Run For Their Lives (5k Run for Cancer)

Today was the 5k For Their Lives run at Independence Square in Colombo. RFTL is a charity run held annually in Colombo in aid of the Maharagama Cancer Institute. It's a fundraiser of the Rotaract Club of Colombo Uptown (See more at http://www.facebook.com/runfortheirlives). I had three goals for the run 1. Finish under 30 minutes 2. Don't stop running and 3. Don't slow down at the finish. Discipline in pushing myself actively has been somewhat of a challenge for me so I made these goals in order to push myself and push myself out of my comfort zone and undertake a (somewhat) new challenge. I love to run and it has always been a passion of mine but I never really set goals for myself. I set these small, yet important goals, in order to feel more accomplished in my run and run to the very best of my ability. 

Before the run my father and I walked around for about a mile around Independence Square, to warm up as well as see the area. Later we met up with some friends from the American Embassy and we warmed up before the run.

When the run started my dad and I started slow in order to set a good pace as well as avoid being trampled by the runners who decided to sprint the entire trail. While I was running I felt really good about keeping my goals up. About 3k in was when I started to feel the pressure of the run and started to slow, but didn't stop running. My dad helped me to run the rest of the way but while I was starting to slow down more I remembered why I was running, and who I was running for. I thought of all the people I was running for who didn't have the option to quit like I did. They don't have the choice to stop or slow down. Their lives are constant battles; this realization helped me to push forward. I finished strong with a sprint to the finish. I felt accomplished because not only did I run just to run and complete my goals; I ran for people who are going through a lot of pain and suffering. When I realized the importance of the run I felt like I ran faster, harder, and better. 

 

After the run my dad and I went to have a big breakfast in order to relax our legs. I felt very good after the run and I felt like I fulfilled my goals. I didn't stop running, I made it back in just under 30 minutes, and I sprinted to the finish without a problem. 

                               

                                                        Obviously I was still feeling really good when I got home...

Helping Hands

Helping Hands: First Meeting

Goals:

• Work collaboratively with others (supervisors, children etc).
• Take on a new challenge of working independently with the children, and overcoming a slight language barrier with the Sri Lankan students.
• Take initiative when planning activities.
• Practice communication skills when initiating activities with the children. 

     My first meeting with the Helping Hands group went very well. Helping Hands is a program that teaches less fortunate children to read English as well as provide them with the company, companionship, and services they might be lacking. The group works to provide the children with a fun learning environment as well as the opportunity to learn and interact with other children. I found that I settled in very easily and upon my arrival I was requested to join a certain group within the program by two girls who already knew who I was. My first task was to read to the Sri Lankan children who are learning to read in English and the primary students from school. I started by picking out a few books to read to the group; I chose a small book called One Duck Stuck. My supervisors, Ms. Powell, helped guide me through my first group reading by encouraging me to ask questions and include the children in the reading. Later she paired me with two girls who read English well but still needed improvement. Ms. Powell helped me to get settled and gave me the overall idea of the group and how it works but for the majority of the time I was left to my own devices but I quickly made good use of my situation and decided to read aloud to the two girls I was paired with and had them read back to me. 

    From my previous work with the Fatima Girls School I learned that lack of comprehension is common when learning a new language. In order to overcome this at certain parts of the book I would stop and quiz them in order to test them and I would also have them read a few lines back to me. I felt like I adapted very and I completed all my goals: I worked collaboratively with my supervisor as well as the children I taught by planning and initiating certain activities, I took on a new challenge by working  independently with the children as well as planning my own activities within our little group. 

   Working independently with the children gave me for free range to do what I wanted to do and work how I was the most comfortable. At first I was a little nervous about reading in front of children because I'm not very comfortable reading anything out loud. Being able to read to the children and talk to them gave me the confidence I needed to work with them in an effective manner. I like working with children and I quickly learned that they like working with me as well. Overall the first meeting with the Helping Hands group when really well and I look forward to working with them next Monday. 

Goals for Yearbook

August 29th: first yearbook meeting.

  I was very happy to be accepted into the yearbook group despite my lack of experience in photoshopping skills. I'm very enthusiastic about developing a new skill as well as undertaking a new challenge in order to produce an amazing yearbook this year. We hit the ground running in our first meeting. We talked about senior pages, working of educating those who have little to no experience with photoshop, and we also reviewed other yearbooks to get a sense of what we want to accomplish with this years yearbook. I'm very excited to be working with the yearbook team and my first and most important goal for yearbook is to learn photoshop in order to create my pages. 

Goals for Senior Year

  Goals for 2012-2013

1. Yearbook
2. RCCI
3. Prepare for Hash House Harriers trip in September
4. *Hopefully* be able to join the HHH club

Goals

 This year I hope to be able to start work with the yearbook committee despite my lack of experience. I hope to develop new skills with my participation in yearbook such as photoshop. I will also work collaboratively in the RCCI service group. I also plan to train in order to attend a Hash House Harriers running trip.

Yearbook 

I've always wanted to work with yearbook but in the past but have never had prior experience with it so I never fully got the chance. I will take my chances this year with yearbook because I'm interested in it but I have just never had the experience with it. I hope that even though I'm inexperienced in this area I will be chosen to join the committee and do my best to make the yearbook of year of my graduating class the best it can be.

RCCI

I began work with RCCI last year and found that it would be a service program I was interested in. I love working with people of all ages, especially children. I enjoy helping people in any circumstance. When I do service work I like to do the same sort of programs that are aimed to help out others. I don't have a preference when it comes to service but if I can interact with whomever I'm helping it makes the experience more exciting and meaningful. 

Hash House Harriers Run

  Over the summer I have started training for a Hash House Harriers trip. Hash House Harriers, HHH, or H3 is a well known non-competitive running club. Although I am not an official member of this club, yet, I have been invited to a trip where anyone can run and participate in the clubs events. Although my workout schedule was interrupted due to long work hours, I planned to get at least one and a half hours worth of exercise whenever possible. This amounted to exercising once a week, I want to change this. My goal over the summer was to get to the gym at least once a week and work out for an hour and a half in order to prep for a Hash House Harriers trip. My goal is to build up my endurance so I can participate in this event. There are other factors that influence my attendance on this trip but I'm hoping I'll be able to at least get to my best physical shape as my first goal.  My new goal for the school year is to work out whenever possible but minimum of two or three times a week depending on my work schedule. Because I do not like being competitive but enjoy a challenge and a good run, non-competitive running is ideal for my circumstances. 

Music Makers 2012

Last night (April 20th) I performed in OCSs Music Makers concert of 2012 with Zahara Dawoodboy and Aya Razzaz. We played a song called "I Can't Hear You" by the Dead Weather. I practiced every day in order to be prepared for the show. Before the concert I felt very confident that we would do well. Although I had performed for a large audience several times before, I still had some nerves before going on. I love music so much and it's a big part of my life but playing in front of a crowd is extremely nerve-racking for me. I pushed past my nervousness and pushed myself out of my comfort zone in order to give the performance my best, despite one tiny hiccup. Overall it was a good show and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Ramona- I Can't Hear You (Cover by the Dead Weather)

Week Without Walls

Week Without Walls:

On January 23rd we set out from Colombo for our Week Without Walls trip to Hambantota. This trip was set up in order for us to gain a new perspective of Sri Lanka, to become culturally aware, and to help our partner schools in Hambantota by maintaining and painting them for a better and brighter learning environment. Our main job in Hambantota was to paint and fix up two schools. Through this trip we learned more about the history and assessed issues of global importance due to the tsunami. In 2004 there was a tsunami that forced locals to move inland away from the ocean in order to protect themselves from the devastation of the tsunami and future tsunamis to come. OSC has been working with the schools since the tsunami in 2004 and has built a strong bond with them that I and future OSC students plan to maintain.

When we first arrived in Hambantota we made a trip to the schools that we would be working at. We looked over the school and assessed what needed to be worked on and painted. We decided to do a jungle themed mural with an elephant, monkey, peacock, lion, some flowers and a big tree (from which the monkey would hang). When the 11.1 mural group (the group I was in) arrived, we noticed that there was a big wall that needed painting. In the front of the school we saw there was a large blank wall that we could put our mural on. It was in need of a fresh coat of paint and some cleaning. When we arrived at the school we looked over what supplies we had and what we needed to buy later. After we did that, we went back outside to make a quick mental sketch of where we wanted to put the different elements of the mural. We decided that we would start with the larger animals and the tree first and then finish the minor details later. Our goal for the next day was to just start fast and steady, and to work efficiently and have fun while doing it.


Day Two:


Once we got to the school we quickly began our work. We sketched out the elements that would be included on the mural and immediately started working on it. We got off to a really quick start and got the elephant and the monkey and a part of the tree done in a little over an hour or so. After that was when the process began to slow a bit. We didn't want to rush it at all. We had so much fun painting the mural but there were some challenges that we faced while doing so. We ran out of a few buckets and brushes to paint with and we were constantly finding objects that could reach high places on the wall so we could paint. There was a lot of thinking outside the box in order to overcome our problems. For example, since we didn't have any buckets for paint, we cut coconuts in half and used them as a bowl for our paints. The second day great and hardly had any problems. 


Day Three:


Day three was a little more complicated because we had taken a lot of breaks from the heat. It was a lot hotter on the third day and it didn't allow us to work as efficiently as before. We were constantly taking breaks for water but we powered through and persevered in order to finish the mural. One problem was we were running out of time to finish so we pushed lunch till later and worked really quickly to finish the mural. One of the most challenging parts of the mural was the tree. The wall was really tall and the top of it was very hard to reach so we tried to find a long stick to tie a rolling brush to so we could paint the top. After an hour or so the tree was finished and the mural was looking good. We ran out of time so we couldn't repaint the sign but the students and teachers were very pleased with the mural and so were we. We had so much fun doing the mural and it was one of our greatest accomplishments.