May 28

Service Reflection – DP1

Dp1 is almost over leaving behind lots of beautiful memories. During the past 2 semesters at OSC, service has been an important part of my life. I signed up the service group ‘Grils For Girls’ mainly because of the issue they were addressing. Sexual harassment is increasing around the globe but not the actions taking against them. So as a group we work with groups of girls from Emerge Center Lanka to help them ease their minds and rehabilitate them. It’s a lot of fun and we always exchange a lot of things among ourselves; may it be how to cook, weave bracelets, make smoothies or even play cricket.

The girls participated in Wall climbing.
P.c: Savindi Jayasuriya

The girls helped us with making tacos. P.c: Savindi Jayasuriya

During the past year, we did a lot of activities with them like playing cricket, volleyball, wall climbing, making smoothies, making tacos, singing songs and many more. All of these activities brought unique experiences to all of us. I personally learnt a lot about working collaboratively. All of the girls were a family. They were so cooperative with each other to the extent that I was surprised. They are also very skilled with household work and I was very impressed by their artistry in cooking. The group consisted of singers, dancers, painters, skilled sportsmen and it was a great experience working with them. However, with the current situation, the Emerge Center has decided to close down its compartment for a year and we are definitely going to miss working with such lovely girls.

Each service day is reserved for different individuals. This way each of us gets to plan out an activity for the girls and conduct it. I believe this is really good as it improves your planning skills. When you are planning an activity for them have to take into consideration many things. For example, it cannot be something that might remind them of a past incident etc. And also conducting the activity can be challenging too. The girls are not very fluent English speakers so there was always an issue with language. Me being a Sinhala speaker, I found it helpful to communicate with the girls easily and also to aid the other OSC members with talking to them.

So I think service has always been fun and productive. All the girls from OSC work really hard in all service projects and I am really proud to work alongside such a team.  With the Emerge Center being closed next year we wish to conduct some other activities to work for the empowerment of women. I hope to extend my complete to support for all the future endeavours of the service group. Even though with the Covid-19 situation we haven’t been able to engage in any practical events with the girls I believe our aspiration stands strong.

At the girls graduation ceremony.
P.c: Mrs. D

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May 28

SERVICE with the troublemakers

“What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.” Ellen Burstyn

With starting the second semester of DP1 in January 2020, I spent a lot of time on my school work, submitting assignments and keeping up with the content. I also participated in a lot of extra-curricular activities at school and outside school which only left me at home for a couple of hours each day.  This made me spend very little time with my family and especially my siblings. And I did miss fighting with them over the simplest matters and making fun of them and annoying them. Nonetheless, this quarantine period left me with plenty of opportunities to spend time with them.

So during this time, I helped them with their schoolwork, watched movies, did some cooking and played board games. It is pretty hard to cope with 3 kids of different ages at the same time because they seem to have very different tastes in everything. However, my mother was really happy about me working with them as they were off her trail even for some time.

I helped my brother with math and I helped my sister with note-taking and studying techniques for her upcoming exam. We also watched some horror movies together- one of the things that all of us love to do. It was nice to forget about the assignments due and just concentrate on whether there’s a ghost under your chair.

Overall, it was good to spend time with my siblings and it helped me to bond with them more. At the same time, I’m glad I could help my mother in a way.

 

Learning Outcomes:

  • Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.

This was of the few things I learnt the most when working with my siblings. At first, there was a lot of fights with picking a movie or who’s in charge of what. But once I realized that the best way was to go for something everyone preferred and do something everyone loved it helped to reduce the disagreements between them. Since everyone was sharing their ideas I also got the opportunity to understand their preferences.

  • Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

Working with my siblings was a challenge firsthand. They liked different things so I had to listen to all of them, especially my younger brothers before deciding on anything to do with them. This helped with my patience as there were plenty of times when I got annoyed because of them. Also, I learnt to plan out things that all my siblings would enjoy doing together.

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February 12

WALK TO A HEALTHIER NEIGHBORHOOD – PLASTIC PATROL 2020

A plastic patrol and a brand audit were organized by the OSC Reefkeepers to celebrate the Wetlands Day on the 2nd of February 2020. It was done around the school neighbourhood with the voluntary participation of school students and some parents. 

The purpose of this was to walk around the OSC neighbourhood and collect all the trash on the streets on three separate routes, conduct a brand audit – sort the trash by brand and collect data to send to the relevant organizations and influence the companies to hold corporations accountable and to improve their packaging and waste management.

The cleanup started at 9.00 in the morning. All of the volunteers were each given a pair of gloves and a recycling bag to collect rubbish into. We were then asked to chose a group as three groups were supposed to go on three different routes. I chose the group which was lead by Talia who was a leader of the service group. We walked through our planned route picking up plastics, paper, tin, and glass on our way. Our route fell through residential areas, across the military headquarters and back to the school. When we reached the school both the other groups were already there cause apparently, ours was the longest route.

Me picking trash on the road.
P.c; Talia Shea

Me picking trash on the road.
P.c; Talia Shea

Then it was time for the brand audit. All the trash that was collected was then separated into different piles based on the mother company. All the data was recorded and pictures were taken. Most of the trash collected was going to be sent to their companies. Most of the trash we collected was from Nestle, which is the mother company of Milo, Nescafe, and other milk packets. Apart from that, we found packings from food products like snacks and biscuits, plastic cups from ice coffee and a lot of candy wrappings. Other stuff included glass bottles, tins, cigarette boxes, and plastic bottles.

The collected trash been sorted out at the school
P.c; Talia Shea

Once each type of waste was organized into specific bags, either to be recycled or disposed of and documented packaging with pictures the brand audit was complete. The bags that couldn’t be sent to the production companies were disposed at school.

However, like everything else picking trash had its limits as we couldn’t pick wet trash from the drainage, trash from dumpsites or burning sites. After the brand audit, the volunteers had the option to swim. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience even though it was a bit tiring. But I’m glad to have taken part in a good thing like this where we work towards the betterment of the environment. The main thing that made me realize was that around the school there is a lot of waste being thrown despite the signs saying otherwise. The overconsumption of products and the amount of unnecessary packaging is causing environmental degradation and this needs to be brought into consideration of the responsible people. I hope that the school community continue to work towards more similar projects and also provide opportunities like this in order to strive for a more environmentally friendly future.

The plastics that were collected during the cleanup were then taken to the plastic recycling centre at Athurugiriya, Sri Lanka which has been the largest plastic recycling group for the past decade.  They divide the plastics based on the colour, shape and type. Once the plastics are sorted, they remove the labels and cut into flakes. Then they are washed, dried and packed according to colour and either sent to other companies for various plastic productions or used for producing brooms and brushes. Some of the flakes are also exported to Asian countries like India, South Korea and Pakistan.

I believe that centres like VIRIDIS that work towards the betterment of society and environment should always be supported by the government. They should be encouraged to develop their industries. I hope this recycling plant will work hard to protect the environment of Sri Lanka in the future too.

Learning outcomes;

Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

  • We live in a world where the usage of plastics is increasing on a daily basis. Through this project, we were able to communicate with many mother companies of plastic producers. Along with the brand audit and informing the companies and encouraging them to take necessary actions I think we’ve addressed the global issue of increasing plastic waste in the environment.

Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.

  • Even though the brand audit was organized by a single service group of OSC (Reef Keepers) many volunteers participated in the event including myself. Only with the help of the whole group were we able to successfully complete the process. I also got to know different people from other grades and it was a good way of interaction too. These activities truly help us to value the benefits of working collaboratively.

 

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February 3

WWW – HAMBANTOTA

This year is my first and final week without walls, I was put in the Housing and Habitat group to Hambantota. The group was lead by Mr Rossberg and Ms Fleming. At Hambantota, we were to teach a group of preschool kids and also to build them a railway track to play on. And then finally, we were going to do a beach clean-up at the Shangri-la. So before going on this trip, there was a lot of planning to do.

There was a lot of planning required in order to make sure that kids won’t bored or distracted at the same time. Mr Rossberg said that the teaching time is one and a half hours. At first, one and a half hours is not much, but when working with small kids who are from ages 3 – 5, they can get distracted pretty quickly so it can be really hard to keep them engaged the whole time. So my team including me, Hamda, Oliver and Arav tried to choose activities that are fun and also time-consuming. Before we went on the trip we were able to come up with 6 activities.

  • Spider-web ( Children would pass around a string in a random manner by introducing themselves )
  • Number match ( Teach numbers from 1-10 and do a matching activity where the children would match the numbers with objects )
  • Basketball ( Children would stand in a line and try to throw the balls from a near-by basket to one that is further away )
  • Colouring ( Children will be given printed pictures for colouring. )
  • Paper plate crafts ( Children will be designing a paper plate with pictures and drawings. )
  • Writing a letter to parents ( Children will be designing and signing off their names in a pre-written thank you letter for their parents. )

 

DAY 1

We left OSC at 8:00 am hoping that we’ll make it to Hambantota around 12:30 pm. It was about 225 km from OSC to Hambantota and around 10-15 km to the Janoda Foundation which was going to be our lodgings for the first 3 nights. After we got to the Janoda foundation we had lunch and had about half an hour to settle down before we were taken on a tour around the Hambantota area. We visited an old British ruin and a beautiful beach with an amazing view. Then we went to Mattiello Towers; which is a prison that was used in the old days.

Later we went up to Bundala and looked at some wildlife; saw some monkeys, lots of birds, 2 jackals and 3 crocodiles.

One of the crocodiles we saw at Bundala.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

A flock of birds at Bundala.
Pc credits; Ms Fleming

Once we finished the sight-seeing we headed back to the foundation where we got time to shower and clean up and get ready for dinner. After dinner, we had some time for the lesson planning to make sure that we have everything ready for tomorrow. The groups were divided in a way so that every group had a Sinhala- speaker. As one of our classmates were sick and couldn’t attend the trip we had to re-organize our groups a bit but it was sorted really quick. We had everything prepared ( thanks to Hamda ), so it was quite easy for our group, we just relaxed after our group was approved by Mr Rossberg and Ms Fleming.

DAY 2

The next day we were woken up by Ms Fleming at about 6.30 am and we were supposed to be ready for breakfast by 7.30 am. The scheduled teaching was going to start at 8.30 am. We had breakfast and headed to the garden. The kids were saying their prayers they were all lined up with flowers to welcome us.

The children welcomed us with flowers.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

A few kids were crying hanging onto their parents but most of them were happy with bright faces. It was a pleasing sight to our eyes. We started the day off with some activities outside, the teachers were singing and dancing around the garden and we joined them and did exactly what they did as somewhat of an ice breaker and so that the kids will warm up to us and would want to work.

The OSC group joined the kids and teachers as they were playing in the garden.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

Just as planned, we started off with the spider web. We wanted it to be an ice-breaker for the children.

My group doing the spider-web with the children.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming After that we gave them some printed pictures for them to colour. The colouring went well than we expected. They were so excited and concentrated on doing their best.

Hamda helping the kids with the colouring.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

When they were finished with the colouring we displayed them on a notice board and then we did the basketball game. This activity didn’t last that long as the kids were too excited to play with the balls. They started to get more excited in the balls than in the actual game. Then we let the children play in the playground for about 15 minutes until it was time for their break.

Once the teaching for the day was done we started working on the mini-railway track at the back of the school. The boys started digging the ground to place the blocks of wood in while the girls started painting the blocks.

The OSC group working hard in the sun.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

After about an hour of work we had lunch and then continued the work right after. The first hour of work before lunch was the hardest. Everyone was trying to get a grip of the work so it was a bit tiring; and the bright sun wasn’t much of a help. But the session after lunch was much easier and we were able to do more work than we expected. I also helped with the digging for some time. Doing this type of work really helps us appreciate the benefits that we have, but experiences like this are valued highly because it teaches you the aspects of labour and poverty.

Labour and poverty are huge issues that not only Sri Lanka but many countries all over the world are facing. Experiences like this help us get a better understanding on how hard people in rural areas work in order to make a day’s worth of pay. Then we had dinner and some time for lesson planning. Once it was approved, we had some free time where we just hung out together before we went to bed.

 

DAY 3

We were woken up at 6.30 am again and we had to get dressed and ready for breakfast by 7:30 am. As the day before, we walked off to the school to start the teachings. The day started off with rain so we couldn’t engage in any outdoor activities with the children. We started with the paper plate crafts. We gave each student a paper plate and different shapes cut out of coloured paper. I did a sample craft along with them too. The children were very interested in this activity and it was fun to see them engaged in the activity happily.

Me doing a sample paper plate craft along with the kids.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

After this, we did the number match with them. First of all we revised all the numbers with the children and then asked them to match it with the number of balls. Finally, we gave thank you cards that were prepared by us for them to design. They drew various designs on the cards and signed their names. We asked the teachers to send the cards with the students to their parents. This closed the curtains for our last teaching session with the kids. The children gave us flowers as parting gifts and it was an emotional event. We had so much fun with them and it was a great experience.

Me thanking the teachers for their support during our last day at the Janoda Preschool.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

Since we finished off most of the work on the previous day we didn’t have much left to do. So a few people worked on completing the mini-railway, some worked on the mural and the rest painted one of the walls in the preschool. Once the work was done we visited a local potter. We witnessed how the traditional potter threw pots by spinning the wheel. It was mesmerizing to see the woman shaping and creating a pot out of a clump of clay. All most all of us threw pots on the wheel as well. Even though it doesn’t seem that hard watching at it; but once you sit on the spot and hold the clay in your hands you feel the difficulty.

Me throwing a pot on the potter’s wheel.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

It is not easy to shape the pot as the slightest mistake can ruin it. However with the help of the pottery lady I was able to throw a pot out of the clay.

My pot of clay.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

After we were done at the potter’s, we bid good-bye to the potter and his wife and headed back to the Janoda foundation. It was our last night at the Foundation so we prepared dinner by ourselves. We were divided in groups and each was assigned a task. My group consisted of me and Anish and we and we had to prepare the sauce for pasta. Preparing the sauce was quite easy. All we had to do was chop the garlic and onions, fry them and then add the canned sauces. The sauce came out pretty well and we all enjoyed a delicious dinner.

 

DAY 4

The next day was all about final touches. After breakfast at 7.30 am per usual we dusted off our beds and cleaned our rooms. Then we cleaned the wooden blocks as they were covered in mud. We also did second coatings on the mural.

The mini-railway track we built.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

Once everything was done and dusted we were ready to leave to Shangri-la when we had to look for a lost ball. Every one searched for the ball because or else Mr Turner would have been so mad. After about an hour of searching, we found the ball and at last, we were ready for Shangri-la. We thanked Mr Gamage and the staff of the Janoda Foundation and bid good-bye. We reached the hotel at about 11.15 am so we had about 45 minutes to relax and get ready for lunch and the beach cleanup which would be followed after. 

After a delicious lunch, we went to a beach near-by to clean it up. The beach doesn’t look polluted at the first sight, but once you go further you start to see how the fishermen and the locals have put so much trash there; from clothes, bottles, fishnets, food wrappings to the most random things. The beach clean-up wasn’t as much tiring. To be honest I think I enjoyed most of it. It was a really good project because as Mr Pulinda told the locals don’t bother cleaning the beach as much as they do in polluting them.

During the beach cleanup.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

During the beach cleanup.
Photo credits; Mr Rossberg

After the beach clean-up. Photo credits; Ms Fleming

We were done with the cleaning by 4:30 and we headed back to the hotel and we had downtime till 7:00. So I chilled for a bit in the pool and then had a long hot water shower before heading for dinner. After dinner, we watched tv for some time and then talked about random stuff until I felt sleepy. So I said good night and went to sleep realizing it was the last night of the trip. The next morning we had a bit of a sleep-in. We had breakfast and were ready to go back to Colombo.

This was one of the best trips that I have ever been on. The people were so nice and we were able to bond over many things and it was amazing. We made our own jokes, went nearly five days without our phones and did lots of work which we were very proud of. We had two really good supervisors who were a lot of fun and supportive. I enjoyed this trip very much. It was a whole new experience for me and I loved every bit of it. Everything went well and overall I was glad to be on this trip. This was the perfect way to end my Week Without Walls experience!

 

 

 

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December 9

OLIVER – Front of House Help

The Annual Production 2019 organized by the OSC Theatre Group was performed last week. This year it was a musical by the name “OLIVER”. It took place on the 5th, 6th and 7th of December 2019 at the school auditorium. The actors and actresses had been rehearsing from the start of September 2019 under the guidance of Ms Jackson and Ms Duncan. Students from all grades from 6 to 12 took part in the play and it was truly successful. The support extended by the band was also highly appreciated. Everything from the costumes to the singing and acting was all perfect and almost all of the audience offered praises.

So I decided that maybe if I could lend a hand to help with the front of the house it would be really good. I signed up for Front Of House help on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, me Talia, Alex, Jack, Karven and Andrew got together and divided ourselves among the ushering and the front of house. I along with Talia, Jack and Karven ushered the guests to their seats. We were able to complete our task without much happening so I think it was successful. On Thursday, it was me, Ashwini, Rukshi, Sanya and Luke. The process was the same as before but it was the night of the Gala and the number of guests was limited. I helped in greeting the guests at the entrance and checking their tickets.

The photo was taken outside the auditorium while helping FOH on Saturday. ( Myself and Ashwini )

It was my first time and it was a really good experience. We had to check for the tickets and also to usher them to their respectant seats. It was a short process of about 30 minutes and it was fun and interesting. I enjoyed every moment of it. Through this, I learnt to take responsibility for an act or situation as each of us was given a specific area for ushering. I also learnt to greet the guests and be proactive. Another thing I received through this was to keep track of something after looking at it only for a couple of times. ( We familiarized ourselves with the positioning of the seats just once and we kept track of it till the end.) So, overall I believe that it was very enjoyable and experiencing at the same time.

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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.

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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”.

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September 20

Change your thoughts and you change your world

IB ORIENTATION TRIP – KITHULGALA

My homeroom group alongside Ms. Chandlar

IF YOU WANT TO GO FAST GO ALONE.

IF YOU WANT TO GO FAR GO TOGETHER.

The DP1 Orientation trip was a mandatory trip for all the DP1 students. We went to Kithulgala Borderlands. It was a whole new experience for me and a good opportunity as well. One, because I am new at OSC and I didn’t know most people and two, I had never done anything like this before. At Kithulgala we did canoeing, white-water rafting, hiking and ab-sailing. It was quite an adventure for me because I’m not that much of an outdoor person. But I enjoyed every part of it. I got to know more about my class-mates and also about the teachers.

An image of us canoeing down the Kelani River; Image courtesy; Mr. Will Duncan

The journey started with me coming to school on the morning of the 28th. We left school at about ten minutes to seven. First, we did canoeing along the Kelani River. We had to jump off small cliffs to the river. The guides provided us with the necessary safety precautions. I found the first jump a bit terrifying but as we moved onto the second and third jumps I was less scared. It was very thrilling. Apart from all this, I guess it taught us to accept challenges with a positive mind. Challenges can come in various forms and in order to overcome it you must jump into it, just like jumping into the water with no clear idea of the depth of the river.

We had a delicious lunch by the river. Then we went on a forty-minute hike up the river, through the forest with frequent leech attacks. Afterward, we participated in white-water rafting. We were put into groups; each with six classmates, a teacher and a guide from Borderlands. I have to say it was technically the best. We had to raft through some rough areas and it was fun. As a team we rowed in harmony and it taught me how to corporate with each other in times of danger. Also, it helped me in bonding with my team. Then we swam to our hotel, where we were welcomed with a hot cup of soup. We had showers- some had river baths-had dinner and got together for a reflection of our day’s work. Later at about 9.30pm we said goodnight and had a sound sleep.

White water rafting in the Kelani River; Image courtesy; Mr. Will Duncan

Image courtesy; Mr. Will Duncan

The next day didn’t actually start off well. The sun was shining when we started our morning stretches but then it started pouring so we had to cancel our morning run and make changes in our plan for the day. So instead of going Ab-sailing as planned we hiked to the Kithulgala Beli-Lena. There we listened to a story and were asked to draw a map of our journey with the use of AOKs ( Areas Of Knowledge ) and WOKs ( Ways Of Knowing ).

The TOK session held at the Kithulgala Beli Lena; Image courtesy; Mr. Will Duncan

Straight from there, we hiked back to the waterfall where we were supposed to do the ab-sailing. Ab-sailing is one thing you have to do once in your lifetime. I was so excited about it that I didn’t even feel scared despite the height of the waterfall and a high amount of water. But as I gradually went down the rope the pressure water created on my legs increased. At times I felt that I won’t be able to handle the pressure anymore. But however, after about 10 whole minutes I landed safely.

Me, when I went on ab-sailing; Image courtesy; Mr. Will Duncan

Image courtesy; Mr. Will Duncan

Then after the hike back to the bus, we went to the hotel. Our adventures for the day were over. As previously we reflected our experiences and also went through the plans for the next day. Moreover, we had a discussion about Greta Thunberg.

The following day, which was our last day at Borderlands Kithulgala, consisted of nothing adventurous. Once again we were put into groups to interview some local villages. Each group included a Sinhala speaker to aid with the interviews. We put together some questions in groups and then we went to our resource persons. The interviews went really well and being a fluent Sinhala speaker I was able to lead the interview. It was a good experience for me because I learned how to interview someone. And also at the same time how to act as a translator to the other members. Thus, I greatly enjoyed it. After, we visited the on-going construction of the dam.

Image courtesy; Mr. Will Duncan

Then we had an early lunch at the hotel and started our journey back to Colombo. Within about three hours we were safely back in school and we all headed back home with lovely memories collected from the days at Kithulgala. Overall I enjoyed the trip so much. I made a lot of new friends and it made me comfortable around the new teachers and students. So I’m truly glad I was able to be a part of this journey.

One thing I want to highlight through this is that the IB Orientation trip wasn’t organized merely for fun. Yes, we did have fun, but most importantly we received so many values and learnt so many things that were hidden in every activity we participated in. We learned to work together as a group. We learnt to listen to others’ ideas and respect them. We learnt to face challenges with a positive attitude. And we learnt that nothing is impossible as long as you are together. So as for this moment, I am really happy that I am a GECKO.

The DP 1 group; Image courtesy; Mr. Will Duncan

 

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