The Open Week 1

I’m participating in “the open” crossfit competition. My results have gone between 1:st in all of Africa (even if crossfit is mainly practiced in South Africa) to number 23. I’m hoping to improve all my results before the competition is done. Many crossfitters in my box are also doing it, so now I help out as a judge. It’s mainly to count the repetitions and check that the  action is performed properly. The competition will continue for another 4 weeks and I’m hoping I’m going to continue to improve my results. I am also part of a team. Even though we could be participating online we are not. It is more of a fun thing that we are doing at our affiliate. It is a lot of fun to be there on Friday nights when most people do the workout and cheering on them or judging them even though they are not on my team. It adds also a bit of pressure to the competitors.

I.S.S.E.A.

So over the last three days I have had 3 students from HIS living with me (Nikiwe, Constanca, and Nanna). They were here to attend the I.S.S.E.A. Drama and Visual Arts. This year it was here in I.S.K. I was very nervous for the opening ceremony and the performance because I haven't acted in about a year. It wen't very well for us and for the other schools too. It was so interesting to see all the performances because all the schools interpreted the prompt "contrast" very differently. Then we split off into visual arts and drama and we started by doing a warm up and signing up for the workshops that we were talking part in on both Friday and Saturday. I signed up for storytelling, script writing and Afro Acro-Yoga.

Script writing was a lot of fun. It was a good way to get to know all the people in the workshop. We started by sharing something that nobody knew about us. I said that I had gotten a new PR in crossfit because some of my friends were in the class and knew all the other stuff about me .We were meant to produce a small piece that has one of our experiences as the opening and closing line. We did a very simple but I think a very powerful piece about one persons imagination is another experience.

Then after a lunch where I caught up with my friends from last years I.S.S.E.A., I went to my storytelling class. In this workshop we first had to break off into drummers/musicians, dancers, narrators, and lastly soloists. I first stood by the drummers but then there were no soloists and I noticed that one of my friends decided to be a soloists and he didn't want to be alone so I joined him. Even though I am not comfortable with singing especially solo I decided to since I.S.S.E.A. is the best place to step out of my comfort zone. It was a lot of fun but the Swahili words were difficult to pronounce and to sing.

On Saturday I did Afro Acro-Yoga which was basically just partner gymnastics. It was a lot of fun even though I am not a flyer. Instead I am a base which means that I carry people instead and that is nice and quite nice that I am able to do it in the first place. The teacher did the last movement with me and I got to be the flyer for a while.

Saturday we also got to spend a lot of time with our ensemble to work on our final pieces. We decided to go quite funny or light hearted which was a nice contrast to the more serious ones from the other groups. Ours was the story of a couple who was on their first date where we also switched to the other scene which was the same couple but older. I played a  tomboy which was quite easy since I am one myself but my character was pretending to be a girly girl for the boy. The boy was quite a sensitive guy who was pretending to be macho for the girl. Behind us we has our subconscious who were saying what we really think. I thought it was really funny but it was also extremely embarrassing for me too so I was blushing throughout the entire performance. I had to try to act sexy which I don't really know how that went and he impressed me with his muscles and then I hit hime in the head with my hair. I also did the entire performance in heels.

A lot of the other performances were dealing with more serious contrasts such as one which was focusing on the contrast on action and reason and also with generations while also dealing with serious discrimination against homosexuals. The third one was a version of a story telling where it was about a guy who lost his job and had to get a new job and ended up running a race and doing a good deed which got him the reward of the race and a new job. I don't remember what the contrast was about. Another one was dealing with the contrast between human and animals in captivity and held against their will and ended with a dance number where we all joined in and bowed.

Later that night we all went and looked at all of the amazing art works which were made over only 3 days which were amazing. Then we ended the night by saying goodbye to all our friend who were leaving which was very emotional and painful. I really do miss the people and the activities but now I am so exited for next years I.S.S.E.A. which will be even more fun. I am also happy knowing that I have friends who I have only spend up to 3 days with who will last for a lifetime.

Rotary and Destiny

Rotary has decided to sponsor Destiny school with another 100.000 Kes. This is great news, but the problem is that what we need most is desks, chairs, black boards and cub boards. Last time we received money only for renovating and/or building, so I hope they will agree to help with what we need this time. It’s actually quite shocking how much a little room costs in the slums, and how few there are to buy. We usually pay around 60.000 for a room, and then we need money for renovations. The rooms have corrugated iron walls (if you buy one with brick walls it’s over 100.000) and no flooring. We sometimes change the inner walls, if we have the adjacent room and always have to make cement floors. It is also good to have bigger rooms, so a whole class can fit. The rooms we buy are about 15 square meters. Often we have to open up some windows, so it will be brighter in the room, and sometimes we get electricity. When it rains it is always flooding in the rooms, so that is why the cement floor are important. Once we had a room in a slope and it was useless when it was wet and raining. You could not even put a desk there. We cemented the floor in different levels and it became really nice.

I also have to put a presentation together for Rotary with images “before and after” and this is harder than it seems. It is hard to capture the progress in images because everything looks quite bad (both before and after). I’m hoping that my family friend in Sweden, who is presenting it for Rotary can make a good presentation from what I sent her!

Bad news from destiny

I got some bad news from Destiny School. There is a little part of the school that is a vocational school for older children. They learn how to sew and have machines and sewing supplies in their little shop. They mainly make school uniforms. Last week, the shop were broken into by some local thugs and they stole a few machines and supplies. Just a few days after the break in, another gang came to take the rest of the sewing machines. The police managed to take one of the thugs and put him in jail, so now we have to hope that we can get some of the stolen goods back. I’m not “holding my breath”, but at least there is a little chance. Sadly there is nothing more we can do than wait and see.

Pad materials

It is really a challenge to get the materials for the pads! I used to buy fleece blankets from Nakumatt, but they don’t carry the ones I need anymore. My mom went to the other side of town today, and bought a big blanket (for a lot of money) that I can use. I need the regular type fleece and not the fancy really soft one. The “older type” is more moisture resistant and not as warm as the really soft one, and it is not so easy to find anymore. Everyone seems to prefer the soft fleece that is really hard to work with and not as efficient than the regular fleece. I’m hoping I can make a lot of pads from the big blanket mom got. 

The importance of pads again.

Often I come across articles and youtube videos stressing the importance of pads for school girls. Of course I know about this, but it is always good to read something that confirms my pad project. I feel humble and grateful that I have this, really important project as one of my CAS projects!

Pads

Delivering to Okapi

On Friday evening I finally got to give the 400 pads I've made for Okapi Finance to support a project in Somalia. Gisele, the CEO and founder of Okapi, came to visit and we went for dinner together. She was very happy with the pads, and even brought a few when she visited an orphanage the next day. I kept the pads for almost a year, and finally Gisele got the opportunity to take them and send to Somalia. Gisele is a fantastic Congolese/Swedish lady who is an entrepreneur and very creative with an interesting back-ground. She wants 10% of her invoicing to go to different development projects and loves my idea of the pads. I'm very happy to be supported by such a lovely person and we had an absolutely amazing conversation and a very interesting evening. I hope she will want me to make more pads. She also payed for them, so I can get some money to buy new material and give some more money to Destiny school.