Gecko Inc Restarts!

Gecko Inc. is Finally back! After around 8 months during which we were all in lockdown, I finally managed to start up the service with my co-leaders and the new members of the group,  With the help of the school we have figured out how to restart week after week gatherings online to get ready for the future and devise inventive approaches to help children how to swim through the online median.

Our first course of action was to create our new mission statement and visions: This took us the entire first Thursday block because we wanted our mission and vision to be clear about we are and plan on doing in the future.

• Service Description

The Gecko Inc. service group focuses on helping disadvantaged Sri Lankan children to develop basic water safety skills. Considering the fact that Sri Lanka is an island, a child’s ability to feel safe around water is critical to preventing drownings. 

• Mission Statement

The Gecko Inc. service group focuses on helping disadvantaged Sri Lankan children to develop basic water safety skills.

• Vision Statement

To ensure all children can feel safe around water.

Next class, we started to revisit old ideas and see what was still viable during this time and what wasn’t. Any future plans and how can we figure out some effective ideas that can benefit the kids.

By the end of that class, we devised many productive ideas that can benefit the kids. Those included digit teaching such as videos that we make beforehand that are universal to kids who don’t speak English as well as making an Instagram and youtube account for the service to help promote the service.

Ideas

• • • Donating old swimsuits, goggles, gear…
• Videos:
  • For beginners: being able to flip onto their backs and float, blowing bubbles (simple activities to feel comfortable in the water)
  • For Intermediate: swimming without a board (learning to rely on themselves)
  • For Advanced: teaching them the technique of strokes  + Fitness
• Social Media: 
  • Instagram Account (to reach OSC audience in case of fundraisers, donations)
  • Youtube channel – videos
  • GeckoInc email

Conclusion

Right now I think planning for the future is the best course of action for my service as I am a senior and won’t be part of this service soon, so building and planning for the future of this service is vital and will be very beneficial not only for the kids but also for the future of this service and its purpose

 

Learning Outcomes: 

Planning and Initiative: My service so far will require a lot of planning and future initiative due to the fact that we are in such a time very taking action is such a difficult task due to all the health and safety concerns. But from what I’ve seen in my service meetings there is a lot of inactive taken by all the new members and of course the current leaders  Including Jack, Giulia, and I. Which also extends onto my next learning outcome of Collaborative learning where the whole group all members are always chiming in, and everyone is working collaboratively and being open-minded about each other’s ideas.

Challange and Skills + Global Engagement: During a time like this anything is a challenge but what my service is doing is not only learning and developing new skills we are encountering and always making it over any challenge we encounter, this extends to our global engagement where we are doing something that’s more important than ourselves, we are helping kids who don’t have access to their basic life skills. We are helping the world be a better place even though it could be on such a small scale.