The first CLEFT session - 06.09.12

Today was the first session/C.S for CLEFT, LIP & PALLET.
Our leaders are Imran Akbarally (my brother) and Nadeera. Both of who are in the 12th grade.
The first thing we did was introduce ourselves. And then Nadeera started to tell us about our main goals for the near future.
OUr biggest goal would be the 'Battle of the Bands' which is a music concert performed by various bands in the country. This same concert was done last year as well. We are doing it again as many people enjoyed it and we raised alot of money (enough for 30 operations).
Our main C.S goal is to raise money for the CLEFT AND LIP operations, and since they are very expensive we had to think of numerous differernt ideas on ways to collect money and get funds.
Today we were also asked in what way we were going to help organize 'The battle of the bands'. I chose the job as 'band advertising' this meaning that I will ask my friends from different schools in the country whether they have a band and they like to audition for battle of the bands and so on. This way I will also be spreading the awareness of cleft alone, thus more people might be interested in giving donations and so on. So far I have informed a band called CRUNKS, they all go to the Asian International school.
Next lesson we hope to focus mainly on the Battle of the Bands, however also possibly do a simple immediate action/project (eg. bake sale, movie night and so on), before the October break.

2012
GRADE 9

CLEFT LIP & PALET

This year I have decided to try a complete new C.S.  Initially I thought I was going to continue RCCI, however then things changed. After an assembly put up by the Cleft c.s, I realised that the women who was our connection to the hospital, was also my dentist. This was a big shock however then I thought of some advantages. I googled CLEFT to get some back ground information and I relized what a serious condition it was. I was very enthusiastic to help. However at first I had no idea that i would actually join the C.S. Instead I had a discussion with my dentist. In summer 2011, I held a Garage sale, in which I was going to somehow help the Lady Ridge Way Hospital, one of the most common local hospitals in Colombo. Coincidentally being the same hospital as the the CLEFT operations are held. I raised 40,000 rupees, in which I could fund for 2 operations to cure these children. Recently I relised that, that is what I want to do. Thus I went and had a visit to the hospital with my dentist. I learnt so much about the condition. The doctors had to explain about the condition to the parents of these children suffereing from CLEFT, during this explanation I also learned alot.  After the visit I was sure that I was going to help these children. Now we are currently planning a date for two children who need the operation the most, and I shall fund for it using the money I collected last summer.
Then when school started I realized that it would only make sense for me to join CLEFT, as i already new so much about the condition. However I am still not going to make these two operations I do part of school or involve the C.S group, as they are working to a different level. Instead im going to go to the C.S and be happy about the two children I saved.

New CAS, new term...

22.03.12

Last term I started a new cas DAWG, which I managed to mention about. I was planning to complete it for the next year since I enjoyed helping the dogs and the fund raiser, however about a month ago, beginning of 2/4 of the year, I found out that DAWG would only be going for one semester a year, this was disappointing since I had to change my cas, however it was also another opportunity to try a new cas and help different people. The last fundraiser/ task that we did for DAWG was the actual sterilisation that took place in January. We used the money that we collected over the last semester, from the food drive and bake sale to buy the steralizations. We managed to sterilise 50 dogs and about 20 cats. Everyone from our cas was very proud and so was I :). Unfortuneately it was time to say good bye to my amazing team mates in DAWG and the dogs themselves, however not forever since I hope to continue this cas next year and possibly become the leader, the year after :)

Either way I had to chose another cas, which I have already had to sessions of. The new cas I chose was RICC. It is basically a school/organization of disabled children. They have various conditions and diseases; dyslexia and Autisum, that prevent them from: Living there fullest life spend, growing, talking and even intellectual capacity. Every Thusday these children come to our school. We play ball, try and have conversation, play tag and even listen to music. The more active these kids are, the longer they have to live which is why we keep our activities more energetic. I have made new friends in my two new sessions of this cas and I really enjoy spending time with them! Unfortunately there is nothing we can give or buy them thus a fundraiser would not help. In this way RCCI is very different from DAWG, where we can only raise funds and not interact with them. This cas is the complete opposite which is a good change. However I wish there was something other than time and affection I could give to these children, I know how much they appreciate that, however I still feel that its not enough. In comparison to our lives they are very very different in a bad way, thus I want to do all I can to change it for them. At the end of each cas, usually after about 45 minutes of playing. We provide each student with a drink, usually a milk or something cold. This is one thing we give to them, as a token of consideration, something that will make the children know we are truly their friends. Unfortuneately each cas session is pretty much the same. I would prefer if each session had a slight plan or structure, thus we wouldn't be bored,which occasionally happens. Yesterday during the cas session three girls told me they were bored and I felt really bad! I didn't know what to say. I would like to have a word with the leader, which will maybe persuade him to do soothing about it. This is some self advice which will help me when I hope to be the leader of any cas, either RCCI or DAWG.

I look forward to seeing the children next week and I hope to organise some paper and crayons so we can entertain them with some art however this is not a very physical activity, thus I will ask my leader for permission. If this is not possible I will try and ask the sports department for some more advanced sports equipment that should keep them entertained for longer :D

2nd DAWG bake sale! 18.11.11

Today was the second bake sale organized my the DAWG comity. It took place during the break of the Secondary drama production, Fiddler on the Roof. Each memeber of the DAWG group was assigned to either bake or buy a paticular sweet food. We sold food like: cup-cakes, brownies, cake, soft drinks and biscuits. All these sweets were marked at a low price since we wanted to sell everything rather than have left overs when selling the food foe a high price. We had food packs that consisted of two snacks and a drink, this was sold for 150 rupees which is very reasonably compared to how much this amount would be sold in a professional bake sale or a shop. We are not yet sure exactly how much we raised however we has some idea hoe many people bought stuff and it was more people who came for our first bake sale, at school. Therefore we have most probably raised more than 6000 rupees, which is how much we raised in the first bake sale.
This gives us enough money to pay for the dog sterilizations which will occur in the end of February. In the mean time we will organize a venue, date, vets and other things we will need to organize the sterilizations.
I am proud that we have provided the dogs with a large amount of food, in the food drive and now we enough money to sterilize the dogs, which will keep them healthy and less immune to diseases.

Dwag bake sale 07.11.11

Today we organized a bake sale during break and lunch. It was thought of about 2 weeks ago. I made bone shaped butter cookies. They got sold in the first 10 minutes. I was really proud that people bought food from our stall, We sold cookies, brownies, cupcakes and cake. Everything was sold at break. Which meant two things. 1) people liked what we baked and 2) we were free at lunch!
We raised rsp 6000/- from this bake sale. We have planned to have another bake sale during the interval of the secondary school production which will be next Friday. For the interval we will sell simillar goods as we did today. We Hope to raise the same or more money. We predict that we will earn more money next week since there will be lots of people and only we will be selling food, rather than today where there was a whole canteen of food.

The DAWG organization in OSC was very happy with what we accomplished today. We need to raise 12-15,000 rupees in order to have enough money for the dog sterilizations. We have raised half the amount we need to, and we assume that we will raise more in the secondary production, which means we may raise more money than necessary which we can use to purchase more food and essentials for the dogs.

Bethlehem Creche...

Hi my name is Jamila Akbarally,I am 13 year old. Previously I had been doing Prison Babies. We visited children who lived in the school of the prison since their mothers were in prison. The reason we changed our CAS was because the mothers were being moved to Kalutura , therefore their children as well were being sent with them. Now we have changed our CAS to the Bethlehem Creche. We visit children who dont have mothers and whoose fathers are in jail. The Creche takes care of them and provides them with most the resources they need. Thats why we help them by making sure they have everythig they need. On the 12th of March 2011 we put together a candy floss stall at our anual school food and fun fair. We earnt about 120 dollars, we are planning on using the money to help the Creche. We are not sure about what we are actually going to get for them, however we know it will be one big useful thing other than many small not so useful objects.
On the 3rd of Feburary we visited the Creche to see the Children and look around and think of ways to help them. They had a good amount of toys and chairs. However we thought that it was quite dark and we could some how provide them with more light. We got to socialize with the kids and talk to them. They seemed to have a great time. For the last to sessions of CAS we had intense meetings to organize things for the children and think about what we can do for them. We came up with: painting the play ground, providing them with a dvd player and some dvds, supporting the women who work there.

Party for the Creche!!!!

Today was our last ever meeting with the children of the creche. We had a party with the kids. For the first half we watched tom and jerry with them and then we played puzzles and games. This was all done in the SMPR. Last month i did a fund raiser for the Creche. I collected the money by selling handmade fashion cards. I managed to earn 7000/- rupees. We asked sister Florida what would be best for the Creche with the money I earned. In a few days she replied and told us that a DVD player would be perfect. At the previous CAS session, when the children came to OSC, I handed the DVD player to the sister in front of the all the children as well as the Creche members in OSC. I was proud of my acheivement, especially cause I was helping children in need. Children who arent as lucky as me, they dont have the oppertunities that i have been given. Even though this was our last session for this year, i plan to still keep in contact and donate a few monthly supplies.
I have thought about starting my own CAS on Musculer Distrophey. Since my father is a doctor i will beable to contact some doctors and tell them my aim as well as what i plan to do.
Muscular Distrophey is a condition were there is no such cure, I want to earn money to beable to pay different specalists for research. If this is not possible and it will get too complex, I want to think of another way to help my community. I will try as hard as I can to get my own research on Muscular Distrophey, however I do have a back-up plan. Next year I want to go one step further, not only attend a CAS at school but also create my own little group to help a seperste condition.
Till then, fingers crossed and minds open................