Create Renovate Celebrate

Activity Name / Description	CRC
Location	On Campus & Unity School
Was it C, A, S or a combination?	CREATIVITY, SERVICE
Hours of CAS	Throughout of DP (60 hours)
Dates (Initiation – Completion)	August 2015 to March 2017

As part of my service, I worked in a group called CRC where our aim is to reach out to underprivileged institutions around Mombasa and provide them with the basic facilities a school needs to function. We at AKAM often take for granted the environment in which we study in so CRC wants to enable students to give back to the community so that they to get the chance to enjoy their learning in an effective learning environment. We currently hold the title of raising the most funds for our project during the annual Zawadi Bazaar.

My role in CRC was executive as I had been in the club for quite a while and knew how things worked. I was constantly in contact with our school to get approvals for things and to make sure our events were in accordance with the school calendar. This enhanced my leadership abilities as I was already in the SRC which handles these kind of things and so my communication as a leader in two areas increased. I also arranged transport whenever we wanted to meet with the school which was a bit stressful as we would have meetings on a Tuesday at lunch time and that same day was the day that we would need to have booked for transport. This solution is however solved as meetings have been changed to Mondays.

Problems we encountered was getting enough money for the project. As renovating can be an expensive endeavor, it took quite a while to garner enough money to help the school. We also did not want to keep disrupting the school by constantly having constru

ction going on so there was long period of time where our contact with the school was minimal. CAS supervisors were constantly complaining about the lack of work we do and CRC became known as the group that barely does anything. We had to explain to everyone though and that kind of got them off our backs.  

W also had problems within our group. People weren’t turning up for meetings or were inactive during our discussions and so another role of mine as the leader was to brief them on how they can improve or have them kicked out. Over the course of he year we had two members resign and two members sternly spoken with. This in the end left the group a bit more refreshed and we respected each other a little more.

Throughout the year we have had events such as The Red in order to raise money. This was successful as we yielded in more than 20,000KES in profit. This was able to cover the rest of the costs and then some, needed to complete an important project at the school. The school’s chimney was not working well and smoke was getting into the classes. This would affect the health of the students in the long run and so the government was threatening to shut the school down. This would’ve put the orphans living in the school on the streets and teachers out of work. With the money we had raised, we were able to create a sustainable kitchen furnace that feeds 500 people everyday.

In conclusion, I have enjoyed working with CRC this year and am excited for the next year. I hope our group is more interactive with the students of the school and plays a more active role in their lives. We want to recruit new members and hopefully, a careful interview process will ensure that they ripe with ideas and full of enthusiasm to take the group forward and keep the legend going.

SUPERVISOR: Ms Kauthar