Basketball game Against RVA

On the 13/sep/11 we left school early to go paly against RVA for basketball football and the tennis. This was our second game and we were playing RVA ‘B’ team which was nerve racking because we knew that the RVA ‘a’ team was pretty good and we didn’t know how good the ‘b’ team would be so we were a bit nervous but excited. When the game started we were a bit disorganized even though we knew we could do soo much better because RVA ‘b’ team wasn’t that good, but somehow by the first half we were only winning by about 4 points. We needed to pull it together and start playing properly and we did start playing a bit better by the third quarter.  Even though we won 38- 15 we all felt that we could have done WAY better in our execution of plays and defense. Our coach even said it would have been better to lost because of the way we were playing and if it was a better team we would have been destroyed because of the result of our overall playing. I felt that we did do really badly but luckily (hopefully) since it is only the beginning of the year we can only get better and learn from our mistakes.

PTO Picinic-Ball Toss

On the 10/sep/11 there was the PTO welcome back picnic and from 8 am-1pm I was attending to the athletic council ball toss. It was really fun and exhausting to attend to people rushing to play this game that looks simple but was actually pretty hard.  The point if the game was to stand behind a line and toss a ball into a hole 3 times and if you get the ball in 3/3 times you would win t-shirts and footballs, if  you got 2/3 you would receive packs of chips and candy and so on the less balls you threw into the whole the smaller the prize. In the morning there were very few people who came to try the game but then when Luka one of the boys basketball players tried to play and missed almost every single time other people wanted to play and beat him especially because he was a basketball player and he couldn’t even get the ball into the hole while little children were able to make it. It was really funny to see this happen, but at this time there were a rush of kids wanting to play, even though it felt a bit chaotic it was exhilarating to have all these kids wanting to play this game which was very deceiving.

By the afternoon many people failed and they kept coming back because they were determined to get more then one ball into the whole. It was fun watching them try to succeed. Even though it was tiring to try and get everything organized especially when all of a sudden there was a rush of kids who wanted to play. At one point during the rush of kids we ran out of candy and we didn’t know what to do because Mr. Quinet our supervisor wasn’t available and wasn’t picking up his phone and we had kids who wanted there prize so I had to use our money to go by some candy from another stall, and as soon I bought the candy with our money he cam back with candy! I was so annoyed and frustrated but relieved to see that it all worked out. By the end of the day both Binoy and I were exhausted because we worked the whole day with no breaks. I was proud of my self and I realized how much fun I had running the stand which had a lot of customers.

At the end of the day after we packed up and counted the money all the hard work paid of because we got 17,000 sh which is a lot of money and I was surprised we raised that much money but it was a success and I never would have thought that the a small game like the ball toss would draw so many customers but since it’s so deceiving it drew in a lot of eager children.  Overall I learned how to manage a game and how to keep the place more or less organized when it became hectic. At the end my arms and back were exhausted from bending over to be at the level of the kids, I was happy I ran the stand because I learned how much I enjoyed helping little kids play this game and witnessing their happiness and determination to succeed made me happy to be part of athletic council during the PTO picnic.

Interact Bonding Day

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.

RVA basketball game at ISK

            The day had come on the 11th of October where we had to play RVA again outside of the tournament at Rosslyn and we were ready. This was the game we were practicing for and I was very nervous and excited and we ahd nothing to lose.  As soon as the ball was tossed up into the air my heart started raisning and as it hit evelyns hand towards one side I was ready to play. But unfortunetlyu the other team got the ball and scored the first shot and from then on it went down hill. By the second quarter we were losing by a lot and at time out we were all disappointed and I felt like were weren’t going to catch up but after some inspirational words from our coach Mr. Quinet when the third quarter started we were able to catch up and every point they scored we also scored and it was exciting and this game was the first team we played which was up to our match.We were abel to tier them out and show them what we really ahd to offer.  They were our a greatest opponent.  When the forth quarter began the score board was alternating between our team in the lead and their team. In the last 15 seconds they scored and they were up by two but unfortunately we couldn’t catch up in such little time and the score ended up being 43-45. It was a great improvement compared to the last time we played against them in the Rosslyn tournament.. I was still a little disappointed because we were so close to beating them but  in the end I felt proud of our team because we were able to show them how much we can bring to the table.

Basketball game against Rosslyn

We played another home game against Rosslyn on the 10^th of October and I was so excited because my leg was better and I was allowed to play after missing two other games one was against Agakan on the 6^th and the  other was against Hillcrest on the 7^th. I felt so useless for those games and both Nandi and I  were our teams personal cheerleaders while our team did a great job of defeating both teams very successfully. But today I got a chance to play since my leg healed and I was so excited and very nervous to play again.  During this game I got a feel of how to play again after missing out on so many games and I realized how much it sucked to be injured and how great and refreshing it was to get back into the game. At the end of the day we won an di felt proud of myself and our team and I was ready to play RVA again in a few days.

Hunger Banquet

            The Hunger Banquet is an event that the Global Issues Network organized in order to raise awareness about the all the starving children in Somalia and on the 8th of October we held the Hunger Banquet.

       On this day at 5 o’clock I went to go and help add the finishing touches. When I went inside the place already looked beautiful.  All we had to do was fold all the schedule's for the event  and put the small decorations. Then at 6:30 the event began and as the people walked into the Multie purpose room they had to get a piece of paper which had a name of person and a short paragraph about their life and their social and economic status. There were three categories the person could be put into. There was low income, middle income and high income. The low income people would have to sit in the floor and they only received water and injera, the middle income people received water in a nice glass some injera with a sauce while the high income received a full meal. The purpose of this was to raise awareness of how many Africans are livening and the seating arrangement allowed the audience to recognize how unfair some of the situations many Africans were faced with. During the event there were many performances, there was a dance done by an Ethiopian dance group and a talk by the Somalia ambassador and people from the red cross.

            The night was a great success with an auction and many participants. We were able  to raise awareness . I was very proud of our club for accomplishing this event very flawlessly. At the end of the night I was part of the clean-up group so I stayed afterwards to cleaning up the mess. But the pity was that the people who were placed in the low income including myself because even the people part of the GIN were given the tickets at random. But unfortunately many of  the low income group who were only given injera without any sauce and  they didn’t eat their food so I felt as if a lot of it went to waste, and I thought that we could  have probably given the low income group samosas which everyone likes at least but I understood whey they were only given injera because it also represents how the low income group also didn’t get to eat what they wanted and most likely to eat the same foods everyday if they were lucky enough to even get food. But the food didn’t go to total waste because we gave some of the left overs to the staff. Overall I thought this event was a great success and it did rais awareness to the people in a very creative way and I’m pretty sure that the people who went will never forget this event . In the end all the money we raised was given to the red cross.  And they were very grateful and I also felt happy for bettering the life of others by organizing and participating in the event.

First Trip to Shangalia 5th/Oct/11

On the 5/Oct/11 all the people who are part of the service group in Global Issues Network went to Shangalia for the first time. We were all excited because we wanted to go and help out and to see how this place was like. When we got there it looked a bit like a compound where someone would live because there were clothes hanging and drying outside and then right in front of the door was a stage with a really nice drawing of people performing. They introduced us to some of the kids and they told us that Shangalia is a place where they take care of kids ages from 5 to 17 and they [provide the kids a place to stay and they teach them performing arts such as dancing and playing instruments.

            Before we went to Shangalia we all signed up for various activities that we would do with the kids and I choose to do library. So after the introduction we were split up and we went to our sections and I went to the library with Chloe and we got five kids in a small room packed with different types of books from educational books to picture books to novels.  Since it was our first time at  Shangalia we didn’t really know what to do with the kids so we decided to ask them to choose a book and read it, after about 10 minutes of them reading we decided that we should read the boosk together. So they put their favorite books in the middle and we choose a book to read together. Every person in the circle would take a turn reading a page.  It was only three of the kids who were 11 years or older who were participating while the other two kids were just looking at pictures and taking out all the books they found.

          I felt as if it was a bit disorganized because Chloe and I didn’t know what to do with all the kids so after about an hour of reading we decided to go outside and think of some games to play I think that the next time we go to Shangalia the first thing we should have done was play some games so that we could get to know each other and then we would go and start reading and doing the other activities. After we played outside for a few minutes we all gathered at the performing stage and the kids from Shangalia danced for us and then their band including one of our students from ISK also played the trumpet. Afterwards they asked Reggie from our school to break dance while the other kids watched. I could tell how excited they were to watch this. They were all so eager to learn how to do his moves. At the end of the day I really enjoyed playing with the kids, and even though our first trip wasn’t the most organized I still looked forwards to going again.

Peponi Basketball game home

             On 3/Oct/11 we had our first game at home against Peponi. It was very exciting because it was our first game at home.  The game didn’t start off well because we weren’t executing things properly even though we were winning, but we were only winning by about 4 points. I know we could have done way better. By the third quarter somehow again I sprained my ankle but this time I fell on it even harder than earlier, and just when my ankle was healing and the swelling was going down my leg  got sprained AGAIN. I was so annoyed but the pain was overpowering my disappointment. So for the rest of the game I sat out and iced it. By the time the game ended we won and I felt proud of my team for stepping it up by the second half and playing better but I was mad at myself for getting injured again and this time it was worse and that meant I probably wouldn’t play again on Thursday against West Nairobi school or on Friday against Hillcrest.

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.

Athletic council Food stand

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.