Final Reflection!

The time as finally come for my creativity, action and service work at OSC to end. This work has been documented over the past 18 months of the IB programme, on this blog and each learning outcome that I have mentioned has been achieved. This is a great success, as a lot of hard work, time, and effort has gone into accomplishing these outcomes. I have been faced with challenges over the course of my CAS involvement but have learned many skills and gained knowledge and perspective that not only allowed me to overcome these challenges, but I believe will continue to help me in any future endeavor. Even though, my shared leadership of Habitat for Humanity has come to a close, I hope to continue my involvement in Habitat or in a community service group similar to it, in the near future. I will always cherish the memories of my time spent helping to build houses, performing at events, raising funds for good causes, and so on and so forth, and so I wish to continue to be an active participant in all such activities once I am in university.

Action/Service: My last Habitat build

On the 25th of February, I went on my last habitat build :( We went to Indivitiya Jaela and met with three families who were grateful to receive our help on the construction and maintenance of their houses. I have been on quite a few builds over the past two years and for the most part of those builds we helped lay the cement for the floor. For the first time though, on this build, we were asked to do the opposite - break up a cement floor. This proved quite difficult, but with the help and instruction of some of the locals, I was able to better understand the technique needed to break up the floor in an efficient manner, hence allowing me to develop new skills. All in all, we worked well together as a team and got a lot of work done. The families whom we had helped appeared to be very appreciative of the work we had put in, making all our aches and pains worth it in the end.

Service/Creativity: Charity Chic Fashion Show 2012!

On the 11th of February, the community service group Hope For Kids held a Fashion Show to raise funds for the Children's ward of the Maharagama Cancer Hospital. I participated in it by modelling a variety of Sri Lankan designers clothing for an audience of teachers, students, parents and friends. Through doing this I definitely undertook a new challenge, that of modelling. Performing onstage is not in the least bit new to me but the challenges and specificaties that arise out of modelling sure were. I was engaged with an issue of global importance, that of cancer and the fight against it. In order to put on the best fashion show we could, therefore raising more funds, we had to show perseverance and commitment in this activity as we met on a regular basis in the weeks leading up to the fashion show. In addition, I worked collaboratively with others as this was key to the success of the final show. In the end, a significant amount of money was raised for this fantastic cause through this fashion show by Hope for Kids. The final amounts were (approximately): 400,000 rps from tickets and about 350,000 from sponsors with a final total amount of 750,000 rps.

I am really glad I participated in this event because not only did I get to contribute to improvements in the children's ward of the hospital, but I also got to have fun doing it!