CAS Final Reflection

Being a part of the IB’s CAS program these past two years has given me many opportunities to see more of the world I live in, and has given me even more opportunities to help. The program expanded my skills, as I participated in many activities from different areas of the program: creativity, action and service. Through my participation in GIN and GISS, I learnt that I could become a confident leader while remaining a good team member who listens to my teammates. I became the co-leader of both GIN and GISS, and I remained an active member: I led sale pitches with 2 other students to gain sponsorship deals in preparation for the GISS conference, and as each one came around, I could see my teammates’ and my own progress in confident public speaking.

The GISS conference was this enormous project that we undertook this year, as hosting it, along with the extensive preparation, consisted of a lot of work on the part of both students and teachers. As student leader of the GISS human resources committee, the teacher working with me and I had initiated the search for the 17 golden heart scholars by sending out application forms and posters to many schools in and around Nairobi.

In my junior year, I set myself a goal that I would broaden my experience of ISK’s extracurricular options by joining in more groups. Even though I remained an active participant in my four main groups, GIN, Photography, NHS and Track & Field, I also participated in Artsco., Operation Smile, Guitar and in Leisure Club. I found that my participation in 2 groups from each section of CAS really invigorating, as I was able to compare my experiences, be part of a diverse routine and help on a larger scale than I was when only being part of one group. I learnt how to play a new instrument, the guitar, and I enjoyed my lessons a lot, because as soon as the basics are covered, a student can get a lot of joy out of playing an instrument.

At the end of my junior year, I decided to refine my diverse experience by concentrating more on my main groups. Due to this decision, I had to stop going to Operation Smile, Artsco. and Leisure Club, though I continue to support them by going to functions that they organise, or participating in their fundraisers.

Being able to concentrate on activities such as photography was very beneficial in terms of my improvement. Though I remain an amateur photographer, I now understand different techniques and styles of photography, and I can critique a photograph fairly and then use the feedback to apply it to my own photography. Doing group projects in photography is also very inspiring, because I can learn from my partner, just as they can learn from me, and being a team gives the individual more understanding of the topic.

In track and field, I wanted to test my abilities, so I trained for multiple racing and field events, including the 100m, 400m, 100m relay, long jump and high jump. I wanted to find an area where I was good, but could become better. Halfway through junior year, I became the high school girls’ team captain, and I was in charge of organising our team’s training sessions and looking out for my team members. With this position of leadership, I set out to ameliorate my track skills so that I could help my team members in any way that I could.

Persevering with these 4 groups was seldom a challenge, as I had chosen to participate in activities that I am passionate about.

Becoming a leader in these activities allowed me to see where I had space for improvement, and it increased my awareness of my abilities and of the things that I couldn’t do. Due to this, I managed to improve in the areas that needed improving, such as my patience and tolerance.

Going back to GIN and GISS, I have to admit that they are a huge factor in my life: being a part of GIN’s orphanage trip to Shangilia allowed me to experience first-hand the conditions that over 80% of Kenyans live in, and the difference we are making in those children’s lives was clear. Experiencing this just reminds us constantly how privileged we are, and that we have the power to make a positive change in the life of someone less fortunate. Therefore, we have the obligation to help.

Overall, the program allowed me to develop new skills in sport, to develop my social skills and I can now value them while integrating them in my lifestyle. My experience with CAS at ISK has made me a genuinely well-rounded person: without these empowering experiences, I would be a very different person today. My experiences, especially with GIN and the inspiring GISS conference, which turned out as a huge success thanks to our hard work, has moved me to continue with the goal of helping others and helping our environment. I am grateful that I had the chance to engage with such diverse activities.

Senior Trip CAS reflection

Over the course of our Intercultural Trip, I was able to experience all of the aspects of CAS: we had the opportunity to participate in many different activities, such as snorkelling, using beach debris to make art, and helping a local community build a dispensary and a tree nursery.

The weeklong trip involved a lot of hard work, both physically and mentally: as a group, we started to excavate a section of ground where the dispensary would be built. This instalment is highly beneficial for the community surrounding the site where we were staying, as the nearest emergency medical facility is a half hour away from the village on a boda-boda. So we broke the surface of the ground and dug rectangular trenches around 2 or 3 feet deep and 1 or 2 feet wide. Over at the tree nursery, we learned about the community’s lack of water reserves, and also about their need for charcoal, or any type of cooking heat source: their surroundings are very sparse due to deforestation, which is why we’re building a tree nursery to provide shade, water and a cool environment for the community. We levelled and cleared the ground, mixed concrete, filled plastic bottles that would be part of the shallow trench walls and ground, and we covered the base of the two trenches in a sandy concrete mix.

The organisation we were staying with, Camps International, also talked to our group about their projects to re-use waste water from the camp, and cleaning it naturally by using a large pool filled with pond weed, which, by moving in the water, would clean the water passing through it.

Having the chance to participate in these life-altering projects was really inspiring, as it showed me once again just how privileged our lifestyle is, and how we have a moral obligation to help the less privileged in any way we can. Seeing some of the villagers, especially an old woman whose children had abandoned her, and whose neighbours stole from, was mentally taxing, as I compared my financial and social situation with hers. I think that our IC trips are therefore beneficial not only to us the students, in that it is culturally enriching, but it also allows us to make a visible amelioration in certain communities, which is really what the trips are about.

Even though our week was centred on providing our physical services to the community, we also had the opportunity to visit the beach of Diani and go snorkelling or diving. I went snorkelling, and on our way out from the port, we had an amazing glimpse of two groups of dolphins: 6 bottlenose dolphins and 2 humpback dolphins. We snorkelled around a reef, and though we saw a great variety of fish, anemones, coral and even a ray, it’s quite obvious that a large amount of the reef is dead: there is white and grey broken coral everywhere, and some areas are completely lifeless, whereas others contain only a small amount of life. I did have a wonderful experience, as the underworld is completely different from the world above the surface, and its wildlife is just as interesting and noteworthy as the wildlife on solid ground. But my experience also reminded me just how fragile the Kenyan coast ecosystem (amongst many others) is, and how humans have affected it more than any other animal in a negative manner, and now we need to reduce this negative impact.

We had the chance to participate in a beach clean up, where we collected parts of (or whole) flip-flops that had been washed up on the shore. We also collected general trash, and we mainly found bits of plastic, metal, glass and paper.

We put the flip-flops to good use, as we spent the afternoon on the beach, (which was a nice period for relaxing), doing a flip-flop workshop. In this picture, you can see a giant turtle made out of 1000+ flip-flops. It was made by the same organisation that taught us how to make objects, such as key rings, balls, turtles and fish out of flip-flops. It’s a good method of raising awareness of pollution and its effect on the environment.

Overall, this trip was really instructive and enriching, but the best part of it was that I knew that I helped in the amelioration of a Kenyan community’s way of living.

GISS Preparation (Sustainability Teams/Service Day)

As the GISS is coming up very soon, (it's happening from February 21st to 23rd), the student leadership team that is comprised of 24 students including myself, has been meeting every wednesday after school to prepare for the conference. We have been preparing for the sustainability teams, for which I paired team members up, by practicing certain energisers and icebreaker activities that we will do with our team during the conference. The sustainability team has 20 students and 2 to 3 teachers in it, all from different schools in Africa, and their goal is to create a project that will be presented to the rest of the conference during the closing ceremony on the third and final day. This year, we decided that we would use children's storybooks taken from the library and turn them into skits.Each Sustainability Team is led by 2 student leaders, and my group is being led by Tan and myself. Tan will also be my partner for the Service Day, or the third day of the conference, where we lead a different group of students and teachers to a service project in Nairobi.I find that having the same partner for both of these events is reassuring, as it gives me a sense of continuity in my actions, and I know that I can rely on my partner, as I now know her very well.