Operation Smile: Medical Mission, Kisumu, Kenya

On the 4^th of October, I flew to Kisumu for the Operation Smile Medical Mission. Before departing, I was so excited about participating in this mission, and I had been waiting in anticipation for weeks. This would be an amazing opportunity for me to see firsthand how Operation Smile works, and the impact that it can have on a community. When I arrived, I met some of the most interesting people that I have ever met in my life, including other students, doctors, nurses, child-life specialists, etc. Despite the fact that some doctors had volunteered in over 70 missions, and others were volunteering for the first time, it seemed as if everyone had something to share to the Kisumu Team.

The first two days of the mission were screening days. As part of the Student Team, my main responsibility was to keep the children, who were waiting in line for hours to get screened, entertained. We spent 10 hours at the hospital handing out toys, helping out with medical records, and giving presentations on burn care and prevention, oral hygiene, nutrition, hand washing, and oral rehydration therapy. Although it was exhausting, it was amazing to see how friendly these children were and how much they would open up to you if you showed them that you cared. Although not many patients showed up with cleft lips and palates, there were a lot of patients with keloids and severe burns. With the conclusion of the second day, 237 patients had been screened.

On team bonding day, the main activity was a boat ride on Lake Victoria. Although none of the team members initially felt that this would be a good activity to bond over, we soon discovered that it was the perfect one. After getting stuck on Lake Victoria, as a result of the Water hyacinth trapping the boats, we all had to work together to make a path for the boats to travel through. After 4 hours or so, the boats managed to reach the dock. By the time the boat ride was over, everyone knew each other’s names, and we were all ready for the week ahead of us!

Monday was the first day of surgery. The Student Team and Child-Life Specialist were given their own room, and we got to work setting up toys and activities that the kids could do while they were anxiously waiting for their surgery times to arrive. Since most of the kids could not speak English, we had help from students from a local school in Kisumu with translating. What impressed me the most was that the kids themselves were so excited to play with each other, and included as many people as they could in their games. We spent around 7 hours at the hospital per day from Monday through Friday, and although there were many enjoyable moments, there were also many challenging times. Trying to calm down patients who were in extreme pain after their surgeries was one of the hardest things to do, but the concern that all of the volunteers displayed made this much easier.

Throughout the week, the Student Team had the opportunity to observe surgeries as well, and I was very interested in this. I observed around 10 surgeries, including cleft lip and palate repair, keloid removal, and skin grafting. All of the surgeons found time out of their busy schedules to talk to us about their profession, and I was amazed by their extreme compassion and dedication to helping the less fortunate.

The Student Team visited several schools and orphanages as well, including a school for the blind, the mentally handicapped, and the physically handicapped. At the schools and orphanages, we gave our presentations and handed out donations such as toothbrushes, soap, and school supplies. The children showed genuine interest in the information that we had to give to them, and the amount of questions that they would ask us regarding our presentations made this very clear to me.

By the end of the mission, all of the volunteers were exhausted and ready to go home, although it was hard to say goodbye to so many unforgettable people. 129 surgeries had been completed, and this surpassed everyone’s expectations. Some volunteers even described it as one of the most successful missions that they had ever been on. I am thrilled to have had this experience, and I hope to be able to go on another Medical Mission with Operation Smile very soon!

Piano

I have continued to work with the piano book, "John Thompson's Modern Course For the Piano", and I am learning more and more pieces with every lesson. However, instead of rushing through the book, my piano teacher and I decided that it would be better if I slowed down a bit and we actually went backwards to practice all of the songs that I worked on last year. By doing this, I was able to hear tremendous improvement in the way I play now as compared to the beginning of last year.

I have also joined the Jazz Band, and therefore, we also have to find time to practice the songs that I am given from the band. I feel like I am actually managing my time better this year as compared to last year, and despite the heavy workload, I find the time to practice almost everyday. This has helped me improve my playing at a faster rate, and I feel more and more confident about my abilities. My performances with the Jazz Band have also reduced my fear of performing in front of crowds, and I am very happy about this.

Jazz Band

This year, after playing the piano for several years, I decided that I wanted the opportunity to be able to perform and to actually display the skills that I have accumulated. I believe that Jazz Band gives me some of the best opportunities to be able to do this, because not only can I perform, but I can also interact with other students who share my passion for music. The Jazz band at school meets twice a week, and we practice various pieces. Since there are three piano players in the band, I only get to perform 1/3 of the songs, but I still have the opportunity to practice as many of them as I would like. Of course, a lot of practice needs to be put in outside of the meeting dates, and I therefore practice the pieces by myself everyday.

Jazz Band's first performance was at the ISK PTO Picnic. At this venue, I played the songs, "Funkytown" and "Burritos to Go". This was the first time that I had ever performed in front of an audience, and I was therefore extremely nervous and excited at the same time. I had a lot of fun playing, and I got really good feedback after the performance. While playing, I noticed some things that I wanted to improve for the next performance, and I therefore spent the majority of my practice time fixing those issues.

The second performance was at the UN Track Gala. At this venue, I played the same two songs. This performance was much better for me, mostly because I was not as nervous as the first time and because I had had much more time to practice and perfect my playing. Since I was not as nervous, I also enjoyed the performance more, and I noticed that the audience was enjoying it as well.

Performing at the UN Gala

I have been practicing several new pieces with the band, and we will be performing at various venues in the upcoming months!

Habitat for Humanity: Building trip #1

The first building trip that I went on with Habitat for Humanity this school year was at Eldama Ravine on the 29th of September. We will no longer be going to Mai Mahiu as all of the houses there have been built. We left from Nairobi at 5am, and arrived at the site 4 hours later. Although we were exhausted, we were all determined to work as hard as we could so that we could finish the foundation of the house, which was our task. My main task was to shovel out the dirt from the foundation after the ground had been hoed. Working directly under the sun for hours on end was definitely exhausting, and after a couple of hours of work, I noticed that my hands were covered in blisters. Everyone was in the same situation as me however, and so we all motivated each other to keep on working. At around 3pm, it was time for us to head back to ISK. We were all so happy with the work that we had done and we were more than ready to head home! This build was different from the other ones that I have been on as it was in a completely new location that seemed to be much less populated. As a result, we did not get the opportunity to interact with the local people as much as usual, but we did end up doing more work. The next trip that I will be going on will be in the second semester.

The Habitat for Humanity team!

Tennis: Gold Team

In August of this school year, I became a member of the school's Gold Team for tennis. This team meets for practice four times a week. I have chosen to focus on my doubles tennis playing skills as opposed to singles tennis. This is because I enjoy playing with a partner as it tests my communication skills. Max Alverson, another 12th grade student, and I became doubles partners, and we work towards strengthening our skills as partners during every practice session.

I was also elected Team Captain this year, which I was very excited about as I have never held a leadership position in a sports team. As the Captain of the team, I am responsible for making sure any information from the Coach reaches all of the players. I also encourage all the players to support each other during practices and during the actual matches, and I try to keep team spirit high even when we are losing a match. Being Captain was and continues to be very interesting for me as it does not always require the same skills as other leadership positions, such as Club President. Despite this, I believe that it is a great opportunity for me to hone skills that I will require for the rest of my life so as to be able to work efficiently with other people.

On the 18th of September, the school's Gold Team had its first match against Rosslyn Academy. We were all very excited about this match as it was our first opportunity in the school year to display our tennis skills and see how much we had improved since practice started. We were also very nervous, as this was an away match, and we were therefore not as comfortable as we would had been had we played at ISK. It was clear to me that the players were nervous from the very start, as none of them were cheering for their fellow players. As Team Captain, I had to try and increase spirits. Although this was difficult at first, I found that as time passed, the players cheered more and more and became more comfortable. I played a doubles match with Max. Both of us were also extremely nervous, and as a result, we made a lot of unforced errors. We ended up losing the match 3-6, but this was a very good experience since it encouraged both of us to work harder in practice and to fix unforced errors. I also continue to work on my service game in practice and my forehand strokes.

On the 20th of September, the Gold Team played a match against the ISK Blue team! This was a very fun match as we were playing against our friends who are on the more advanced team. Max and I were doubles partners again. This game was a much more difficult one for us as compared to the one against Rosslyn Academy. Despite this, both of us still found it much more engaging and interesting because we were pushed to our limits. We also lost 3-6, but we felt much more confident about our playing as compared to the previous match.

On the 25th of September, we played a match against West Nairobi School. Max and I won our doubles match 6-1, but we did not enjoy playing this match at all! Our opponents were at a much lower level of tennis as compared to us, and we were therefore not challenged. It was very difficult to get the players interested in this match as none of them felt that they were being challenged. However, I did manage to get them to cheer, and this encouraged everyone.

The next match that I will be playing is on the 2nd of November against Hillcrest.

A Great Start to the Operation Smile Student Club

In the past half a year, several students have become involved with the newly formed Operation Smile club at ISK. The aim of this club is to raise awareness and hold fundraisers to support Operation Smile. This international organization currently works in more than 60 countries to provide surgeries to children with cleft lips and cleft palates. Each surgery costs around $240, or KSH 20,000, and takes as little as 45 minutes.

The Operation Smile Club at ISK held its first major fundraiser on the 14^th of April. This was a concert that featured the Composers’ Club, and was a huge success. $1,800 was raised that night, which went towards paying for the surgeries of 7 children. Due to the success of this event, two ISK students were invited to participate in a Saturday Clinic at the Kenyatta Hospital in May. Aashmali Patel and I decided to participate, and we got the chance to meet several Operation Smile doctor volunteers, as well as the three children who received their surgeries that day.

One of the three patients was an infant called Osman Abdille. The surgeons on the team described Osman’s case as one of the worst they had ever seen, as he had a bilateral cleft lip and palate. This gave him difficulties in breathing and feeding. What really stood out to Aashmali and me was that, despite the fact that he was suffering, Osman could not stop laughing. He didn’t seem at all frightened by all the strangers that were surrounding him, and he had an instant connection with all of us the second that he was brought into the OR. After the surgery was over, more than three hours later, Osman looked completely different!

I had the chance to participate in the week-long International Student Leadership Conference organized by Operation Smile in Washington D.C this summer. Over 500 students from 23 countries attended this conference, whose purpose was to allow us to create a network with each other, share ideas, learn how to share Operation Smile’s mission, and become inspired to help change the lives of others. We had the amazing opportunity to listen to some inspirational speakers, including the founders of Operation Smile, William and Kathleen Magee, a U.S Olympian, Buddy Lee, the founder of the Blink Now Foundation, Maggie Doyne, and many more. Most importantly, we obtained some ideas of how to run a student club effectively, and I look forward to sharing these with my fellow Operation Smile club members, with the hopes of making this club one that will truly make a mark in our community.

At the beginning of October, a two-week Operation Smile mission will take place in Kisumu, in which several children will receive their life-changing surgeries. I, along with two other students from the US and Kenya, were invited to take part in this mission as student volunteers, and I am sure that it will be an unforgettable experience! I am confident and hopeful that the hard-working and dedicated Operation Smile club members will have multiple opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others during this academic year.

We encourage you to join the Operation Smile club this year, and help us make an impact on the lives of many!

Osman before his surgery

Participants of the International Student Leadership Conference 2012 at Georgetown University

Habitat for Humanity: Third Building Trip

On the 21st of April, I went on my third and last Habitat for Humanity building trip of the year. This trip did not require as much manual labour as the previous two for me, because I worked in the new library. The National Honor Society in ISK had donated funds to the Habitat for Humanity club, which was used to pay for bookshelves, benches, and a whiteboard for the library. As an NHS member, I helped to organize and put up books in the library for the majority of the trip. These books were donated by various ISK students and teachers, and Habitat managed to gather more than 300 books. Although cataloging all of the books and organizing them was tedious work, I really enjoyed seeing the reaction of the children when they saw all of the new books. They were all extremely excited to see all of the new books that we had brought them, and they all wanted to immediately begin reading.

After cataloging the books for a couple of hours, I went to see the newly built playground. The funds raised by the Habitat for Humanity club were put towards buying swings, monkey bars and a slide, and these were put up during this building trip. The reaction we got when we put up the playground was amazing. All of the children began to play together, and you could tell how happy they were to have these things.

I really enjoyed this trip because it was completely different from any other Habitat build that I had ever been on. It was the first time that we did not work on building a house, and instead built a playground and worked in the library, and therefore, it was an extremely different experience for me. On this trip, you could really see the effect that our work had on the children of Maai Mahiu. We could tell that they were truly enjoying themselves on the playground and in the library, and we had a lot of fun playing with them as well. Unfortunately, we might not be returning to Maai Mahiu next year, as the building of the houses will be finished by the end of this summer. Hopefully, we will be able to find a new area to help with, and meet new people. I am really excited about seeing what is in store for the Habitat for Humanity club next school year!

Operations Smile: The Smile Concert '12

On the 14th of April, the Operation Smile club at ISK held a concert featuring the Composers' Club. In this concert, members of the Composers' Club performed, while Operation Smile members sold food and drinks. All of the profits went towards the Operation Smile Mission in Kenya. Tons of planning went into this concert, and a lot of time was spent in preparation for it. I, along with the other members of the club, had to organize all of the logistics, such as the venue, date, time, ticket prices, posters, food, drinks, tables, program etc. It was also our responsibility to keep the Composers' Club members aware of our ideas, and take all of their ideas into account. I was extremely stressed for the half month leading up to the concert, because as the president of the club, I had to make sure that everything was going according to schedule and everyone was doing their part to help organize this event. I wanted the event to turn out really well and for a lot of people to come to it, because I was eager for the club to raise as much money as it could so as to pay for the surgeries of several children. I therefore tried my hardest to make it an enjoyable night.

On the night of the event, we had a turnout that was much greater than what we were expecting. We sold more than 200 tickets! Everything went according to plan: the Composers' Club put on a great show and the Operation Smile members sold a lot of food and many drinks. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and Ms. Flaminia DeAgostini, the Development Coordinator of the Operation Smile Mission in Kenya, who we had invited to the event, told us that she was extremely happy with the work we had put into organizing the event. From this event, we managed to make 148,000 ksh, which went towards paying for the surgeries of 7 children, with a bit of money left overs. We were ecstatic about this amount, as it surpassed our goal by a huge amount. The members of the club are eager to raise even more money in the upcoming months, and we are constantly coming up with new fundraising ideas.

Piano

I am now about 3/4 done with the piano book that I have been using. I have been able to master over 20 pieces, and my teacher and I are very happy with the progress that I have made. I feel that I am a much more technical piano player now, as I have learned new scales and techniques that I did not know before. I also enjoy the piano more and more the better I become at playing it, and it makes me sad that in about one and a half years, I might not have the opportunity to play, as I will be in university!

I find it difficult to squeeze in practice time these past few months, as the IB work load becomes heavier. I have managed to practice at least 2 hours per week, though, and although this is not an ideal amount of time, it is the best I can currently do! As long as I continue to improve, I am happy with the amount of time that I have to play.

I hope to be able to perform next year, as this will give me exposure, and hopefully help me to overcome my fear of performing in front of an audience. I believe that it would be an enjoyable experience, and so I really hope that I will manage to do it!

Operation Smile

About two months ago, an Operation Smile club began at our school, something that I am extremely excited and happy about. The Operation Smile is an organization that raises money to pay for the surgeries of children with cleft palates, and doctors volunteer to operate on these kids. Each surgery costs around 240 dollars, and our newly formed club at ISK aims to raise money for at least one of these surgeries this year. I was inspired when I heard about the work that this organization does to help these kids who are often rejected from their societies, and seeing as I want to be a doctor in the future, I immediately signed up to be a member of the ISK club. However, I did not just want to be a regular member, because I had some ideas that I believed could raise a lot of money for this organization, and I wanted to carry them out. Therefore, I ran for president, and was voted into this position. I was ecstatic about this, and immediately began to plan various fundraisers, the biggest of which will take place on Saturday the 14th of April.

For the past month, I, along with the other members of the Operation Smile club, have been organizing a concert in which the Composers' Club at ISK will perform, and adults who work for Operation Smile Mission in Kenya will talk about the organization. All the profits will go towards paying for the surgeries of the children. The planning for this concert has taken a great deal of effort from many of us, and those of us in particular who want this to be a success have put in 100% of our time and effort. We have had to arrange the venue, order all of the necessary decorations, prepare food and drinks, design tickets and posters, publicize the event around Nairobi, and sell tickets! The members of the Composers' Club have also been meticulously preparing their performances, as they want the event to be as successful as possible. So far, the planning is going very well, and we are getting a lot of interest. The upcoming week will be very stressful, but we hope that we will create a great night next Saturday!

Prom Committee: Organizing the Actual Event

The past three months have been quite stressful for members of the prom committee. Seeing as we needed to raise 10,000 dollars to host prom, there were various fundraisers that required planning, but the problem was that we did not have a lot of time to plan these fundraisers. What ended up happening was that a few of us volunteered to sell drinks and food at almost all of the school functions. Although these were not huge fundraisers, we ended up meeting our goal!
During the past week, we have promoted prom in the most creative ways possible, including throwing over 100 balloons around the school campus, on which was written "Walk Into Wonderland: Prom 2012". I have found that student's are very excited about the upcoming event, and our ways of promoting it have made many eager to come. The prom will be on Friday the 13th of April, and we hope that all of the work that we have put into it will pay off!

M.U.N Conference

From the 13th to the 17th of February, the East African M.U.N conference was held at the United Nations offices here in Kenya. I was representing the Ukraine as a member of the Human Rights committee. In this 5 day conference, I had the opportunity to meet students from schools around East Africa, and we were able to have some very strong debates on various current human rights issues, ranging from chid trafficking to the legalization of drugs.
I enjoyed this conference a lot more than the one I participated in last year. This is because I found the resolutions that we debated to be of a much higher quality, and it was clear that the students who wrote them had taken a great deal of time to research their topic thoroughly. I also had the opportunity to contribute much more than last year, and I believe that I raised some interesting issues that the other participants had a good time discussing and debating. I usually take some time to get over the fear of talking in front of large audiences and sharing my ideas, but I found that the more I did this at the conference, the more comfortable it became, and the more I enjoyed it!
Although I had a lot of fun during this one week and learned a lot from people who were my own age, this is unfortunately the last year that I will be participating in the EA M.U.N. Throughout the six years that I have been a part of this program, I have made friends who have the same interests as me, and have had 5 full weeks of quality debate about various world issues. This has been an experience that I will never forget!

Tennis: Sports Awards Ceremony

The first sport season of the school year ended in mid-November, and a sports awards ceremony was held at ISK to congratulate the many athletes and recognize a few who coaches believed deserved extra recognition. After every team captain gave a short speech about their team and their successes in the season, including me, we separated into individual teams so that the coach of each could give every player a certificate and award the Coaches' Choice, the Most Valuable Player, and the Most Improved Player. Since I was a member of the JV Tennis team in the first season, I joined the rest of my teammates and Mr. Derrick Quinet, who was our coach. Mr. Quinet called up each athlete individually and thanked them for being a part of the team, and after this was over, he gave out the three awards. I ended up getting Coaches' Choice, and I was very happy about this since I had only ever been given one other sports award and that was in Middle school! I was very happy to have been given this award because it made me feel as though I was a valuable member of the team, and I hope that I will continue to improve as a tennis player in next year's season.

Prom Committee: Second Major Fundraiser

In early December, the Prom Committee held its second major fundraiser of the year. In this fundraiser, for which various high school students and teachers volunteered to help out in, students were auctioned off or "sold" for a day to other ISK students and teachers. The participants gave a small speech about why they would be a good person to purchase, and afterwards, a silent auction took place, with the highest bidder "buying" a volunteer.
This event was a major success for the prom committee and for ISK as a whole, because not only did we make plenty of money that will go towards paying for the senior prom, but every ISK student had a lot of fun and the ISK community felt more closely knit that day. I hope that future fundraisers will have the same effect!

Habitat for Humanity: Second Build

In mid-November, I went on my second Habitat for Humanity building trip of the year, and it was in Mai Mahiu again. On the trip, I helped out in the usual way that I do: mixing cement, transporting sand and rocks, and playing with the local children. Although it began to rain in the middle of the trip, causing us to have to stop working for a couple of hours, this was still one of the best trips that I have been on. The reason for this is that a couple of ISK students who had never been on a Habitat build came to this one, and it was very fun to show them around the area and demonstrate various things to them. Seeing them cope really well to the hard work that was done that day made me feel confident that we have a very strong Habitat for Humanity group this year. The most memorable moment was when we got the chance to play with the child residents of Mai Mahiu, and this was where we were able to see how ecstatic the new members of Habitat for Humanity were and how much they were enjoying the whole experience. The reason this trip was so successful is because we, as a group, were able to balance work and play, and we therefore did not get overworked but were productive at the same time. I am looking forward to going on the last building trip of the school year with the same group, as we are able to work really well together and most importantly, have a good time!

Piano

It has now been 5 months since I began to use John Thompson's second level piano book, and I have been able to almost completely master about half of the pieces. This means that my goal is so far still on track, as I am aiming on mastering all the pieces in this book by the end of this school year. Over the past month, my piano teacher has been asking me to go back and re-practice even the first few pieces that I learned, and by doing this, he can be sure that my piano playing is actually improving and that I will actually be able to play the pieces at a professional level.
Although it can be tedious at times to have to play the same few pieces over and over again, it actually gives me satisfaction to hear that I have improved a lot in the past half a year, and I can feel that I am currently a much better pianist than I was half a year ago. I actually enjoy practicing the piano more now than I used to and I think this is because I am better at it. My piano instructor would actually like me to perform in public in the coming months, and I hope that I do get an opportunity to do this!