Global Importance
Cancer is a global issue which effects millions of people worlwide. Hope for Kids focuses on the child patients of the Maharagama Cancer Institute.
New Challenge
Malindie and I have had a brief, minor experience in organising a concert with the interact club of our previous school but this was a big challenge for us and the rest of the committee. Our concert not only involved the OSC community but outside schools as well. Publicity and logistic aspects of the concert were also major challenges.
Planning and Initiation
OSC had not had a student-organized concert of this scale before. As the co-leader of the service group, my main aims were to raise money (targeted amount SLR 175,000) and to increase OSC's interaction with other schools. We started planning for the concert 3 months ahead in May. I delegated the work among the members of the committee as Priyanka - Publicity, Tara and Thishakya - Sponsorships and Malindie and I handled light and sound equipment and performers. However this delegation did not mean we couldn't help each other but ensured someone was responsible for completing the work.We also planned to get awareness t-shirts done in time for the concert.
Developed Skills, Awareness of Strengths & Areas for Growth
Pulling this concert together required an immense effort considering my organizing committee wasn't very strong.
- I had to learn the rather tedious process of going through several levels for approval to do anything. Things didn't happen as fast as I wanted them to sometimes and I tended to get impatient. For example even the simple task of drafting a letter required Mr. Coles' and Mrs. Williams' signatures, Mr. Coles' had to proof read it and I had to run between the councellor's secretary and the printing office.
- I became very good at drawing on personal connections and other people's connections to get things done. For example, our printing was sponsored by a parent from the primary school and I was able to contact performers who I knew were good. I also got the tshirts printed for cost price through one of my father's friends.In addition, the photographs of the childern were done for free by one of my friend's sister who is a professional photographer.
- During the process of putting up posters and promoting the concert I learnt how to deal appropriately with different people and what to say to appeal to them and how to get things done. For example I was on my own at Jazz Sunday at the CR and FC grounds and had to deal with the manager.
- I also learnt to weigh the situation and act practically and take decisions quickly. The initial estimates for sound equipment I got were for SLR 100,000 but Mr. Rana the auditorium manager got it done for SLR 30,000. At Jazz Sunday I quickly realized people weren't responding to the posters so I spoke to the manager got the poster photocopied and handed it out as a flyer.
- I also became acutely aware of the fact that things do go wrong despite the most meticulous planning.
- Time management was a key skill I had to master to cope with school work and the concert work.
- Keeping accounts, especially after the concert when dealing with ticket sales, was stressful but I learnt to keep a track of every inflow and outflow of money and to have a record with the business office.
I had a lot of pressure from my parents to focus more on my school work because we were in the middle of important coursework. We also faced numerous problems in the organisation process. Despite the difficulties within the committee itself and coping with internal assessments, I managed to carry out my objective and the concert was a great success. We raised nearly SLR 250,000, well over my maximum target.
Ethical Implications
There were many personal issues and differences within the committee which reduced my morale at times. The word I had delegated was not done and I ended up doing the bulk of the work. By nature I am a hot tempered person but my co-leader, who is also my best-friend, is very calm and together we dealt with the issues to the best of our ability. We tried our best not to carry the issues into other aspects of school and get teachers involved and resolve our conflicts in a mature manner. Even though we had our differences, I was really impressed with the way everyone on the committee pulled together on the day of the concert. The fact that we worked collaboratively and everything flowed smoothly was what made the concert successful.
