INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING DAY 22' (PART V) : SAFARI YA KENYA

KARIBU!

On the 23rd of October 2022, finally after postponing what should have been International Understanding Day 2020, the time has finally come for our fellow interactors to experience the biggest obstacle of all. We're sure most of you are aware of the country our club has chosen as we have revealed prior to this years IU Day.

Which was..!

Our country poster, prepared by our Publicist

The mighty, fearless and what is known as the 'cradle of humankind';

KENYA! 🇰🇪

To most (especially our Form 5 interactors and the Board of Directors) of our members, this years IU Day felt a bit different. For one, we were clueless, as the news of IU Day finally being back this year had startled us; and we felt unprepared. Our wonderful past year seniors had done most of the decorations, so we did not need to prepare anything too major except touch-up the things necessary for the event. However, we were still unaware of how things are supposed to go, what rules were we supposed to follow, and most importantly, how we needed to arrange things. By then, our seniors had already graduated from high school, it was difficult for us as we felt that there wasn't enough guidance from our elder sisters. Especially since we needed to teach our junior interactors at the same time. And for the Form 5s, it was also going to be our first and last time experiencing IU Day. 

We had also felt a bit of pressure weighing us down as our school had won for 5 consecutive years, and we didn't want to break the chain, knowing how competitive the other schools are going to be. Nonetheless, we didn't want to back down. One of the reasons why we were chosen to be in the club is because we have strong hearts. So, despite everything, we didn't give up, and proceeded to work through with what we had using our creative abilities. ❤

Interact Clubs from each school will have to compete to win in the following categories;- Best Food, Best Booth, Best Dance, Best Costume and Best Info! There were 11 schools participating including ours, which were;-

SM Stella Maris representing Vietnam 

SM All Saints representing Peru

SMK Bandaraya representing Denmark

SM La Salle representing Russia

Maktab Sabah representing Italy

SMK Lok Yuk representing Timor Leste

KK High School representing China

SM Shan Tao representing Mongolia

SMK Sanzac representing France 

Seri Insan representing Thailand 

Our booth to say the least, was magnificent and certainly eye-catching!  

The inside of our booth! ft. our president (left) and vice president (right)

Side view of our booth

Top view of our booth 

The front of our booth, featuring our lion, "Sebastian" 🦁

Food department also had prepared delicious dishes and drinks for the hungry customers. Photos taken by our Head of Food Department ;)

Mukimo

Kenyan kaimati

Our best seller; Kenyan dawa juice 

Kuku kienyeji

Chai ya chai

Chapati na githeri

Just like every other year, our school came up with the most glamorous and colourful costumes for our fellow models. Since it's an African country, the costumes will surely be full of culture! We chose 4 tribes for our models to showcase to the judges during the modeling event, which are Maasai, Kikuyu, Borana and Samburu. Although they displayed significant differences in colour/style, there was one similarity the tribes share; beads as accessories!

Eidelweiss (far left) as the Kikuyu Goddess, Janecy (left) as the Borana woman, Brianna (right) as the Samburu woman, and Clarise (far right) as the Maasai Warrior

We had to make some of the accessories by hand, just like how the Kenyan women do to sell to tourists at their village. By doing so, I guess you could say we really felt connected to the country we were representing! 😄 Click here if you'd like to see the modeling performance.

The models' performance weren't the only thing that had the crowd shaking; our little tribe dancers had been practicing hard for more than a month for this moment! Their outfits were also inspired by the Maasai tribe, as they had fierce red clothing equipped with long sharp spears. There was a story behind the dance; and it's up to you to decide how you percieve the ending! Click here to watch our dance performance.

Practicing the flag raise (didn't quite work out as planned..) 😣

Ending pose!

Our members also had a face-painting service for those who wanted to get their face painted with beautiful patterns like the tribes in Kenya!

Supporters from Belgium!

And we had many tourists come to take a look at our booth! One couple from Belgium even sat and got their faces painted while our Interactors introduced them to Kenyan culture and history~ Feeling the love and support all the way from Belgium!

And now for the most anticipating moment. The awards... Here are the results!

Best Booth

1st: SM All Saints 

2nd: St. Francis Convent 

3rd: SMK Bandaraya 

Best Costume

1st: St. Francis Convent

2nd: SM All Saints

3rd: SMK Lok Yuk

Best Dance

1st: SM La Salle 

2nd: St. Francis Convent 

3rd: SMK Lok Yuk

Best Info

1st: St. Francis Convent

2nd: SMK Sanzac

3rd: Maktab Sabah 

Best Food

1st: Seri Insan

2nd: SM Stella Maris

3rd: SMK Bandaraya

Our school had been awarded with 4 trophies out of 5 of these categories, which is considered such a big achievement for us! We felt ecstatic, and relieved that we were able to win these trophies. 

However, along every rose, there are thorns. The result of the overall champion was unfortunately not what we expected..

After 5 continuous years of winning the Champion title, St. Francis Convent has finally been dethroned by All Saints Secondary School, just by a few marks. To say we were feeling devestated was an understatement. 

It's okay to lose, to lose often, or to lose time and time again. Being with our interactors throughout this journey has made an impactful bond between us all, and has built our character. Though we did not get the desired results, we are proud of the blood, sweat and tears that went into this amazing project. The strength of our hearts and those around us made it felt like we won. "The champions of our hearts", is the title our past year interactors have given us during this moment. ❤

We would like to thank our Heads of Departments, our Board of Directors, our junior and senior interactors, our teachers, our parents, our past year interactors, and most of all, our supporters. You have made it all worth it. 

We are looking forward to International Understanding Day 2023! Stay tuned, as we'll come back twice as strong as before ;)

To see more of our IU Day content such as pictures, videos, and even a never-done-before TRAILER, visit our Instagram account! ✰ (we are very active there!)

@interactclubofsfc