Wanna hear a pizza joke? I can't tell you, it's too cheesy.

For the service that I'm part of, Hope for Kids, we arranged our second Pizza Drive of the year. The fund raiser was a huge success as we sold out within 15 minutes.

We ordered 15 pizzas worth 18,000 slr which was donated by each member of the group. (1000 slr each). Within the 15 minutes of selling 15 pizzas, we made 12,000 rupees (plus 18,000 that was donated.

This gave us a full profit of 30,000 rupees. We will be using these funds to buy materials for activities such as beading, painting and most importantly putting together packets of sanitary essentials and dry rations. The large profit gave us confidence and also helped to make more students in our school aware of our service and what we do to help the course of treatment of cancer patients. 

Pictures from the Pizza Drive : Amira Holding a box of pizza,  A Customer enjoying the pizza, Aamir posing while selling the pizza.

Hope for Kids is not only turning out to be a huge success in terms of attaining and efficiently using funds, but after being part of this service for over a year now, I can proudly say "We are making a Difference". Visiting the Cancer Hospital every week has allowed me to observe the difference that we make. Seeing the eyes of the children light up as they see us walking in with tubs of goodies and art materials has helped me to form a deeper and more profound connection with Hope For Kids. Being able to see a smile on their faces, as they go through the most difficult phase in their lives gives me hope to overcome the minute problems that I face in comparison. Working with Hope For Kids has helped me to become a mature adult and to become more aware of issues that come along with cancer. Some of these concerns involve depression that have a severe and serious impact on the course of treatment of chemotherapy. 

"We are making a Difference"

With the strenuous and time consuming schedule of the IB diploma, along with the never-ending university applications, essays and portfolios, visiting the hospital every week is the best therapy for stress. Working amongst the children and being able to form a connection with them is so extremely important and worth all the time in the world. Although, not being able to speak in Tamil or Sinhalese is a barrier to efficient communication, it was only a small wall that I needed to climb. The children at the hospital converse with me using hand signs and by prompting words in English which makes the experience all the more enjoyable. 

As service leader it has been extremely important for me to not only maintain a good relationship with my group members but at the same time push my fellow members to do their best and give their maximum efforts. Working alongside Maya Dethebrew (co-leader) has been extremely pleasant as she has been part of this service for 4 years now. I have not only been able to connect with the cancer patients and my group members, but also successfully learnt valuable leadership skills from Maya, who I hope will take up my position as Service Leader next year.

With the almost end to Service for my final year in the IB Diploma, I hope to spend the following months giving my maximum efforts and making any change I can . Hope For Kids, does not only give hope to children suffering from Cancer, but it has given me hope to achieve and fulfil my dreams in the future, and to continue to serve in the society around me.