Going into exams...

Exam period is starting. I'm not going to be so active on this blog anymore, because I'm too busy to study for my exams. I'm, however, not quitting my projects, but I'll take a brake. When I'm Uni I'll find a way to keep up my work in Excellent school. I think there is going to be a lot of opportunities to continue my work wherever I go! I also have the opportunity that my family is staying in Kenya. They will be able to keep track of the progresses in school and I will probably visit a couple of times a year. I feel very fortunate that I'm not saying goodbye to Kenya for good! I know I'll be back every opportunity I have! Thank's for following my blog and I'll keep in touch!!
All the best,
Emil Thor Wilson

Elections coming up

There has been a great worry about election violence as we approach the presidential elections in Kenya. As most of you know, last time was not so successful, but having information meetings and evacuation drills is quite exaggerated according to me. We are leaving Kenya any way, though my mom needs to see a doctor in Johannesburg. The rest of the week we are spending in Rwanda and Swaziland, so I'm looking forward to a nice and relaxed election week. I just hope that there is not going to be any problems coming back. The thing is that when you get warned from so many places (American embassy, swedish embassy and the world bank), you kind of get a bit stressed! Let's wait and see how it all plays out.....

Evaluation forms

Here are the last of my evaluation forms. George promised me to wright comments on the blog, so I'm hoping he will do this soon.

CAS Essay

Throughout my CAS, I have been working with Excellent School in the Mathare slums. I started this year by consolidating my service and creativity projects to both involve Excellent. I made a web page and it was actually a huge challenge! After producing the webpage it is so much easier to refer interested parties to the page to learn more about the school. So many things have happened over the years and I learned to be more structured, to plan, promote and market as well as balancing the account. To apply for money from various organizations and companies was also a new task, and difficult. I developed a strategy of trying to be smart about it, and formulate all the applications in a way that would appeal to the exact company/organization I was applying from. I was disappointed, occasionally, that I did not receive funds, but I grew into knowing that this is what happens mostly, which made me become more appreciative of the funds we already have. My leadership skills has developed a lot, and it is rewarding to know that everyone I involved in the school always ask for my advice. I also had to organize help when the mud slide and flash flood caused a lot of damage. To call and mail everyone I knew and collect blankets and other necessities was a challenge to overcome in a short time. It was also a new experience for me, and I had to put my regular CAS work aside to really focus on this task.The most rewarding thing with this project, is still the opportunity to meet the students. The lower graders who always wanted to hug me and follow me around wherever I went, to discussing with the 8th graders who are a lot like me, but with entirely different problems. To listen to the teachers and headmasters struggles was also a learning experience. My social network project was not very successful. I did get some money, but not nearly as much as I expected because the website was not well known. From this I learned that I have to be extremely active to make a difference.For me, my work with Excellent is a life changing project, and I'm going to continue for as long as possible. My goals has changed over the period as well as my dedication and engagement in the school. My work have been so much better that anticipated and that has fueled my determination to continue my work with Excellent School. Hopefully I can raise international awareness next year while in University. 

I reached my goal early in my action project, but I learned to love Taekwondo, finding it a perfect way to get all my aggressions out and keep fit. I discovered that I'm more comfortable  with a “notn team” sport. MMA is another sport I learned about through Taekwondo. It is terrific for stamina, technique and power. I'm sure I'm going to continue with both MMA and Taekwondo. They are both styles of fighting that really appeal to me and suits me well!

My work with the Swedish society taught me to be more sociable and to always be accessible and agree when they need help. I got to do a lot of creative things, like invitations and project reports. The biggest reward with this job was to learn that as long as you meet new people and tell them about your CAS, new opportunities will open up. I got many ideas for my other CAS projects from interested Swedes and I got a stronger connection with my community. 

The photo books for the babies in the Nest was another successful project. I produced two books of the babies and their home, friends and surroundings in their first year of their lives in Nairobi. The children I chose were adopted, and through my work with the Swedish society, I was able to make contact with the adoptive parents and hand over the books. This project lasted about 6 months but also made me help the Nest with laundry and feeding and playing with the children. I did encounter one big difficulty: The babies I chose to photograph were adopted before I was done with my books. I solved this by photographing all the kids, and finally make books for the ones I had contact with the adoptive parents of.

I believe that the different activities I participated in for CAS really has helped me develop as a person in a positive way. My service in the slums made me realize that there are many fantastic and positive communities in Kenya, quite different from the dangerous images often portrayed in the media. I am grateful for the insight and experiences that the CAS program has enabled me to experience. 

Like a Kenyan

I found this image on facebook. Quite funny, but it says something about the Kenyan tribes. Lots of prejudices. For you who are not living in Kenya: a Mzungu is a white person.

Work with my play

Fot the last week I've been very busy working with my play "Free Entry". I'm very happy with my actors, but there is a lot of work directing, writing my IPP, fixing props, blocking and thinking about set designs. I made a model of the stage, I've painted backdrops for the set, I made a sheep hat and accessories for the "rare bird", a bloody towel and painting of the set design. It is inspirational to see my ideas evolve and I get new ideas as I work. I'm very happy to have a stage manager to help me visualize my ideas and great actors to communicate my vision! I think I'm something of a "control freak" concerning my play, but I'm not sure that is a bad thing. I suspect that this is something every director have to deal with, even If I'm going to be very vulnerable opening night, because I feel I'm exposing my "heart and soul" through this play. I'm also getting more and more inspired as I work and I'm going to post a film on this blog when I finally see the result!
I still have a lot of work to do, but I'm feeling that I'm well under way! The next step is to finalize the action plan, prop list, wardrobe and lighting. I also have to put in the high gear concerning rehearsals. Now it is mainly to have the actors learn their lines, and perfecting the blocking!

My sister played dead for scene 6. I used fake blood and an old towel.

Set design. Five different back drops are illustrating the seven different settings. I made a model to visualize it for the actors and my stage manager. My mom helped me sew and paint the back drops.

The sheep hat - a wardrobe detail for William in one of the dream scenes.

Sponsors for the girls

Soon the secondary school will start. The students in Excellent did really well! Last summer I managed to get two sponsors for secondary school for two girls. I managed to meet them on my last visit and they were really sweet. The alternative to go to school is usually prostitution for young girls and it is very uncommon for families to afford secondary school. I feel really proud to be able to help these two girls with their tuition. The other really great thing is that these girls are going to boarding school and are escaping the slums for a few years. Hopefully they'll get a vision of what they want to do in life and get a new life outside the slums in the future. At least they will have a bigger chance after a secondary education!

Fighting with mom and new inspiration

Today, we had a quite nervous tae kwondo session. I was kicking my mom, while my sister graded for black belt in another room. I was nervous about how she would do - after all, black belt is something to be really proud of! We managed to have a quite tough training after all:

and Max made us work really hard:

After a long time, Ebba came up, all sweaty and completely red in the face (she said she almost puked). And a short time after the examinator joined her. SHE MADE THE BELT! I have to say it inspired me quite a lot! If I just practice my poomses and perfect my kicks, I'll be able to make black belt to! I really love MMA as well, but there is no belts in MMA. My mother is saying that "One sport do not exclude another sport". I'll talk to Max and see how far I can get until June. I suspect that I can get a red belt at least!

Senior trip 2013 Diani Beach

The work for the community was really tough on this trip. We were notified that we would work, but how much time nor effort we would put in. We were kind of thrown into a situation and had to start somewhere and it was interesting to see how my peers tackled that situation. The first day was mainly an orientation day, where we got to see the hospital and dispensary that we would help build.

My group were lucky on the first whole day in Diani. We went snorkelling while the other group were digging for the foundation of the structure.  I found snorkelling very amusing and interesting and I don’t have too much experience and have only done it once before in my life. However it was really amazing to see a complete new set of fishes, whilst also having the guides pointing out some interesting facts that I did not know. I was really happy that I was given an opportunity to do this, despite that this was something we knew we were going to do. I must say, though, that the very feeling of being on a boat once again was one of my favorite moments from the trip. My family usually go to places where boats are required for transportation and I love the ocean since it is a personification of endless opportunities in life and I feel really confortable and safe on the sea. It gives me ease and time to reflect and I loved everything about the day out at sea, apart from becoming even more sunburned. 

The next day it was our time to dig for the foundations. It was really heavy and hard work, but I it felt good knowing that we were accomplishing this for the local community. I felt that both the service and the action part were taken into account while doing this, and the feeling increased even more when we later went to visit the local witch doctor. 

This visit was also extremely interesting. I really appreciate taking part of the culture of the locals. Folk healers are highly respected, are linked to the ancestors and work to ensure the weel being of the locals. They are really good at using herbs to cure the locals, but I still feel that it is important that the locals receive proper health care, performed by a doctor. The witch doctor can, I'm sure, provide cures for smaller health problems and I also think that the psychological effect can do wonders, but with more complicated problems, the hospital is going to be much needed. I'm glad we could at least provide some help to build a hospital for the locals.

The next day, many hours were spent cleaning the beach, in the sun and the work did sometimes seem, endless. Some students kept low profiles during the working hours, indicating what they believed the trip was all about. However since it was for a good cause for the local community and the environment, there was no one who argued against the project’s importance. During this time I remained in the shade as, white as I am, I did not want to extend my sunburned skin's time in the hot sun. Even if I did not enjoy the work as much this day, because it is hard to visualize what the impact of our work was (except for having a nice, clean beach), I'm grateful that I made an effort for our environment. This is not something I've done a lot in my CAS work, so I feel good about that I've at least tried it. We also hade a relaxing afternoon on the beach, and I really think I deserved it after the hard work.

The camp itself was extraordinary in its simplicity but excellence. I slept as well as I could, given my sunburn, and was refreshed every morning. The rooms were big enough to accommodate 20 people or so, but then I saw how much space each individual occupied by spreading out all their stuff everywhere. This is where I would like to thank my dad and mom for being so disciplinary with how space was distributed between us. I managed to survive on very little space while still being organized. The food we ate was often, not surprisingly, sea food and every meal I had was really good. 

I think my activities on the last day at the beach symbolizes my idea of complete relaxation and being mentally unaware of the IB and its disturbances. After playing beach football and eating a very good lunch, I along with some friends were just sleeping or reading in the shade. We talked about life and things we do and would do in the future. NOTHING was related to school for once, which I always hear or think about at home. It made me completely calm without any worries in life. I felt that this was a much needed break from the struggles of IB and the thoughts of University acceptances.

I really had a lovely week in Diani and appreciated all the activities we did, even the hard work in the village and on the beach. It was great to come home to my family and my usual routines in Nairobi and I feel relaxed and rejuvenated starting my classes again.

MMA progress

This is me in an MMA training. Still have some ways to go, but I'm getting more confident every class. There is a lot to think of in MMA, but currently I'm focusing on my stamina, my strength and coordination. The last one is probably my biggest challenge, but I'm getting there! My vision of MMA is to gain a love for the fight (almost there), be disciplined and to bring my determination out in every-day life and try to improve myself and get better every day!

Art exhibit

The girls in Bollnäs is arranging an art exhibit where the money they make will go to Excellent. They are very creative and have so many good ideas for helping the school! We had some mail contact and I'm very impressed by them. I'm hoping they can come down here so I can show them the school and all the progress we are making. They told me that they often show my film for interested parties, and that many of them cry when they see it. That was not my intention, but I'm surprised that my simple I-movie can stir up such strong emotions! I think it doesn't represent the positive feelings you get when meeting the students. But, whatever makes people contribute to this project is good!

In Mathare

Being welcomed by George

Hanging out with "my guys"

Checking out the results of the National exams. 

As always the Excellent kids scored high!

Today I spent half my day in the school in Mathare. It is fantastic to see the progress we made over the years. The new school building was finalised and it was quite touching to see how far our efforts have gone. The new building is so nice and there are six rooms, with proper floors and iron sheets as walls. They also had electricity, desks and blackboards. The students told me they were so happy with the new building, but I still could not understand how they can fit 40 students in every room. As always, I'm impressed by the students positive attitude and their warm welcome. Even though the school is starting to look nice it is still not even close to a "regular" school. I have to remind myself that I'm doing all I can and that the progress is astonishing! I also talked to George about a few fundraising activities. I promised him that I will not give up my work when I leave for uni! I need to get myself together to apply for funds from three different organisations and I feel more motivated than ever to do it. Monday is a ISK holiday, and I'm going to set aside a few hours to do that. I'm also planning to update the webpage and make a new I-movie!

Support from Manchester

George met a British man who wanted to do a project for Excellent School in his sisters school in Manchester. I have no idea how they would like to help, but I e-mailed all my information about the school so he can use it and send it to his sister. I'm really excited about this opportunity for the school and I'm hoping it is going to help with fundraising as well as connecting the British kids with children their age in Kenya. The can send letters to each other and it might inspire the kids in Excellent to get a glimpse of the kids lives in the UK.
George wants me to join him on a meeting they are having soon and I'm hoping I will be able to come.
Apparently they met during a football game, and had already sent the Excellent kids a few Manchester United team uniforms. I do not know how happy I am about this - being a die hard Chelsea fan, but I guess I have to swallow the frustration that it was the wrong team.... every gift is, after all, very welcome! I'm looking forward to hear more about this and help in any way possible!

Progress in school

I had a meeting with George yesterday. He informed me that the building is coming along very well, but he didn't have enough money for the electricity line into the new school building. I managed to raise some more money during Christmas, so I gave him another 40.000 to fix that problem. He also said that it would be better to get our own electricity meter, and have the power company install it. This would mean that the costs would be cut a lot. I really didn't understand why, but I trust that he is right. Overall, I feel that it is safer and better to pay for your own electricity  just like we did for the water pipes. I had to reflect on that even this is a problem, and I have to help them solve every problem I can! George also lost his deputy in school which is really sad. He was a great guy and kept things in order. However, I noticed that the director of the board is very active in the school work now. This is good! That he is showing interest tells me the board is very interested in the work. George also reported that everyone in the community is telling him that the school is starting to look so nice. Georges former deputy is starting a new school in Mathare, but I think it is in district 10. I know that there is a huge need in the area, so it is good that there will be more schools. This semester, we also lost a few students to another school. Their great advantage is that they are serving food to the students. Hopefully, we can find sponsors to help us with that! I will truly try to e-mail all my contacts to see if I can help with that. I did a rough budget on this before Christmas and it it astonishing how much money we will need to provide students with food! We also have to build a kitchen and employ cooks. After all, there is about 800 students and even if the food is cheap it is going to add up...
To solve part of the problem, we are going to start to grow veggies in bags and raise chickens in a new room that we have to buy!

George and James on the new foundation

 

George, his wife and new daughter

Thank you card from Grace

I got this really sweet letter from Grace thanking me for paying her school fees. It makes me feel really good!

More school politics

This is a follow up on a previous blog post I posted quite some time ago. It still upsets me a lot that the Kenyan government just puts the money in their own pockets and doesn't care about all the kids in school. How is Kenya going to turn out when so many of their children is robbed on their education!? Do they think anything about the future? Articles like these gives me a strong feeling that what I'm trying to achieve for Excellent school is extremely important. These kids are robbed by their government and needs to know that not everyone wants things for themselves and that there are people who cares! 

Update on Immad

A week ago there was a report on swedish news about the status of Immad, who was deported from Sweden although he had a death threat in Afghanistan and only one semester left for his IB exam. The reporter is telling about Immad trying to escape Kabul travelling under a truck. They tried to call him, but only heard him talk about his batteries being depleted (apparently there were no electricity, so he couldn't charge the phone). The girls in Bollnäs are still working hard to get him back, and they gave him a lot of money to keep him safe in Kabul. Immads future is still very uncertain and I hope I'll get regular updates on his situation. I feel very worried about Immads situation, and still find it hard to believe that such a rich country would deport a young man to Afghanistan. He is totally helpless there, when all his family has been killed by the Talibans. It is hard to handle that this is the reality for a guy my age! Click te link to view the report.

Immads situation according to Swedish TV

Problems in Mathare

Over the holidays there has also been a lot of problems in Mathare over the holidays. There were a horrible event when young men from Mathare 4 B (the school is in 4A) attacked and killed three people by burning their houses. The paper claims this is just a fight between two areas in Mathare, but I'm not so sure. I hope this is not going to turn into election violence. I have to check with George how saft it is to visit right now... a lot is going on!

Directing a surrealist play in the Fringe Festival at ISK

I've been working hard on finding a play to direct and the device I'm going to explore for my IPP (Individual Project Portfolio) for HL Theatre in March. After having great troubles due to matatu strikes, sport events and the holidays, we finally were able to have the auditions for actors for our plays. I'm quite happy with my actors. I only need three, and got three good ones! I've been working hard on analysing my script, which is a Surrealistic play by Roger Vitrac, called free entry. I'm really excited about the project and I think I can do quite well. Because the play is surrealistic, it took me the whole break to find the script and finally analyse it, but finally I THINK I know what it is about. Now I need to write bios for the characters and discuss it with my actors. It is going to be interesting to see if they have anything to add to my analysis. I need to get my drama teachers approval of the play, and I really hope she will approve it - rehearsals are starting next week!!

Paying school fees

To pay Graces school fee turned out to be a challenge. First I had to send my dad to the bank to deposit the check. I gave him a letter stating that it was for Graces school fee. I called George in Excellent, who said I needed to give her the check deposit slip, but thought it would be enough to scan the slip and e-mail it to the school. Because of traveling over the holidays, I was a bit late to pay, and got worried that they would not admit her. I decided to call the school, but no one was answering the phone. I finally asked my driver to take the slip to Mathare and give it to Grace, to make sure there would be no problems. I was happy to hear that he'd found her and given her the slip, just a few hours before she was going bak to the school. I also learned that the sponsors for two other girls will have to wait for another week. That is when the results from the national exams come in. I still feel good that I'm going to help sponsor three girls through secondary school. Grace is now in form two and doing fine! I'm proud of her and got a lovely letter from her  for the holidays!

New year - New opportunities

My mothers cousin, who has visited Excellent Care Center and School and lives in Paris has been in contact with a French organisation called Codegaz. They might be willing to help us with the school. I'm going to skype with her as soon as possible. She e-mailed me an application form, but I had a hard time filling it in. I need to find a smart way of doing it, because it says that if we only want funding for our project we will not be eligible to apply. I've been working on it over the holidays and Marie has been editing it. I'm mainly going to ask for a food-program for the school. Hopefully, this can turn out to be a good possibility!

Doing well in MMA

I've been doing quite a lot of MMA during the holidays. It was good to really get into it and do some concentrated training! One session I had big problems with my round-kick. Every punch and kick were really good and powerful, but I couldn't get a good round kick going! It frustrated me so much and I got angry and irritated during training. It is quite interesting that I'm reacting that way, but round kicks should be one of my stronger kicks, due to all the tae kwondo I've been doing. The feeling that I just couldn't master this common and simple kick made me go crazy. It was even worse, when Tom gave me a lot of credit for being strong and fast... but "I really needed to work on my round kick". I realised that I was just throwing my leg in a strange bow, not getting any power in my kick, and after practising turning my foot and follow up with the rest of my body it worked out a lot better! There is something with the rotation of the hip (that is a lot easier for girls) that makes the whole thing work. I finally got it, but I need to continue to perfect the kick. It's supposed to be "in the back of your head", and I still need to focus on it to get it right. However, I would say that the whole MMA thing is starting to work out really well for me. I get a lot of credit and I feel that my punches and moves are good. I also enjoy it a lot! It's a great way to get all your aggressions out, and it is a good feeling to totally concentrate and not think about school for one hour. That it is a great work out is clear after one 3 minute round I'm sweating bullets!