I went to Mida Creek for my Intercultural Trip and it was an absolutely wonderful week. I am part of the Presidents Award, so was required to do the more challenging part of the trip. This included planning, organizing, and buying all the food for the entire week on the trip. It included organizing and packing all the cooking supplies for the week, and it entailed that i somehow reflect on my experience. I reflected by doing a trip journal. In my journal, i had photos, pictures, souvenirs, daily entries, and reflections. This was the creativity part of my experience and i feel i did well in representing the trip in an interesting, fact-filled, and artistic way. Before we went on the trip, everyone going to Mida had to participate in a swimming and kayaking test. This entailed coming to school on a saturday so the trip supervisors could observed everyone's swimming skills to see who was stronger than others and who was incapable of such a task. We were also tested on our kayaking skills and each of us learned how to flip out of our kayak and empty it of water in the case of flipping out in the middle of the creek. This was a skill i didn't know previously, so was good to learn. The challenging part of the trip was the Kayaking. We kayaked everyday and sometimes had to carry our Kayak over the sand banks as the tides went out and we were stranded out in the creek. I unfortunately had to miss the challenge day of the trip because i got very sick. The challenge was the day the Presidents Award people went out for a 6 hour kayak trip. I did kayak every other day, and it was a challenge because i was unwell. Overall, however, it was a very physically strenuous trip and i do feel i achieved. I love kayaking and it was great to practice kayaking again. I learned a lot about the tides and how careful we need to be when going out on the water. I learned how to work in a 'pod' out on the water with my peers and to stay together at all times. I learned how to signal for help, how to help someone. I also practiced my cooking skills throughout the trip because we each had to cook our own meals. It was a very interesting experience learning to use the material provided and the limited amount of food and water we had. We had to save our materials and not waste any food. We visited lots of tourist sites, including Gede Ruins, the Arabuko-Sokoke forest and the Boardwalk along the creek. It was interesting and fun and a great experience. I loved the Arabuko-Sokoke forest. We had a great walk and an amazing guide and i learned a lot about the wildlife in the park and the local coastal ecosystem. It was fun and interesting. The service part of our trip was very interesting. We went to the Turtle Watch one day and learned a significant amount about the turtle life and the biology of the region. We got to see some injured turtles that were being held int he rehab in the hopes of recovering and being returned to the open ocean. While we were there, we did a beach clean up on the creek and cleaned up a significant amount of trash and tried to do our part in protecting the organisms in the region of trash in the water. We donated some funds and i learned a lot and gained a new appreciation to the turtles in the region. We also went and worked with a Biology group called A Rocha. We went snorkeling with one of their biologists and he taught us so much about the fish life on the coral reef and in the KWS protected Marine Park. We got to observe all the different fish and we learned about their lives, predators, prey, relationships with local fishermen, and relationship/ impact of local tourists. I learned so much and was really inspired by everything. For A Rocha, we also participated in a Bird Banding expedition. The biologists were banding birds in the creek and this entailed setting up nets during the day and leaving them out for birds to get caught in the night time. I was up until around 1 in the morning traipsing all the way out into the middle of the creek during low tide and getting birds out of the nets and putting them in bags and taking them back to the table for the biologists and volunteers to brand the birds and take their information. Those birds had come from several different places around the world and it was truly an amazing experience. I learned so much and was absolutely intrigued by everything i learned and being able to hold the birds. I have been inspired by A Rocha to go back and volunteer for the organization because i love the work they are doing and love working with the wildlife and learning about the ecosystem and the biodiversity. I learned so much on this trip and gained several life skills that could be used in every aspect of my life. I learned how to work with others, create solutions to problems, be resourceful, plan, cook, organize, kayak, band birds, and help the community.
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