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asisinternational · 4 months ago

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The Power of Student-Led Initiatives and Clubs in Chennai's International Schools

Chennai, known for its rich cultural heritage and burgeoning educational landscape, is home to several international schools that offer a diverse range of student-led initiatives and clubs. These extracurricular activities play a crucial role in the holistic development of students, fostering leadership skills, creativity, and a sense of community. Here’s an in-depth look at how student-led initiatives and clubs are making a significant impact in international schools in chennai.

Fostering Leadership and Responsibility

Model United Nations (MUN) Clubs:

Many international schools in Chennai have active MUN clubs. These clubs allow students to simulate UN conferences, where they discuss global issues, draft resolutions, and learn the intricacies of diplomacy. Students take on leadership roles such as Chairperson or Secretary-General, which helps them develop organizational and public speaking skills.

Student Councils:

Student councils are the backbone of student governance in these schools. Elected by their peers, council members represent student interests, organize events, and collaborate with school administration. This experience is invaluable in teaching responsibility, leadership, and teamwork.

Encouraging Creativity and Innovation

Robotics and STEM Clubs:

With the increasing emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, international schools in Chennai offer robotics and STEM clubs. Students engage in hands-on projects, participate in national and international competitions, and develop innovative solutions to real-world problems. These clubs not only enhance technical skills but also encourage creative problem-solving and critical thinking.

Art and Drama Clubs:

Art and drama clubs provide a platform for students to express their creativity. Through theatre productions, art exhibitions, and creative writing workshops, students explore various forms of artistic expression. These activities help in building confidence, improving communication skills, and nurturing a lifelong appreciation for the arts.

Promoting Social Responsibility and Community Service

Eco Clubs:

Environmental awareness and sustainability are key focus areas in many international schools. Eco clubs spearhead initiatives such as tree planting drives, waste management programs, and energy conservation projects. Students learn the importance of environmental stewardship and the impact of their actions on the planet.

Community Service Clubs:

Community service clubs engage students in various social initiatives, such as visiting old age homes, organizing charity drives, and tutoring underprivileged children. These activities instill a sense of empathy, social responsibility, and the joy of giving back to the community.

Cultivating a Global Perspective

Cultural Exchange Programs:

International schools often facilitate cultural exchange programs where students host peers from different countries or participate in exchange visits abroad. These programs expose students to diverse cultures, traditions, and perspectives, fostering a global outlook and cultural sensitivity.

Language Clubs:

Language clubs offer students the opportunity to learn and practice new languages. By engaging in language-based activities, students not only enhance their linguistic skills but also gain insights into the associated cultures. This multilingual ability is a significant asset in today’s globalized world.

Enhancing Physical Fitness and Team Spirit

Sports Clubs:

Sports clubs are an integral part of the extracurricular landscape in international schools. From football and basketball to swimming and tennis, students participate in a wide range of sports activities. These clubs promote physical fitness, teamwork, and a healthy competitive spirit.

Adventure and Outdoor Clubs:

These clubs organize activities like trekking, camping, and rock climbing. Such experiences teach students resilience, teamwork, and survival skills while fostering a deep connection with nature.

Conclusion

Student-led initiatives and clubs in Chennai’s international schools are pivotal in shaping well-rounded individuals. By providing opportunities for leadership, creativity, social responsibility, and global awareness, these activities complement academic learning and prepare students for future challenges. As these schools continue to evolve, the role of student-led initiatives and clubs will remain integral in nurturing the leaders and innovators of tomorrow.

Anand Singapore International School is a one of the best international schools in chennai.

#international school in chennai #best international school in chennai #top 10 international schools in chennai

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pleasedontgethurt · 6 years ago

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★ FILL IN THE QUESTIONS AS IF YOU ARE BEING INTERVIEWED FOR AN ARTICLE AND YOU WERE YOUR MUSE.

TAGGED BY: @elitaxne

TAGGING: anyone else who wants to do it!

1. WHAT IS YOUR NAME? “Doctor of Cybermedicine Ratchet of Piston and Cylinder of Protihex.”

2. WHAT IS YOUR REAL NAME? “Just... Ratchet?”

3. DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU’RE CALLED THAT? “I was appointed the designation of Rachet by the functionist system upon emerging from the Well with my brother. It stuck.”

4. ARE YOU SINGLE OR TAKEN? “Widowed. Unhappily single.”

5. WHAT ARE YOUR POWERS AND ABILITIES? “Aim, Intellect, and Healing. In that order.” // *loud mun cackling*

6. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR EYES? “They are a shade of cyan blue, like with most mecha.”

7. HAVE YOU EVER DYED YOUR HAIR? “I did change my paint-job upon becoming a medic. For ceremonial and professional purposes, but I wouldn’t go back.”

8. DO YOU HAVE ANY FAMILY MEMBERS? "I had a bonded, a son, a twin brother, and adoptive guardians. They have all passed on, however.”

9. DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? "None, currently. I just wouldn’t have the time to care for one.”

10. TELL ME ABOUT SOMETHING YOU DON’T LIKE. “Idiocy. That should be pretty self-explanatory.”

11. DO YOU HAVE ANY HOBBIES OR ACTIVITIES YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME? “...Well, I guess... when I have the time... I read.” (he conveniently leaves out the more unhealthy “hobbies” he has in addition....)

12. HAVE YOU EVER HURT ANYONE BEFORE? "My oath as a medic included not inflicting harm upon my patients. ....Unfortunate for them, they were not my patients.”

13. HAVE YOU EVER… KILLED ANYONE? "In self-defense, yes. That’s kind of how war works.”

14. WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL ARE YOU? “Raphael once told me I reminded him of the avian called owl. I don’t have the faintest of idea, why.”

15. NAME YOUR WORST HABITS. “Where to start? I’ve been told I worry too much and don’t care enough for myself, but that I’m also temperamental and controlling. I’m sure that’s not even half of it.”

16. DO YOU LOOK UP TO ANYONE? “...Yes.” He won’t name names. There are too many names to list, and to be fair, he has a reputation to keep.

17. GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL? "I have no idea what any of those terms mean.”

18. DO YOU GO TO SCHOOL? "I'm a guest-professor at the University, if that counts?”

19. DO YOU EVER WANT TO MARRY AND HAVE KIDS SOMEDAY? “...........................”

20. DO YOU HAVE ANY FANS? “Do I have many... what?”

21. WHAT ARE YOU MOST AFRAID OF? “Losing control, losing loved ones, never being good enough, never fulfilling my purpose.”

22. WHAT DO YOU USUALLY WEAR? "...I don’t understand the question?”

23. DO YOU LOVE SOMEONE? “...........................”

24. WHAT CLASS ARE YOU? “Originally I was of the Administrative Class, in Politics and Public Administration. Once I switched to Medicinal Science, in the optics of some mecha, I stepped a step lower--despite them being approximately of the same higher ranking in a larger sense, simply at the opposite ends of said ranking.”

25. HOW MANY FRIENDS DO YOU HAVE? “I have a few carefully chosen friends.”

26. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON PIE? "....π...? It’s a mathematical constant, and highly useful in calculating the volume, area and circulation of a round object. What is there to think about?”

27. FAVORITE DRINK? "Fine high-grade.”

29. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE? “Cybertron.”

30. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SOMEONE? ".....................”

31. WHAT’S YOUR DICK SIZE? “The size of my.... what?”

32. WOULD YOU RATHER SWIM IN THE LAKE OR THE OCEAN? "I don’t have the kind of alt-mode that could float on top of liquidized H2O.”

33. WHAT’S YOUR ‘TYPE’? ".........Large. Strong. Intelligent. Charming......”

34. ANY FETISHES? ”…...........................................................................................”

35. TOP OR BOTTOM? DOMINANT OR SUBMISSIVE? “I don’t really care.” you won’t hear him admit it but he prefers being submissive

36. CAMPING, OR INDOORS? “Indoors. Cleaner and way less dangerous.”

37. ARE YOU WAITING FOR THIS INTERVIEW TO BE OVER? “Quite. Thank you very much.”

#;meme replies #info

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catachan-jungle-fighter · 6 years ago

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Basically that was what the dream was... a 40k total war game that had a massive mod that added each mun's muses to the game, John has two starts the Drunken Wolf or the Repentant Beast, each had it's ups and downs, the Drunken Wolf had a chance to incite a frenzy state in the Mad Wolves who'd turn on anyone nearby even friendly troops but their armor and damage increases with each fully dead troop while the Repentant Beast gave a perk to all his troops to allow them to survive one fatal attack... then the Mad Wolves Perks, Cache-A-Lot came with the downside of lowering the opinion of every Imperial Guard Regiment near, and Welcome to the Jungle could fire on allied forces...

Then his Berserker Rage ends and he immediately flees the battlefield with his daughter's corpse only for him to declare all out war on everyone and then it's near impossible to stop him because with each attack he succeeds at he gained a token that boosts his stealth and evasion and ambush chance... basically if they kill Nox John and the Wolves become ghosts that strike a target and fade away into shadow... Not Today allows one Mad Wolf to sacrifice himself in Order to save John in a fatal situation... Gone with the Wind boosts the Mad Wolves speed in combat... A Shadow in the Trees give them the ability to spot anyone hiding among the trees... Death By a Thousand Cuts involves a enemy leader being bled to death by the Mad Wolves, it invokes a Fear debuff on the leader causing him to flee only for his movement speed to be cut in half... Cut the Head Off is a late game ability that gives them the ability to choose one enemy leader to remove from the game for ten turns, less for spirit or daemon type foes... Burn Baby Burn involves the men and women under Jane being able to destroy an enemies crops... Cursed Wolf is a debuff that hits John if he is the only one who survives a ambush, it causes him to remove himself from the game for 10 turns... Death Walks is if John and his Wolves have been allowed to build up enough resources to purchase Power Weapons for everyone, they cause more damage against armored enemies but they one shot unarmored... Calm Lull makes John a better Administrator... Rage of the father is a buff that happens if Nox is Injured, his strength and speed is doubled as long as she is alive... Nox's Rage is invoked if John or Jane are injured or captured causing her to be able to complete one assassination mission on a target free of charge... Stranded in the Sun is a debuff if they are in desert areas, they consume more water and food and move slower... Betrayed is if a fellow guard regiment killed Nox, John is then able to go bandit and slaughter the regiment before disappearing from the map for 3 turns as he moves camp... and so on... and execution is a unique skill for John where he checks his troops for Chaos Corruption and his troops get bonus Morale and XP If he finds Chaos cultists and Executes them if he has the Skill, otherwise he loses more troops from deserting.

For some reason in a dream last night I saw someone made a Mod that had everyone’s muses on it and when they chose the Mad wolves to play they got to choose between two pictures one of a Mad Wolf drunk with the underlying text of ‘The Wolves enjoyed their liquor and you do too, take an opinion penalty of -30 with all leaders of the same underlying faction’ and the other showed a man crying into his hands with a thought bubble above his head that had a picture of his wife in it with the text of ‘The Repentant Wolf cries for what he lost and now tries to fix the things he has done wrong, take an opinion penalty of -10 for all troops, but receive a opinion bonus of 50 for member of family in hiding, Nox’ and the whole time I’m watching it like it’s a YouTube video… when he starts playing he starts talking “The Mad Wolves are a unique faction to play as, seeing as the earlier version of the Wolves, their combat prowess depended on how much Alcohol they have in them, while the later Model Mad Wolves have a unique perk 'Tears of the Beast’ a perk that allows them to survive one attack that might have killed them. The second and third thing about this faction is it’s nearly impossible to attack them overland because your armies attrition rate would literally destroy you, it’s all thanks to another of their perks 'Welcome to the Jungle’ which turns a certain radius around their camp into a trap filled hell, but it can be partially nullified by the perk of a certain goddess 'Blessings of the Goddess’ which protects her troops from some things that’d have killed them. Their third perk is the more interesting perk called 'Cache A Lot’ they have massive supply caches meaning they can arrive in a location and take from their supply caches there, meaning it’s near impossible to siege them without preperations. Killing Nox in a battle will drive John Geist into a battle frenzy where he ignores all damage and does increased damage for 50 seconds, meaning to pull back your forces or he will carve through them before he falls into 'The Mourning of the Fallen’ which cuts his moving speed in half as he retrieves her body and begins to carry her off the field, after the battle is over a list of afflictions is randomly chosen from which will curse John for the rest of the game. I have decided to show a more unique approach in this game, John can go on a mission to figure out who he is and if you choose the right options he’ll survive the mission but with two different perks, one being 'They Are With Me’ allowing him to summon a horde of the failed mutants from the project that created him onto the field of battle which fight with the rage and anger they felt for when the were created, while the other Perk being 'I Walk Alone’ which doubles John’s protection and psychic protection as he had awoken his skills as a Psyker while on the station, after he butchered his failed kin. Here’s the list of perks the Mad Wolves and John can earn

'Gone with the Wind’

'A Shadow in the Trees’

'Death By a Thousand Cuts’

'Cut the Head Off’

'Burn Baby Burn’

'Cursed Wolf’

'Death Walks’

'Not Today!’

'Calm Lull’

'Rage of the Father’

'Nox’s Rage’

'Stranded In the Sun’

'Betrayed’

'Battle Brothers: any imperial guard regiment’

'Hated Foe: Traitors’

'Favored weapon: Melta Charges’

'Execution’

And more, their perk tree is more extensive but half will be locked off after John’s personal quest but it will open up a new perk tree afterwards which will apply.” And basically he played a game with the Mad Wolves by declaring war against Barran and several of the other Guard Members before attacking Aestra and attempting to assassinate Fuuko.

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smyrnarp · 7 years ago

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Welcome to Smyrna, SHAUNA. You’ve been accepted as Blaine Anderson. Please make sure to read through the rules one last time, and check the members checklist for all the tracked tags, and everything else you might need. Please send in your account within the next 24 hours.

♤ && ABOUT THE MUN.

NAME/ALIAS: Shauna

PRONOUNS: She/her

AGE/TIMEZONE: 21, EST, PST starting 1/11

TRIGGERS: RFP

ACTIVITY LEVEL: 8/10

ANYTHING ELSE: RFP

♤ && ABOUT THE CHARACTER

FULL NAME: Blaine Devon Anderson

FACECLAIM: Darren Criss

AGE/BIRTHDAY: 22, March 15th

BIRTH ORDER: Fourth.

TYPE: Open.

PRONOUNS: He/him.

ORIENTATION: Panromantic, unsure of sexuality.

♤ && WHO MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE

OCCUPATION: Educator

STATUS: Based on operational need.

POSITION: Substitute teacher

ANYTHING ELSE: Recent UGA graduate.

♤ && STORY OF MY LIFE:

Everyone in Smyrna has something to say about Blaine Anderson. His school teachers would say that he was an absolute delight to have in class. His friends say he’s the one that you call when you have a flat tire at one in the morning. His siblings might say that he’s a bit of a pest, but all he’s looking for is someone to talk to. Blaine hates to be alone, always has some fresh new idea somewhere in his head. He’s genuinely excited about everything in life. He whistles as he does his laundry, chatters away with the grocery clerk even as there’s a line ten deep behind him, and frequently stops to catch up on gossip with the little old ladies playing bridge in front of city hall. He’s really good at bridge.

So, as you can expect, Blaine was an interesting kid. But it netted him a lot of friends. It takes him absolutely forever to go anywhere in town, because he swears that he knows every one of its residents. He was hyper-involved in high school, joining any club that caught his interest and starting several by his outstanding ability to pester (charm, if you ask him) the administration and faculty.

His decision to go out of state for college weighed heavy. He had never been away from his family for more than four nights of summer camp. No one he had ever met had decided to go to the University of Georgia. And while he’d spent much of his high school experience struggling with being… gay? and in the closet, senior year had been a rousing success in being accepted and proud of who he was.

But he went. He had originally picked UGA to study vocal performance, but switched to education at the start of his sophomore year. He found a true passion for it, and is never more excited than when he gets to show someone a new school or have someone talk to him that is as passionate about something that he is.

College showed Blaine more than a new academic passion. After getting out of an environment where he placed such high expectations of himself, he was finally able to drop his shoulders and relax a little bit. He fell into a friend group that was less “we have six competitions in the next four weekends” and more “let’s go to so-and-so’s apartment and drink and smoke up and play stupid card games.” The scene wasn’t so much a part of his identity as it became for a few of his friends, but people were surprised when he came back for summer break and didn’t immediately fill his calendar with all sorts of social engagements.

Now, if you can keep a secret, Blaine has been telling people that he came back to Smyrna for a gap year before he goes onto do his M.Ed. But the truth is that he applied to five different graduate programs and hasn’t heard back from any of them. It was a competitive year, he picked schools that were a little bit beyond his bracket, and he wound up back at home. In a bit of insult-to-injury, he’s also living in his childhood bedroom. Substitute teaching pays darn near close to minimum wage, and if he wants to pick up enough work experience to stand out in the next round of applications, he needs to have full availability to come in whenever he’s needed.

Okay, okay, you look like a trustworthy character, and you did ask, after all. So, Blaine really hasn’t met the right person yet. This is probably the one thing that he’s genuinely embarrassed about in this world. He never pictured himself being the kind of person that this would actually matter to. But every time he gets in a situation where it might be the night he loses his virginity, he chickens out at the last second. He doesn’t know what it’s about, and it’s not like he ever had any expectations that it would be special. But it’s something none but his very best friends know about.

#smyrnaaccepted #smyrnablaine

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rzuberi · 7 years ago

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Term 1 CAS Reflections

Creativity:

Extreme Math - This term of Extreme Math was extremely entertaining. Extreme doesn’t do the activity service, it was beyond extreme. Not only were we consistently learning to do problems I’d never seen before, taking on some problems that took some mathematicians years to solve. With a mix of A-Level and IB students in the group I got to see a very diverse skill set. The way the two courses cover material is very different which made Extreme Maths even better. The A-Level students were able to bolster our weaknesses and we were able to bolster theirs. A good example that I often refer to is when we were doing a very complex problem involving the multiples of numbers. The IB students made a large grid and were working their way through tally charts and were steadily making their way towards the problem (as we were all math students.) Whereas, all the A-Level students in our group were also taking computer science. And thus with a few lines in Python, a fellow A-Level student solved in second what probably would have taken us the whole 2 hours.

I also participated in the UK Senior Maths Challenge, an enormous worldwide event. This was my first time participating in an examination ‘challenge’ and it was very interesting. My colleagues and I spent hours doing past papers preparing and our administrator gave us many different questions to help us build the mental flexibility to deal with the various problems that could be given to us. We were made to prepare for anything that came our way, and we were. Practicing with new formats and new questions was probably the biggest benefit to me, as it helped me build my problem solving skills which is essential to my core as well as my daily life.

As of late, we are working towards preparing for RITANGLE challenge. Once again, we're working with a whole different set of problems. However, RITANGLE is a team sport, which is really nice as once again we have that integration which we’ll have when we compete. By working together to solve problems, we can complete much more than we could as an individual part. It also has assisted some of us in making our work more clear so everyone is able to understand it and build on it.

Senior Model United Nations - MUN is something that I feel is essential in my day to day life. MUN gives me the opportunity to go out and debate on real world issues and explore different perspectives. I’m from Canada, and I have travelled and lived all over the world and have met people from every corner of the planet, but the nice thing with MUN is that when you receive a placard with a new nation, you truly have to try and become those people and try to share their points of view. It’s been really eye opening for me and its taught me a lot about the world, and you can really further understand why people feel a certain way about a topic just by immersing yourself into a nation.

In MUN we’ve also explored a wide variety of topics in the perspective of the United Nations, which is very interesting for me. Most people don’t realize how formal debating works or how large organizations like this come to compromise. I believe it’s essential for people to know how their government and how their bodies of authority work, so they can make informed decisions and be part of an ever growing world. Going through formal debating and learning first hand is an experience that will live with me for the rest of my life.

Also, MUN is extremely fulfilling. Going up on the pedestal and giving a strong speech, followed by formal debate is always really fulfilling as you drive the direction of debate and you are truly contributing. Even more fulfilling is seeing the nervous individuals going up, cheering them on, and seeing their eyes light up after they hear the applause at the end of their speeches. At the end of every session, as a group, we all grow a little bit closer and everyone gets a little bit more skillful in debating.

Service:

Making a Difference: Cambodia - This one was mostly in the title. Every single time I walk into Cambodia Project I’m always happy to know I’m driving some change and making a difference. Usually, every day goes pretty formulaically. I walk in, we have a short discussion about progress, and we all go immediately to our projects and diligently move forward. Everyone has their piece of the puzzle and we all come together at the end to complete our final product. One of the best things I believe we have with Cambodia Project is the diversity of year groups of students. In my other extracurricular activities we’re mostly a group of Year 12s, but with Cambodia Project we also have quite a few Middle Years students. Thus, we have the opportunity to teach them new skills and act as role models.

For International Week, after working hard for weeks in planning, getting supplies, and advertising (we helped the Middle Years create some very professional looking posters using digital software and made it even more effective using a data we found on effective advertising), we finally were ready to go out and start fundraising. International Week is a week to celebrate all the different cultures all around the world as we here at JIS are a very diverse school. We found this to be the perfect week to sell ice-cream to raise money to aid the Cambodian people and help to raise a bit of awareness of the situation in Cambodia as many people really have no idea.

Currently we’re working on another brilliant idea. An international cookbook. We hope this will help to engage the school community to celebrate cultures all around the world and assist us in raising money for children in Cambodia. It’s extremely fulfilling work and I’m excited to continue it in the future.

Activity:

Personal Fitness - Balance. I feel like this activity is essential for me keeping a good balance in my life. Going to the gym is something I like to enjoy on a regular basis. It’s been rigorous but looking at my BMI I’ve definitely made results. Generally I like to start with a 10 minute warm up on the treadmill. Warming your muscles up and getting prepared to keep a constant heart rate is essentially for a good work out. Afterwards I usually circuit train, starting with my arms as I’ve just worked my legs. I like to finish with a good superset on 1 or 2 muscle groups as it really puts pressure on those muscles and leads to faster, better results.

These days I feel the hardest thing is probably learning form. Working out, especially with free weights, does have potential for injury if you don’t do it properly. I’ve been re-evaluating a lot of my form as I’ve noticed sometimes my soreness lasts longer than it should, and I fear that might be due to bad form in some of my exercises. Of course, I’ve developed a lot and learned a lot of new types of exercises, but I really have a need to practice the form on some of the newer ones.

Combination of Activity and Service:

Temberong Trip - Brunei has been an adventure for me since I arrived here. But never have I been able to have an experience like this one.

Temberong is an area in Brunei famous for its indigenous tribe, the Iban. It’s also very well known for its lush jungle and wildlife, and the unique lifestyle therein. I had the amazing opportunity to visit, see all of the above, participate in the Iban lifestyle, and even help them out.

The trip to Temberong was long and difficult as a result of its location. To get to the village, first I went on a long bus ride to a nearby dock. Then I travelled by boat for a few hours, marvelling at the crocodiles and other animals that can be found in the river. Then we arrived at another dock nearer our location only to get on another bus before our final destination, an Iban campsite. We stopped at a local farmers market on the way for a break, giving me a chance to try local Brunei dishes and Bruneian mango.

After arriving at the campsite we took a long, difficult climb through a jungle where our guide told us all about the wildlife, traps the Iban tribe used to catch animals, and uses of wild plants. It took quite a bit of teamwork and perseverance as the Bruneian jungle is very muddy and riddled with plant life that you can get tangled up in. Very often you would be catching someone about to slip or giving words of encouragement as some people were not as used to the strenuous levels of activity we went through. Nearing the end, I realized that our group had broken into two and a significant portion of our original team was left behind, so I volunteered to run back through the jungle path and find the remainder of our group. Then I aided them and did everything I could to help them get back to the front after checking to see if all were present and whether any were injured. Fortunately I had no worries in that department and I was able to get them all out of the jungle safely.

I was astonished to see how much diversity there was from vines that could be used as a water source to bits of poisonous leaves that were used to kill fish in bulk for consumption. We heard from the Iban that there were a lot of scientific efforts to map out all the plant life in the jungle as it had major medical implications. In an anecdote we heard of somebody who got sick in the jungle and hospitals failed to treat him for months, but after a simple tea type remedy, that person was cured and no longer suffered from disease. As someone who wants to be a doctor, it had me thinking about research projects I could undertake to better humanity and possibly even discover new/easily accessible pharmaceutical compounds to treat illnesses that humanity has so far been unable to resolve.

At night I took a shower under the stars and ate a typical Iban dinner, before proceeding to sleep in a tent in the wilderness, the way the Iban may have camped after a long trek through the jungle.

The next day I had the amazing opportunity to participate in traditional Iban activities. Our first job was to catch something for us to eat that night. I spent hours enjoying myself fishing, using live bait on bamboo rods. Unfortunately, the currents were particularly strong on this day and it wasn’t possible to catch any fish. However a good friend of mine was lucky enough to catch an eel, which even the Iban thought was quite odd.

I did target practice with blowdarts as well, practicing my accuracy. In my group, I never missed and almost was always on target, except for one unfortunate time where the wind deflected my shot entirely. Traditionally the Iban would use blowdarts which are poison tipped in order to attack rival tribes or to hunt.

I also went to the Iban fields to help them harvest their crops and spent quite a while going from spot to spot looking for the indications of a ripe plant and struggling to pull out particularly deeply rooted fruits. In the end it was quite rewarding as all that natural produce went to the people of the Iban. Then we watched as they showed us how to produce bamboo chicken, a recipe of welcome borrowed from the Iban and used in many prominent Malaysian hotels and restaurants.

The Iban told us stories about headhunting, an ancient warrior practice or theirs and after a visit to the oldest lady of Brunei, she told us all about how she used to live as an Iban woman decades ago, along with her various traditions.

On the final day, I planted cuttings of plants and helped the Iban move their boats from one side of their campsite to another. This took a lot of teamwork was well as we had to coordinate our movements accordingly and bolster those who didn’t have a lot of strength.

Then we went to visit the salted egg farm that belongs to an Iban business woman. Salted eggs are a highly valuable part of Malay culture and are a traditional food I have never seen anywhere else. In the farm we saw the animals that produced the eggs and had to opportunity to discuss how it was for an indigenous lady to develop a business in a rapidly developing nation.

Then with teary goodbyes, I retreated back the way I came. I was very happy to have had the opportunity I did to help out the Iban and develop as an individual by participating in various activities. I learned quite a bit and all in all it makes me excited for my return to Canada where we are blessed to have an amazing Indigenous Community as well. I hope to learn much more about plants and their uses for modern medicine in the future as well so I can contribute to saving as many lives as I possibly can as I grow older.

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