Last 2 KCCL Trips

 This Wednesday, the 2nd of April, and on the 19th of March I went on two more KCCL trips. We followed the normal schedule, leaving school at around 3:20 and coming back at 4:30-5 in the afternoon. I was really excited to get back to KCCL, as I missed the last trip due to other appointments and such. These two times a few teachers came along with us - on the first trip the middle school principal, director and Mrs Roberts tagged along, while on the second we were accompanied by Mr Montgomery, Ms Houriez and Mrs Cain. I think that it was really nice to get some teachers to come along with us, as they don't often see what we all do on Wednesdays, and our projects are so wonderful.

Painting the pooh mural with Hannah and Eric!

When we arrived some kids were in the garden doing tiquando whilst others were working in the classrooms. We had focused on painting on both of these trips, wanting to finish the murals that we had started on the walls of the building. Some murals even had to be painted over with white paint due to some mistakes and miscommunication. We all headed to the storage room and hauled out the paints to the back. The paintbrushes, that were previously extremely stiff and dirty, had been cleaned and we had even managed to purchase some new ones with money we raised! It was a real treat to have a series of spotless white paintbrushes set out in front of us after so many struggles with the stubborn old ones! However, they weren't clean for very long!

On these two trips I focused on finishing up our mural of pooh bear and piglet (with the words 'friends stick together!' above it). Hannah and I had drawn the design for this quite a while ago and I was eager to see it completely finished. Eric also helped us out with this, and we made good progress. We had some issues mixing the same colours after our previous paint supplies were lost, but we managed to pull it off. We finished the colouring for pooh and piglet on the first trip and on the second worked on outlying everything in black (which improved its appearance drastically) and going over some areas of piglet. By the end of the second trip we had finished up and I was very proud of our work. After we had finished I went around and helped other groups with their designs. The building looks so beautiful at the moment, it's completely covered with vibrant colours and designs and you can't help but be in a good mood when you see what we've managed to transform the school into.

The kids all helped us paint throughout these two trips. Some kids were kept in the classroom, but the ones that came to help were very interactive and sweet. They would help us open cans and then take cups of paint and stand beside us and join in the work, making conversation as they did so. I think that all the children seem a lot more at ease than they were this time last year, and it's really nice to see their development.

These two trips have been really fun, I enjoy working creatively on the painting and I'm pleased that some teachers have got to see what we've been working on. Hannah is an amazing group leader and I love how passionate she is about this cause. I hope that she rejoins next year and this kind of work continues!