During
the Mara trip I learned so much about myself, my community and my peers. On the first day
when we arrived I was actually surprised that the camp looked so beautiful and nice especially since
on the way to the camp we passed terrain which
was barren dry and looked a bit dull and dusty, but beautiful in its own
way. On the way to the camps we stopped
at the school and we were mobbed by little kids and it felt so great being
loved so much by the kids and I felt like a celebrity because I could feel that
they were really excited to see us. Every student from ISK has at least 3 kids who
would come up to them with their joy
filled eyes reaching out and searching for your fingers to hang on to. I was so
glad that we got to help these kids by building a foundation for their school. I
was very excited to learn that there were showers and really nice tents with
nice beds. Even though I wouldn’t have minded sleeping in a sleeping bag or
having no showers, I was still very great full for all the facilities provided
for us. In the evening we played
interactive games with the facilitators and during these games I got to learn more
about the people on our trip even facilitators. The games were really fun
because we had never played such creative games before and since they were so
new to us they were more exciting to
play. At first most people were really shy to play the games such as Hayuken,
Bungalow and the name game but after a while we all got into it. For dinner we got a taste of the marvelous
chefs fantastic food which was the best
I had every tasted on all the
intercultural trips I’ve ever been on.
On the second day we went back to
the school to start putting in the foundation for the school. We were out in
the sun for about three hours doing our various tasks. It felt really good to
be doing something for this community. After the tiring day in the sun we went
back to camp and we were given free time to do as we pleased. Talash. Marie and
I decided to go play touch rugby with three of the facilitators (Kate, Joe, and
James and Mr. Deroch). The game was very intense but really fun because I had
never really played touch rugby before . I was on a team with Talash, Marie and
James but after a few minutes Marie left us while Mr. Deroch joined in our
sweaty and intense game. In my opinion
we should have had more players to help us because Po and Joe may have been
only two players but they were way better than us, but I felt that we tried our
best and were pretty good considering their size and strength. The night time was when we always got serious
and started talking about issues which people of our generation should be
engaged in and concerned about. Throughout the time in the Mara we have had
heated discussions about issues and I was really glad we had those discussions
because I got to know other opinions on certain issues .
Throughout the rest of the days we did
various activities such as visit a clinic which the Me to We foundation helped
build and start and it was well equipped with the medical supplies that a
normal clinic in the city would probably have.
It was great to hear from the hospital that they had never lost a life which
was something exciting to hear about. They had only been running for about a
year and it was built because it was more convenient for the citizens who lived
many kilometers away to have a nearby hospital.
Then we went over to an all-girls boarding school which was really
nicely built with many buildings overlooking the town below. It was a beautiful
campus and it was up to high quality standards which made me feel really happy and a bit jealous that they
lived in such a nice place. I was happy
because these girls were also getting a great education despite how far away
their school was but they were well equipped with supplies and a chance to have
a great education. Then we went to the school to finish putting up the
foundation so in total we had two visits to the school. On one of the days
after building we had an option of going to back to the camp early and making
beaded jewelry with two Masai women which was a great experience and I learned
how hard it actually is to make all the beaded jewelry found in the Masai
market especially.
Throughout this experience I learned to be
able to speak up and say my opinions which I was very shy to do in the
beginning even though I may have not talked as MUCH as other people I was still
proud of myself for being brave and comfortable enough to speak up. But the
only reason I was able to speak up was because of the facilitators, they made it
very comfortable to speak up because they were so caring, funny and nice to all
of us and no one’s opinion was frowned upon. Throughout the day we would play
cards with each other and that is how we got to know all the facilitators and
other students. This Mara trip was the BEST intercultural trip I’ve ever had
because while having fun we were also helping the community by building the
foundation to the schools, learning about the Masai women’s daily tasks and we
also talked about our world today and current issues. By far this was the BEST
trip I’ve ever had and I was glad I got
to spend it with my roommates in room 4 and with the facilitators which made
the time spent at MARA worth while J
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