November 27

Advocating for THE ADVOCATE

Literature is one of the most interesting and significant expressions of humanity. If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.

One of the other ASAs I signed up for this year is “The Advocate”. It is a literary magazine that is organized by the school. Every year The Advocate holds a literary competition under three categories namely “Poetry, Photography, and Prose”. Each submission is judged by a board of experts formed by the teachers of the L&L section at OSC. The best are then published either digitally or manually. Our advertising was done mainly through emails and the morning bulletin board. We also displayed posters around the school. With constant reminders, the students submitted their creations at the start of the October break.

The posters for the Advocate competition

In total, we received about 50+ submissions from all categories. The submissions were then judged by the teachers and three winners were selected from each category.

This was a really good experience as we, The Advocates, planned everything together with the help of Ms De Jong. We are currently working on the awards for the winners. There are some limitations as we are unable to spend a lot of money on gifts but nonetheless, we are doing our best to appreciate their talent, hard work, and dedication.

Us, The Advocates working on the advertising for the contest.

So far, through the Advocate, I learnt how to organize a competition. What the basic necessities are for such a competition and what supplementary areas should you focus on etc. I learnt how to discuss with the other members collectively before arriving at a decision. And most of all I met a lot of new people at school. So, I hope to work with this ASA group for the rest of my school years spent here.

Category: Creativity | LEAVE A COMMENT
November 8

Wall Climbing with G4G

With the girls from the Emerge Center, we participated in Wall Climbing. It was a new experience for all of the girls and they enjoyed it so much. At first, some of them were a bit scared but after a few minutes, they all did it. Wall climbing is not merely about fun and enjoyment; it is also about team support and spirit. While one member climbs the wall the others support her by guiding her to the next steps.

I personally think that this was also a good moral for the girls as they have gone through a daunting experience in their lives, which neither one of us can relate to. Most of these girls have been disowned by their parents and they are left out to the society. With such an experience in hand, hurtful memories can flow through as you move in with the society. But, no matter how many obstacles and challenges dance in front of your face you must go on and achieve your dreams. You may want to give up when you have gone halfway, but you must always suppress that thought and fight your way to the top. In literal, this is the same as wall-climbing. Every step you take is a challenge. By overcoming all of them you reach the top.

One of the girls from the Emerge Centre climbing the wall.

 

The girls from the Emerge Center were full of team spirit. They were so eager to help their sisters to reach the top. They were really good at wall-climbing too. Most of the girls flew over the rungs to the top. It was an interesting sight to watch. I enjoyed it a lot too as it was new for me too. Even though sadly I didn’t get the opportunity to engage in the activity because of the limited time span, it was a good experience for me. After the activity, we treated the girls with snacks. As it was the last day we were spending with them – the batches graduated every 3 months – after farewell speeches from both parties we walked them to their bus. The last few minutes were quite emotional and some of the girls were on the verge of tears. It was also very special to me as few girls called me by my name just before they left. Even though we introduced ourselves at the beginning of the visits ( 2 months ago), I didn’t expect them to remember it. So, it made me so glad and it was exceptional.

All the girls from the Emerge Centre and the members of the service supporting and encouraging the girls who were climbing.

That closed the curtains for one of the memorable events of my life.

Category: Service | LEAVE A COMMENT
November 8

The Girls are ready to step up: Graduation Ceremony

Every Thursday at OSC is reserved for Service activities. All the students engage in a service conducted by the school. There are 8 service groups that get together every week and work to either support little kids or recycle waste at school or teach kids to swim or support troubled girls etc. Currently, I am a member of the Girls for Girls service group. Ten girls of grades 8-12 work together with our leader Savindi Jayasuriya of DP 2 to support a group of sexually abused girls. We coordinate with The Emerge Lanka Foundation in Colombo.

Last week the Foundation held the graduation ceremony of the Girls’ from the Batch 08. It was a really emotional function as 10 girls who were residing in the center for 3 months left for new employments in society. At the ceremony, the girls displayed their talents in dancing, singing, acting and defense skills. These girls have been working with us for more than 2 months and we’ve got a lot of memories with them. It was so sad to know that maybe we would never get to meet them again. I was so happy that I was able to be a part of this special day.

During the past three months at the center, the girls have learnt academics, dancing, music, art, defense skills, computer skills and so many other social and practical skills that we’ve been struggling out whole life to get a hold of. They came from different provinces in the country but they became one family at the center. They received the love and protection from the people at Emerge. It was so lovely to hear the girls addressing the ladies at Emerge by “Amma”.

These girls have survived sexual abuse and they are much stronger than anyone of us can imagine. So I would like to wish them luck for their future and hope that we would get to see them someday in the future.

A photo taken outside the hall where the graduation ceremony was held of some of the members of the service group “Girls for Girls”.

Category: Service | LEAVE A COMMENT