CAS @ MLC SCHOOL
CAS Reflection Form
Activity Name: Sewing skirts for earthquake-affected children in Nepal
CAS element(s) involved:
C
Group
Is this activity completed or ongoing?
Completed
Activity Reflection: Comment only on those learning outcomes listed below that are
relevant to this activity.
You may want to comment on:
What you wanted to achieve by doing this activity and what you did actually
achieve.
What you struggled with or found frustrating and how you managed that.
What you have learnt about working with others. What you learnt about yourself?
How this activity will inform your future CAS activities.
Increased awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth
Undertaken new challenges
Planned and initiated activities
Worked collaboratively with others
Shown perseverance and commitment
Engages with issues of global importance
Considered the ethical implications of my actions
Developed new skills
By undertaking this activity, I wanted to do something that would have global importance,
and I felt that a group project was the best way to action this, as there would be more
people to be involved, so the project could have a larger scope. We had initially planned
to make vests for premature babies at Westmead Hospital, where Ms White had
connections. However, Ms King made an announcement at assembly about children at
an HIV clinic in Nepal who had been affected by the 2015 earthquakes there, and we
thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to be involved in a global initiative. Ms
King gave us a few ideas on what we could do, including buying or making clothes and
shoes for the children there. This is where we got the idea to make skirts, as we felt that
it was a simple enough project that we could get it finished in time and we could mass
make them, but still useful for the Nepalese children. Our goal was to make skirts of all
different sizes so that children of all ages could wear them, and to make them sturdy
enough so that they wouldnt break after only a few uses. I think that in the end we did
reach our goal, but not without many struggles and frustrations along the way. I would
have liked to have continued this activity, but unfortunately, after the first batch of skirts
were sent off, we lost contact and eventually became to busy to continue on, but I
believe that I learnt many new skills and made many new connections so I can continue
this on in the future after the IB program.
The problems we encountered were mostly related to the construction of the skirts, as
the only experience with textiles we had was knowledge from DT in Year 7 and 8 and
CAS @ MLC SCHOOL
elective Textiles in Year 9 and 10 for some girls. The first problem we had was the sizing
and creation of patterns for the skirts, as we were not sure how old the children for
whom we would be making the skirts would be. We contacted Ms King for help about
this and she said a wide range of sizes for children from 3-10 years old. We were still
unsure about the actual measurements though, so we did some research online for
sizes applicable to Australian children. However, we felt that we should make the skirts
somewhat smaller, as the children in Nepal would be smaller than in Australia. We were
also aware of cultural considerations so we made the skirts fairly long, and suggested
that the children could wear leggings underneath, and I feel that this was an indication of
our consideration of ethical implications to our project.
In addition, we had problems with actually making the skirts, so we took the initiative to
contact Ms Langford, a Textiles teacher, in order for her to teach us how we could make
a simple skirt. We also asked our parents for tips in terms of sewing and overlocking and
I learned new techniques used in textiles. Through this I developed new skills in sewing
and learned new information that will be applicable to projects I undertake later on in life.
Finally, I felt that we had problems with meeting deadlines and getting skirts finished in
time, as Ms King would be leaving on a specific date and would have to take the skirts
with her. We were really pressured for time, due to problems in organisation, learning
sewing techniques and administration business. However, this is where we cooperated
the best, as everyone in our group pitched in to try to ease the load of our work. This, for
me, also helped me develop new skills in terms of group work, as normally I do not enjoy
group work. I learned to listen to others new ideas and come to compromises over
certain decisions, which was outside of my comfort zone, but I now understand that it
has helped us immensely. One example of this was our willingness to work overtime on
the weekends to get the job done where we spent an entire Saturday at one of our group
members house just sewing and overlocking the skirt. It was an extremely rewarding
situation as I felt like we had developed a group camaraderie and closeness, and in this
case I felt that the more we had in our group, the more we were able to do as we all
worked so well together. We each had our own job and I felt personally obligated to do
my job properly so as to not let any of the others down.
By submitting this form you are declaring that the reflection and evidence in this CAS
activity meet the IB Academic Honesty guidelines.