Movie from Destiny school Washable Pad project

Destiny film

The link shows the film my mom, my moms cousin and I made in the school when introducing the Pads for the girls. My moms cousin is going to use it when trying to find sponsors in Paris.

TKD kicking

Taekwondo is really interesting and fun. Even though I'm a 2:nd dan black belt, there are always so many new things to learn. We started doing really complicated kick combinations like roundkick, sidekick, backkick and jumping roundkick. It is challenging for both the stamina and the balance and coordination.
Taekwondo helps me feel strong, fast and able to defend myself and I enjoy getting better and better. I think martial arts are perfect to increase self-confidence and you always have to be really calm, cool as well as explosive. Taekwondo is also a lot about respect and self control, so it's even good on a psychological level.

Delivery

I got to meet Dixon the other day, to give him about 100 new pads. It was really interesting, because we were discussing Kenyan politics, especially education. It's really confusing and not so good in Kenya right now. Everyone seems to be very confused. I learned a lot and reflected on how well of I am in ISK. I feel bad for Dixon who works so hard for the school and does not get any help or understanding from the government.

More colors

I'm continuing to dye the fabric for the sanitary pads. It's an easy way to get the colors I really want. I find that blue, brown and red looks best. To buy white flannel is really cheap, but the colored is very expensive. I save a lot of money by dyeing. The patterned fleece is also quite expensive, not to mention the snap buttons. My mother ordered snap buttons from China for me and they cost a lot less, and we'll see if it works with the delivery. If it does I'm sure we can buy more patterned fleece online. The reason I need it to be cheap is that I want to make as many pads as possible and the less I spend on material, the more pads I can make.

Smaller kits

I started sewing smaller bags for the pads for selling in the PTO shop. They thought it would be good to have smaller kits for selling only five pads. I think this is a really good idea. They also wanted me to find a name for the pads. I think this is really hard, because you need to communicate what it is and it would be good to have a connection to what we try to achieve. There are so many plusses with using the pads: It's economical, it's good for the environment, it's great when you have sensitive skin. But I mainly make them to help the girls in the slum. To make them be able to go to school every day of the month and to make them feel secure during their period. How do you sum all of this in a brand name?

Operation smile meeting

We had our first meeting with operation smile this week. I now know that mainly, we try to raise funds for the organisation. I'm thinking that I might be able to sell merchandise through other contacts I have, like the Swedish society. I need to learn some more and really focus on different ideas to make some money!

Playing the "Swedish chef" in French

In my French class, I had homework to make a film where I'm explaining something in French. I wanted to cook Moule Marinere. I had to make a chefs hat to be able to make a movie. From making the pads, I've got quite a lot of experience to sew on the machine, so I made my own hat!

The movie turned out nice, but it's too big to post in my blog!

Lazy Taekwondo

I had quite a lazy class in Taekwondo. We were not really well and had runny noses, so it was hard to to all the exercises. We still had a good time and did a lot of stretching.

In the end of the class, I managed to do 100 kicks (sometimes we do 1000). Max made me do it. The video was to big to upload on my blog.

Meeting with the heads of PTO

I had a great meeting with the PTO ladies in ISK about the Washable pads. They really loved the project, but had some constructive ideas on how to improve it. I'm going to work hard this week-end to make some changes to the project..... will keep you posted!

Selling Washable Pads in ISK

I got the information that the PTO shop is willing to sell the Washable Pads. This is great news! I'm thinking that I need to do some marketing to let people know they are there.
I also needed to make a folder about the pads and how to care for them, and I came up  with this:

This folder should be in the bag that we are selling and maybe something I could give to interested students on campus. I don't know yet and have to think a bit more. We are selling 5 big pads, 5 small and a clutch to keep the used pad in. The problem now is that we don't have any snap buttons left. My mom ordered some from China. We are hoping we'll get them soon.

school progress

They are building and building in the school. Two rooms are done, two new are bought and we need money for two more. The toilets will be done very soon, but we need to raise more money to rebuild and buy the other ones. My family friend in Sweden is helping me to raise money, because I used all my contacts during the summer. She is doing really well from what I know and it's going to be very exciting to see how much she can raise.

Taekwondo ceremony

I finally got my new 2:nd Dan diploma and my id card. Benson "Stoneface" was here to present it to me. The belt needs to be fixed with my name and status, so it will take a little longer.

Fast punches

In MMA last time, I did this crazy combination. I was really surprised that I could to so many punches in this short time....

Operation smile

I've applied for joining the Operation smile in ISK and was accepted. I'm happy to be accepted and very curious about their activities. From what I've heard about them they are a great organisation, doing surgery on kids born with cleft palate in developing countries.

All service projects will meet their trip leaders at the gym on the 3rd September for service project training, and I hope I will get more information on what is expected of me joining this project.