as an individual versus what I want society to see me as.

Next, Vinaya introduced us to laughter yoga. We started off with forced giggling and chuckling, but after a few minutes it turned into full-fledged laughter and we only stopped when our sides were heaving and we were struggling to regain our breath. Through this exercise I learned the true importance of laughter in our lives. Since senior year is so stressful and serious, it's important to release all this tension and there's no better way to do it than through laughter (or ice cream).

Vinaya then moved on to challenging us with more aggressive yoga positions.  When she told us to do a handstand against the wall, I thought to myself that there's no way I'll be able to do something so physically demanding and supple. I surprised myself when, less than two minutes later, I was upside-down on my hands. Granted, I wasn't able to hold this pose very long because of my lack of upper-body strength, but I did do it. Slowly, I'm begin to have more faith in my abilities and a greater willingness to try poses that are outside of my comfort zone. There was one pose, however, I could not do because I was worried I would end up snapping my back. I know my limits, and I reached them when we had to bend over backwards (literally). Perhaps in the future I will build up my tolerance to bending my back without the fear of hurting myself, but during this past session I did not want to risk a back injury.

We ended the session with a peaceful pose lying on our backs and feeling like we're sinking into the ground. There's no greater stress-relief than yoga and I hope to incorporate it into my daily schedule instead of just once a week. I would like to see more exercise-oriented poses to strengthen my core, but I do like the mix of relaxing and stretching that we're currently doing.

Interact: Mural Preparation and Hunger Games Premiere

Moira, Cindy, Cian, and I met up after school last Friday to set up the outline for the Mural painting that was scheduled for that weekend. Cindy sketched the design for the mural and we worked to transfer that onto the panel we selected. It required a lot of teamwork to finish the basic outline within a couple hours, but by then it had started to rain. We were worried the rain would wash away our progress, so we tried using a plastic sheet to cover our panel; however, it was not large enough and it was too difficult to stick in place so we decided to leave it as it was and up to chance. We figured the panel's placement would protect it enough from the weather since it was sheltered in a corner.

When we arrived on Saturday morning for the scheduled mural painting activity with the OVC kids, it was pouring. The weather was miserable and we were forced to reschedule the activity for another day. Unfortunately, there was a lack of communication and quite a few Interact members arrived at school, only to find no one and wait around until eventually turning back home. Looking back on it now, it would have been beneficial to post something on the Facebook group page or send a message out to everyone involved in order to prevent that from happening. You can't predict the future, and it's always good to have a backup plan and a willingness to be flexible, especially with outdoor activities.

For the past couple of weeks, Interact members have been trying to sell tickets to the Hunger Games: Mockingjay movie premiere at Sarit centre. This is really challenging, considering the tickets are 1000Ksh each, which a lot of students find quite expensive even though the money will go to a good cause. Each Interact member was given 6 tickets to try to sell to High School and upper Middle School. At first, we were meant to sell the tickets and have the student fill out a parental consent form as well. Eventually, the board realized this would be almost near impossible to manage and check who signed and returned the forms, so the form only had to be completed by Interact members who will be attending the event. I managed to sell four out of my six tickets, and I'm extremely grateful to my friends who tried to help me sell my tickets.

Unfortunately, I was not be able to attend the event due to lack of transportation, but I heard the movie premiere was a great success and we had a huge turnout. I was worried at first that not a lot of people would attend, based on how ticket sales were going, but a lot of people ended up buying tickets at the last minute until we virtually sold out. If I were to redo this event, I personally would have chosen The Hobbit as the movie to premiere because it would appeal to more adults as well as the High School population, but that's just my opinion. The drawback is that it would have been scheduled for a Friday close (or during) exam week, so it was a good idea to choose a popular movie that would be released well in advance.

This activity made me realize that marketing is hard work, and it requires a lot of organization and a certain amount of charisma in order to sell tickets. Moira designed the posters advertizing the event, and I helped edit them and add any final touches. I feel like I'm becoming an integral part because of the responsibility this club demands, and I'm glad to help in any way I can.

Jazz Band: Concert

Tonight was the High School Fall Concert for ISK's choir, HS band, and Jazz Band. We've spent the past couple of months preparing pieces for this concert, including: Blue Bossa arr. by Mark Taylor, Locked Out of Heaven arr. by Paul Murtha, and What's Your Poblano? by Mike Collins-Dowden.

There were several challenges leading up to this performance. For example, because the meetings are before school on Wednesdays and Fridays, several people are unable to make most meetings, which severely limits what we are able to accomplish during our practices. Unfortunately, this can't be helped because of people's busy schedules, so a lot of our communication occurs on the Facebook group page and the pieces must be practiced individually at home. Finding the time to practice was also a struggle. My heavy work load prevents me from devoting a lot of time to practicing the clarinet, but I try to devote at least 20 minutes to practice every few days. Also, because Jazz Band is only able to meet twice a week, there's a limited time available to cover fairly advanced pieces, and Mr. Ligon decided to cut out a piece because we weren't ready to perform it. I found Blue Bossa a particularly difficult piece as well because of its funky rhythms and rapid shifts in octaves, and I feel that we could have done a more refined job if we had a few more practices. All in all, though, I believe our performance went fairly well. It went by quickly because we only performed three pieces, but I enjoyed being on stage and sharing my passion for music with the other band members.

I find Jazz Band particularly challenging to me because I am normally not comfortable performing in front of people, especially when it comes to improvisation or challenging pieces. I know during the past practices I have kept to myself and shied away from any opportunities of improvisation or solos, so I hope to build up the self-confidence to grab those opportunities one day. 

Now that the Fall Concert is over, we will be performing Christmas-themed pieces at Village Market on December 12th. This leaves us with only a couple weeks to prepare them, but I'm looking forward to the early-morning meetings before the mayhem of semester exams begin.

Photography

So far in photography we spend most of our meetings looking at and critiquing other club members' photographs. This is nice because we get a lot of feedback as well as advice on what could be improved or altered. We are also preparing a portfolio this year of our work, so we can focus on specific techniques to provide an overlying theme to our pictures.

I like photography because it gives me an opportunity to express a little piece of myself in every photograph I showcase. I also enjoy playing around with camera settings to create different artistic effects in my photos. Photography is my new creative release, and one day I may use what I've been learning throughout my time in this club to share a message with a global audience.

Shanti and Erik are doing a great job at leading this club; they come up with new ideas or activities for each meeting as well as new areas of focus. One improvement could be to set a specific task to accomplish for a following meeting because at the moment it is very general. My role in this club is as a general secretary/organization helper. I take the attendance and help out with anything by providing another pair of hands and an opinion. I'm glad I'm able to have an active role in the organization of this club because I feel like my contributions help and make a difference.

Right now we're working on showcasing our achievements at the art exhibition taking place in a couple weeks. Each member is sending in a photograph they were particular impressed with taking as well as their camera settings. Our photographs will be displayed on a panel to anyone who passes by, so we will be able to share what we are capable of. I feel that each photograph has a message, and it's important to be able to reach an audience.