Buying a bag

The students in the Swedish school is selling bags for Hiv/Aids help. They are setting up their own companies and train everything between accounting, production and marketing. The money goes to whatever area they want. I think that is a very good idea to learn in school. I also liked the design of the bag, so I bought one.

Soon going to Cambridge

This summer I'm doing a prep. course in Cambridge, England. I'm going to study Drama as a major and Medical Science as a minor. I'm looking forward to it so much and can't wait to spend 5 weeks in Cambridge. I was there a long time ago, picking up my brother when he did the same program. My parents promised me that I would be able to do the same when I was 14 - and I held them to it! I'm going to live in Peterhouse, the oldest college in Cambridge. I suspect I will write lots of blogposts from this experience. I'm leaving with my godmother in July, and she will settle me in. Once there, she is only two hours away and that feels good.

Seeking funds

Because of the toilet problem in Destiny and my idea to raise money to build toilets, I decided to apply for funds from Swedish society in Kenya. It might not work, because my mother is on the board but at least I can try. I made a booklet to present the project and explain the problem. This is how it looks. I know it's impossible to read it due to the fact that it is written in Swedish, but I still wanted to post it on my blog.

Easter lunch in Paradise Lost

Today was the yearly easter lunch in Paradise Lost with the Swedish association.  It was a traditional herring lunch, with snaps and singing of the snaps songs. I also got the opportunity to visit the stone age caves and the waterfall. I arranged the plates with two different kinds of herring, eggs and swedish caviar collected the pre paid tickets and sold sodas and water.

Emergency money

Dixon, who is the headmaster in Destiny school, sent my mom this text:

It is quite sad that they need money to empty the toilets. Without this support the school must close. However this gave me an idea. Why not try to raise money to build new toilets for the students. When we worked in Excellent school, that was really one of our first projects. It is so important for the students to have hygienic toilets and to get a water pipe would be good too. Dixon checked out how much toilets would cost, and it's not horribly expensive. I'm thinking that I can try to raise 60 000 Kes to build toilets over the summer when I'm in Sweden. Our family ended up giving Dixon the money, and also money to have the truck coming to Mathare. Sometimes you just have to pay for the emergencies. 

All in the timing - High school play

I went to see "All in the Timing", This years High School play. It was fun but I was a little surprised that I've seen three of the six acts before in ISK. My brother did HL IB Theatre, and I've seen him perform the exact same acts. I still enjoyed it, but I think it would be good to perform acts that are new to the ISK community. Not everyone leaves after two years and I suspect there are plenty of good pieces for the students to work with.

Officially a 2:nd dan black belt holder

I made it! After 4 hours of interviews, showing techniques, doing poomses, speaking korean and showing my stamina I'm now a 2:nd dan black belt. Philip, the examinator, is very nice and he taught me a lot. He wanted to talk to me for a long time to assess my personality, my mental state and my commitment to Tae kwondo. He also gave me information on what I needed to improve. Now I have to participate in seminars and also teach tae kwondo. Because my grade now is very high, there are many things the Kenyan taekwondo federation will expect of me. My new belt will have my name on it, and my nationality will be Swedish/Kenyan. Next grading will be in two years, and I have to go to Korea to do it.
Very happy, proud of myself, tired and hungry!

Studying korean for grading tomorrow!

For two weeks now, I've been really trying to learn a lot of Korean vocabulary. It is NOT easy. I need to know how to count, all the fighting terms, all the kicks, blocks, stances and punches and all the "polite words" like thank you. I made flash cards to study, but still not feeling ready for tomorrow. Max will come at 10 and will bring Philip, who is going to be my grader. I've been graded by Philip before and he is very nice and always teaches me during grading. I'm however used to Benson, or "stone face" as I call him. He is also a very nice guy, but very very very tough grader. I'm hoping Philip will go easy on me, although I suspect any examiner for a 2:nd dan black belt will be very hard! Today I've been climbing and tonight I'm going for the high school play. I hope I'll find some time to study some more - I really need it!

Making pads

My mother and I found patterns for home made pads. Apparently, you need flannel, terry cloth and fleece. We already have the plan to bring 16 pads from the lady in Sweden, but think it would be a nice experience to try and make some. I'm lucky that my mom really loves her sewing machine and owns a really good one. I will cut and she will sew. They look really cool, we just have to try them out. My moms cousin has already found a sponsor in Sweden, and as soon as I can, I'll go to Destiny school and make a film about how hard the conditions are for menstruating students are. This will be a help for Marie to find more sponsors for the project.

Finally, volleyball tryouts

I really wanted to do both rugby and volleyball, but with all my other activities my family decided it would be a bit too much, and the teams are going to train at the same time. I decided to go for volley ball. We had that section in Physical education, and that was a lot of fun. They tryouts are hard work, but a lot of fun. I only have one left and hope they will accept me in one team. This is me practicing in our garden with my dad.