Runda feeding Program

 On the 25/Sep/11 at 10 am I went to Java house to wait for the rest of the members of Interact who signed up to help out with the distribution of food to the kids in Runda. When the teachers and all the participants arrived we got into a car and we were off to the area where we had to give the food to the kids and adults.  This Runda feeding program always occurred at the end of the month on Sunday and our job is to help organize the food. It was located at a dusty area where there was a cabana thing located in the center where the food was located. At first we had to break the bread, bananas, and to separate all the products such as the mandazees, juices, milk bread, candy into plates which we sent into a room where they had some injured and sick people in beds.                              

            Soon afterwards there was a large line coming towards the little cabana where we were seated in little sections where each person had a job of distributing one item of a specific food to each person who came by. It was very heart breaking to witness the really long line of kids who were pouring in with a small bag where all their food was squished into. Some children were carrying other little children on their back and also carrying to bags. It was really sad watching this and I wanted to do more than hand them a small carton of juice. For about an hour the line of people from 1 year olds to eventually adults kept appearing and it seemed as if the line would never end. The line started from the entrance of the compound all the way to our cabana where we were located. There were some cheeky kids who wanted more than one of the juice cartons I was distributing but I felt bad not giving them more because it looked like they really needed more than we were giving them. There were other kids who were really cute and sweet, they were really shy and very polite which made me want to give them more then  I was supposed to .After about one and a half hour we ran out of juice so helped out with the cookies and soon they also finished so I went to the other side of the cabana and helped distribute their cookies and by that time the line was almost finished so we were told to give them a lot of the item we had, so I  gave them handfuls of cookies but I felt bad for the kids who arrived at the beginning of the line because they were only allowed a few cookies while these people who came towards the end were given  a bunch of cookies, but  I guess I understood why this happened. At the end of the day  I was really glad I came to help out with this even though it was really sad to see all of these really hungry people  and I was also really amazed at the amount of people who came for food. I always knew there were hungry people in the world but you never really get affected until you witness them in real life.

Food stand Athletic Council

            On 24/Sep/11 from 10am to 3pm I was at the school selling hotdogs, hamburgers, candy and snacks to the kids who came for the 6 aside football tournament and the girls volleyball tournament. At first I was managing the orders then I started to manage the money which I didn’t like so I was in charge of putting together the hot dogs  and the hamburgers for the customers, and we had a lot of customers which was great because it meant we were probably getting a good income. At one point of the day there was only Chase and I who were at the food stand and all the other athletic council members left and it was the lunch rush and it was very hectic because there were only two of us against about 20 hungry, tired and sweaty people looking for food so at one point Mr. Morris came to help us and then eventually other members of the athletic council came to help out and it was back under control. From that point on the customers started wavering thin. Then we ran out of hotdogs and then soon it was hamburgers so we had to only sell the snacks and by that time the tournament was almost over and we started to serve the few hamburgers that were left over to the referees. By the time it was 3 we started to clean up and we went home. During this day I learned how tiring it is to run a stand and I also learned that running a stand isn’t a two or three man job you needed about four or five people to help out or it gets chaotic.

Athletic Council Meeting

On the 21/sep/11 the members of athletic council got together at the Muthaiga Mall after school to talk about how we were planning on advertising and promoting for each sports event. We came up with some really good ideas that would help towards spirit week which transformed into spirit year. For every student from a certain grade who game after school to cheer for our teams would get points toward spirit ‘year’ and it was called spirit ‘year’ because this applied to the whole school year. This new idea was great because it meant that the points that each grade received depends on how well the grade participates in the games the whole year and not only through the one week that it was usually on. We also came up with some games that we could play which could draw in more viewers so that they would stay after school, such as eating contests, obstacle course, the slip and slide and karaoke. The advertising ideas were to make posters or movies and announcements so that kids are aware of the games and the points that they can receive if they come. This day was very productive because we were able to organize little groups to come up with the ideas I mentioned early of how to make people interested in the games and each group was in charge of how to advertise the game and the certain activities that would go on before the games. The new spitit year idea is great because it allows our school to be more spirited and overall it is a fun activity.

Basketball Tournamnet at Rosslyn

On the 17/Sep/11 there was a tournament at Rosslyn. It was our first tournament of the year and last year we lost really early in the day after our third game, and this year we wanted to go all the way to the finals.  Our first game was against Rosslyn and we beat them and from our first game onwards we kept winning until we reached the semi-finals where we re-played Rosslyn to get into the finals.  Before the semi-finals we had a break and I felt that because of the break it affected us and when we went to play Rosslyn again we were doing terribly!! First of all I think we felt as if this game would be an easy win because we already beat them but as soon as the game started we had to grind it out and by the first 10 minutes the score was only 2-2, and we were playing really badly. And for some reason I couldn’t score ANY of my layups they just kept missing! I was soo frustrated, and we all started to become frantic when we realized we were struggling to score so we started turning the ball over and messing up a lot! But during one of the time outs Mr. Quinet convinced us to calm down and slow it down and just execute the plays without rushing it and we did. In the end the score was 10-8 and we only won by two points. That game was really nerve racking and straight after that intense game we had to play RVA ‘a’ team!

We were all so tired and nervous because the previous years they were one of our greatest competitors. As soon as the game started they went out in full speed and ran us over, and for some reason we just froze up and kept turning the ball over and they kept getting steals and running right past us. At one point in the game when we got the rebound and we were going to score I was running towards the basket and somehow my leg got tangled with one of the RVA players and I feel on my ankle and I think I sprained it so I had to go out. It really hurt and I’ve never been really injured in basketball before, usually I would get a scab or a stubbed finger but never an injury where my ankle gets swollen, so I had to sit out and get it tapped. I felt so bad leaving the game but I had to and at this point we were losing by a lot and I felt so defeated and deflated, but after I walked on my ankle a bit more I insisted that I should play , so I got  back in the game.

A few minutes later the whistle blew and we lost by a lot. From the start RVA seemed to want to win more then we did they were mentally prepared whilst we were nervous from the beginning which caused us to play really badly. It was a very disappointing game but we learned that we needed to work on so much more before we played RVA again and as I said earlier we could only get better and somehow we had to find a way to relax when we played against RVA instead of becoming frantic and unorganized. During this game I realized how much more we needed to work to be able to look and feel calm and composed so that we could show our full potential in  a game.

Muthaiga Mall Athletic council get together

            On the 21/sep/11 the members of athletic council got together at the Muthaiga Mall after school to talk about how we were planning on advertising and promoting for each sports event. We came up with some really good ideas that would help towards spirit week which transformed into spirit year. For every student from a certain grade who game after school to cheer for our teams would get points toward spirit ‘year’ and it was called spirit ‘year’ because this applied to the whole school year. This new idea was great because it meant that the points that each grade received depends on how well the grade participates in the games the whole year and not only through the one week that it was usually on. We also came up with some games that we could play which could draw in more viewers so that they would stay after school, such as eating contests, obstacle course, the slip and slide and karaoke. The advertising ideas were to make posters or movies and announcements so that kids are aware of the games and the points that they can receive if they come. This day was very productive because we were able to organize little groups to come up with the ideas I mentioned early of how to make people interested in the games and each group was in charge of how to advertise the game and the certain activities that would go on before the games. The new spitit year idea is great because it allows our school to be more spirited and overall it is a fun activity.

Basketball Game at Rosslyn

On the 8/Sep/ 11 our varsity basketball team, Junior and senior varsity soccer team,and the tennis teams played Rosslyn at Rosslyn.
   It was so nerve racking because it was our first game of the year, and in the previous years Rosslyn has been one of our greatest competitors.  As soon as we stepped into the gym we got pumped and we started warming up and going full speed so we could be well stretched out for the game. As soon as the whistle was blown we were ready to go and by the second half it was 16-0 and we were winning. From the beginning we were doing a descent job of getting the rebounds and getting shots up even though we still had a lot to polish up on before the end of the season. But so far we did a good job (even though the Rosslyn team wasn't as strong as it use to be). By the third quarter we fouled so many times that they got bonus's and the score was 04- 22 and then at the end of the game we won 31-08.  This first game proved that we had some pretty confident and good shooters , we were a strong ('beast') team, we had a we rounded team and we had a good hight advantage.
    This game allowed me to see that we are capable of doing really well for this ISL league if we worked hard enough and are focused.

Interact-Bonding Meeting

Interact bonding

On Saturday 3/Sep/11 there was an Interact meeting which was for all the people who were accepted to join Interact. In the beginning we learned about what our goals for the first semester were and who the heads of each committee was. When we finished we were  split into our committees and those committees were split into two because there were too many people, so then  one area of  the room would have two separate tables and both would have the same committee groups but for the games we were competing against each other for the time being.

One of the bonding game options was to build a Lego tower with all the pieces the fastest and the tallest. We had to estimate the time we thought we would build it in and how many pieces we could use, and every person in the group had to be assigned a segment that they would complete. The second game option was to figure out which patient out of 6 should live depending on their circumstance, and when the group choose who would live they had to give a reason why. I choose to do the Lego tower, and our group built a pretty tall  Lego tower but since we didn’t understand the rules properly we wrote down that it would take us 10 minutes to build it when in reality it took us less then a minute. We were disappointed when we came last because the judges were judging us on how close our estimated times was. Even though we would have won if it was judged on how fast we built our tower. I felt that we were a pretty good group even though we misunderstood the instructions.  We were able to assign certain specific Lego pieces to each person who could build it the fastest and we were able to communicate well with each other.

The point of the Lego game was to show us how in certain situations in Interact we will have to assign each person a job and a  responsibility and each member has to contribute to  execute the project correctly. If it is done correctly then we are capable of creating something good with the help of every team member. The other game was to teach us that choosing one person to live would have many disagreements because everyone has a different opinion  but in the end they had to choose someone and that’s how Interact club works, many people have different opinions but in the end you have to work together to solve a problem.

            When it was around 12:45 we had a lunch break and we our group was sent out last because we lost but we felt that it was unfair since we didn’t understand the rules properly, but it was ok because we thought we were winners inside and we did our best. J  After the short lunch break we went outside to play another game. The object of the game was to have our separate committees; service, finance, international and club.  We competed against each other in a potato running game. We had to put a potato on a spoon and run to the other side of the field then around a chair and back to the starting point the fastest without dropping the potato. It was fun but unfortunately the 1^st service group lost but the 2^nd service group came 2^nd and I felt proud of us!

            After the game we went back inside and we got into our whole service group and we got to know everyone and we talked about what things the service committee does and what our goals for this year were. By the end of this I became the secutary of attendance. After our small get together it was the pinning ceremony time. We all got up and were given our new pins and finally we were officially initiated into the club, it felt good. Even though I thought that the pins were really small and I was pretty sure I would lose it, and if we did we would have to pay about 500 sh. and  if we didn’t bring one to the meeting we would have to pay 50 sh. We finished around one and I was excited to be part of this club which does so much service and interactive things with our community.

Global Issues Network

1/sep/11 I went to the second Global Issues Meeting and there were a lot of people compared to the amount that we had last year, it was exciting to see that there were more people who were interested in Global issues this year. We talked about the goals we had for this year which was to execute the Hunger Banquet (which is a new addition to our club), we also wanted to coordinate a trip to Shangalia which is a place where they take care of kids from ages 8 to 17 and teach them how to do many things such as dance and play instruments. During this meeting we were split up into our committees and I choose to be part of the service committee because I like helping people so in the service committee I also choose to be the secutary.  At the end of this meeting it was exciting to see how far GIN has come since last year, with new additions to the club and new ideas and projects we are contributing to the club. After this meeting I was excited for this year GIN club.