Habitat for Humanity Youth Build (Goals)

Habitat for Humanity Sri Lanka takes on the Habitat Youth Build tomorrow on the 21st of March 2015. Its a youth led campaign aiming to tackle the global challenge of substandard housing for those who required the assistance. Growing each year this organization has reached other countries within the Asian Pacific region. This youth build engages young people to take action together to build homes and communities, advocate for decent shelter, raise funds and awareness about the rising poverty housing situation spreading to various parts of the country.

With this organization that we are collaborating with we have also volunteered to be apart of this Youth Build and promote the ideas of Habitat for Humanity. Not only will we be building houses but working various other jobs that are given to us at the time. Up to 500 other people are taking part in this build to issue the global crisis occurring here in Sri Lanka. Poverty as we know is bad, it does not just simple affect ones life but prevents a chance from ever being change. Poverty stricken people are dependent on the assistance of others because they aren't able to fulfil the requirements of housing. The living cost here in Sri Lanka isn't expensive for an average working person, but in this situation these people need to take loans to pay off their bills.

We know of the struggle and that is why we have chosen to help. For us this will be a new experience, sure, we've conducted a few builds but nothing as big as this. Not only are we working alongside hundreds of other people but we will be working a whole day. Tiering? yes, it is, but its for a good cause and for the people. There's a lot we wish to achieve over the course of this Youth Build and some of those would have to be;

1. Using time to our advantage. We want to be able to have as much work before the day ends. 
2. Working collaboratively and helping each other when in need. Working as a group means working together, we are a team and that means everyone gets involved. 
3. Behaviour around the site is important, specially as representatives from OSC we do need to set a good example. 

Following the IB learner profile we are being risk takers, taking responsibility into our own hands, solving problems and working out where things go. Helping the community by providing them with more volunteers and extra hands to help out with the jobs there. With everyone working together we should be able to have a lot accomplished within that one day. 

Week Without Walls (Highlands)

For our Week Without Walls trip we were given 4 options for the types of trips we can choose to go on. Those were:

• Highlands (Hiking) 
• Cultural Triangle 
• Jaffna (War Affects on Sri Lanka) 
• Coast to Coast (Bicycle Distance Riding) 

I chose to go with the first one which was (Highlands) and that was all about hiking up and through the mountains which is something that i am not only interested in but also capable of doing. Being an athlete i do like do endure various types of challenges and experience new things. Having already done a lot of cycling around the country and in other parts of the world, i personally felt the need to challenge myself once again with something new. This being the best option out of the other 3 i knew that it was accomplishable. The idea of Week Without Walls is for students to become more practical and learn through the outdoors, they are granted 1 week away from school to go to a chosen locations by teachers and begin observing the natural beauty that the country has to offer. 

Our trip was all about the environment and how things have changed over periods of time. Living in the outdoors, where its cold, wet, windy and sometimes even very hot (during the day). It is important for us to be able to learn something as well as have fun. Being apart of this country for 17 years i have never experienced something as interesting as this. The ride to our location took us a long time but before getting there we had a stop at some camp site where we would settle for the first day, take a tour and enjoy what it has to offer. 

For the first day, we went and took a look at a natural made waterfall where we were also able to swim in and go under. There was only one problem.. the water was freezing cold! Most of the students while going in warned everyone that it was extremely cold, so that took me a little bit longer to get in. 

The second day was where we head out towards the highlands, which was roughly a 4 hour drive or even longer. With a few snack stops along the way i thing we managed to get there in one piece. The location itself was within the wild, as we drove closer to our destination site we were able to see large groups of Sambar Dear walking. 

The location itself was a natural habitat for the animals living there. The terrain was more wet and contained larger fields of grass and eventually lead to a forest/jungle. With this being our home for the next 3 days we looked to making the most out of it, which we ended up doing. 

After settling in we all took a walk around the area to see what we are surrounded by and where things are for ourselves. We discovered a random telephone booth that was one of those old red ones that were all around England. It was placed right in the middle of a hill near a settlement. 

Given the prior information about the location we all came well prepared for the cold nights and the wet days. It was going to be hard to adjust but eventually we managed to do it. Our first hike was towards a 2000 meter high mountain and our goal was to be able to reach the top within 3 hours, sit down and look at the view from its peak. 

The other days that we were there we decided to and have more hikes except they were at different locations, we were expected to walk towards the mountain itself. 

These mountains that we visited were called "Mini Worlds End" & "Greater Worlds End" both being of the same kind, slightly separated from each other but within the same location. Climbing to the top and looking at the view before myself was one of the most amazing experiences in life. When we look at the beauty that our planet has inhabited, everything that we did that day was something to remember. The walk, the view, the breeze, the information told to us about each site. It gave me a sense of how nice things can be no matter how much bad there is around us. Having chosen this trip got me to realise a lot of things and that is what i value the most, it was an adventure time well spent for one week outdoors. 

SAISA Boys Football Champions

On the 4th of February 16 boys from the OSC football team including myself took part in the SAISA Football tournament. Each year our school participates in international competitions that involve us to travel to other host countries and fight for the championship titles against other schools. The host countries that take part for these SAISA tournaments are Chennai, Bombay, Dhaka, Oman, Nepal, Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

Each school sends student representatives to fight for a championship trophy to take back home to prove their dominance in that sports that they take part it. This year these 8 schools including ourselves took part in the football tournament that was hosted in Nepal, Katmandu. The process for taking part involves try outs, intense training sessions, games to test and prove your individual skill. These 3 aspects is what helps you make the team, if you excel in all those areas and prove your dominance you are safe to guarantee yourself a spot on the top 16 team. Being given only 6 weeks to cover all those aspects it was quite a challenge for us because some of the players that tried out hadn't played football or were experienced but didn't know how to play with a team. Imagine being given 6 weeks to work with, play with, train with new players. It gets hard to get used to but we had an advantage.

OSC is a school of 400 students and there aren't many seniors, roughly about 230 students that are in the secondary school. We had an advantage because most of our players on the team had been taking part in the last 3 years of SAISA football so working together with each other wasn't that hard for us to do. We knew each other and how each other all played and we were confident on stealing the win for this years International SAISA Tournament.
Knowing the location and country of Nepal itself we weren't worried about winning or being strong we were worried about independent fitness because of the temperature and altitude there. Nepal is a cold country and for 16 students that live in the tropics to move out into the colder region is going to be a harder adaption for as to make. Most students aren't even friends with the cold weather and that includes myself. The only obstacle in our way was the cold and we had to figure out reasons and solutions for working/playing past that. The tournament is 3 days long but we were there for 5, we took the time to adjust to the weather and admire the country and its features that it had.

Those 3 days had been the best and worst times of my life. The OSC Geckos take to the semi finals and we knew from the start that we were the dominant team and that nothing could stand in our way from getting that championship title. Winning the Semi Finals against our competitors, the host school of Nepal. We faced the Lincoln School and beat them 3-0 with some casualties. I personally was taken down and had dislocated my shoulder, and received 2 muscle bruises and 2 torn ligaments in my shoulder near my rotator cuffs. With being sent to the hospital i was unable to play the Finals against Bombay, but although i was upset i was happy to say i had contributed a lot to bringing our team to the finals.

Towards the end of the 3rd day we faced off against Bombay and took the game to penalties after a 1-1 draw during the match and a no goal process in both extra time. Penalties it was, having not taken or practiced that much of penalty shots we managed to come out on top and take that championship! The Geckos made history and it is a memory i will never forget and always cherish.