Final outcome...

So, the event is done and dusted and it was a huge success, we managed to raise quite a lot of money and Jeans for Genes and Sunflower Fund got Rs. 14,000 in total this year. Combining it with the Rs 24,500 from last year, we have in total Rs 38,500! This is great and both organisations can benefit from it! I am really happy and I would like to thank all the people who were involved, especially those who came on the Saturday and helped set-up. I know that giving almost 14 hours on a Saturday is a big thing to ask and you all gave that up for such a wonderful cause. Thank you so very, very much. Without you all, it would not have been possible :)

Thanks to all the people who came and watched as your tickets helped raise money for this and last but definitely not the least, my thanks goes to all the participants for giving such good performances and the judges for their remarkable judging and Mrs Waller who helped me tremendously in organising this event.

Here are some photos from the event :)

Updates on Mr and Miss Northfields prep

Hey guys, 

This last week has been very hectic as we all have had to go to form classes again and again to try and get people motivated enough to volunteer to participate in Mr and Miss Northfields. We have had some successes - we have the participants for form 1, 3, 4, L6 and U6. The only remaining participants we need are from form 2 and 5. Hopefully, we will be able to get the names by next week.

Other than that the prep was the event is going smoothly, we are getting the posters and the tickets ready and we are in the process of finding a suitable DJ. We are also looking at decorations and the tents. All in all, everything is going smoothly. However, I am afraid that I may not have time to be able to blog from next week, I will put an entry just before the event - 27th of October but until then, this is me saying bye :)

Changes in the format of Mr and Miss Northfields

Hey everyone!

So, as I told you guys last week, I would tell you what happened in the meeting. But first, let me tell you who is in the committee of organising Mr and Miss Northfields:

We have form Upper Sixth form - Trisha, Maneka, Kevin, Keshee, Kanushka (who will be helping out for some time only since she has her exams to worry about) and me.

From the Lower Sixth group we have - Deepa, Sonam, Sonali, Basanti, Analuxmee, and two new students - Talitha and Evan.

I really appreciate all the work these people have done and are willing to do in the future. Without these guys, I would never have been able to do an event so big. Thanks guys for helping out :)

So, there have been major changes to the format of Mr and Miss Northfields since last year. we have scrapped the seperate dancing section altogether and we have also scrapped the 1 minute speech on "Why should I be selected to win Mr/Miss/Prince/Princess Northfields?".

Instead of that, we have introduced a skit to be performed by all the participants and a rapid-fire round at the end.

This is how it is going to be:

First round: Modelling - Jeans for Genes and Bandanna Day themed.

Second round: Skit by the participants.

Third round: Talent (1 minute for each participant)

Fourth round: Rapid-Fire round.

We are now going to start looking at finding the participants from all form groups and this is going to take some time so I will have to go now - I have to plan how to convince students of various forms to come forward and participate.

Cheers :)

A little change in plans...

I was looking forward to planning the fashion show for this year's event, suddenly, I realised that our school's annual function was going to be at the same time as my fashion show. Obviously we can't have two events of that magnitude at the same time or around the same time. So, instead of leaving the project altogether, I went to Mrs Waller - the person in charge of Mr and Miss Northfields (our annual function) - and I sat down and talked to her about my predicament.

She suggested that we merge the two events as modelling is already part of Mr and Miss Northfields. So, now the modelling part of Mr and Miss Northfields is going to be Jeans for Genes and Bandanna Day themed. This means that even more people will come and I will be able to raise even more money. This sounds really good. The volunteers that I had gathered have agreed to help me with planning Mr and Miss Northfields and hopefully, this year's Mr and Miss Northfields will be the best one so far!

I have now asked Mrs Hung for a time where all of us (volunteers, me and my friends who have agreed to help and Mrs Waller) can meet up and decide on how we are going to tackle all the details concerning Mr and Miss Northfields and Mrs Hung has been very helpful by letting us have the CAS lesson. I will let you all know what happens in the meeting. Till then, any suggestions as to what we can do differently this year are appreciated. 

Cheers :)

Back to school

So, this week was the first week back and I have already started looking for volunteers in my form group as well as the Lower Sixth form group because I really would like the tradition of doing something concerning Jeans for Genes and Bandanna Day to live after I have graduated. I think that these two organisations are really worthwhile especially because there are people who are connected to this school by their family who have genetic disorders, so Jeans for Genes is something really close to my heart. 

Sunflower fund is something that I think should be given more importance and recognition to. The people in this organisation do so much to try and find donors for their children and it breaks my heart to know that most people don't even know that their is an organisation like this. That's why I decided to do both Jeans for Genes and Bandanna day.

The response that I have gotten so far is very positive and I am delighted to know that so many people are willing to help me out in planning the fashion week for these organisations. It shows the spirit of the school and I am proud to be a part of this wonderful school. I am so excited for this year's event! I think it is going to be a huge event and hopefully we will be able to raise a lot of money for Jeans for Genes and Bandanna Day!

A little history about the Sunflower Fund

SUSTAINING AN EFFECTIVE SABMR

The South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) is in desperate need of donors from all ethnic groups and mixed ethnic backgrounds.

Regrettably, the SAMBR does not receive any government funding towards the cost of tissue typing the blood samples and exists solely on donations from the public.

Without financial support the work of the SABMR would come to a complete halt and bone marrow transplantation would no longer be a treatment option in South Africa.
This is why The Sunflower Fund (Friends of the South African Bone Marrow Registry) was formed in 1999.The Sunflower Fund is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation based in Cape Town, South Africa, with a vision to give all South Africans diagnosed with leukaemia and other life-threatening blood disorders the chance of life, irrespective of their race and financial circumstances.

The Sunflower Fund’s core purpose is to educate, recruit and raise funds to build and sustain an effectiveSABMR as a viable source of well informed ethnically-diverse potential bone marrow donors so as to meet the national and international requirements and improve the chances of life-saving transplants for serious blood disorder sufferers.


Sunflower Achievements

So far, our efforts - with the support of many others - have increased the donor numbers on the SABMR from a mere 1,200 in 1999 to over 65 500 today! Also, since April 2003 to date, The Sunflower Fund spent just over R4 million on tissue typing throughout South Africa. This is a wonderful achievement, yet more needs to be done.

Due to the 1:100 000 chance of finding a compatible donor, at least 100 000 donors are needed for a Registry to function effectively and in South Africa, the Registry should ideally have 400 000 donors representative of all ethnic groups.

Link : http://www.sunflowerfund.org.za/index.php/2011-10-06-09-43-53/our-mission

65, 000 donors is a great achievement but the odds are against this wonderful organisation... If you are over 18, please become a donor and please let your family and friends know about this wonderful organisation and help them save more lives!

Causes of leukemia

So, I found this site which gives a lot of information about leukemia and I have put some part of it here:

Symptoms of leukemia

• Blood clotting is poor - As immature white blood cells crowd out blood platelets, which are crucial for blood clotting, the patient may bruise or bleed easily and heal slowly - he may also develop petechiae (a small red to purple spot on the body, caused by a minor hemorrhage).


• Affected immune system - The patient's white blood cells, which are crucial for fighting off infection, may be suppressed or not working properly. The patient may experience frequent infections, or his immune system may attack other good body cells.


• Anemia - As the shortage of good red blood cells grows the patient may suffer from anemia - this may lead to difficult or labored respiration (dyspnea) and pallor (skin has a pale color caused by illness).


• Other symptoms - Patients may also experience nausea, fever, chills, night sweats, flu-like symptoms, and tiredness. If the liver or spleen becomes enlarged the patient may feel full and will eat less, resulting in weight loss. Headache is more common among patients whose cancerous cells have invaded the CNS (central nervous system).


• Precaution - As all these symptoms could be due to other illnesses. A diagnosis of leukemia can only be confirmed after medical tests are carried out.

What causes leukemia?

Experts say that different leukemias have different causes. The following are either known causes, or strongly suspected causes:

• Artificial ionizing radiation
• Viruses - HTLV-1 (human T-lymphotropic virus) and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)
• Benzene and some petrochemicals
• Alkylating chemotherapy agents used in previous cancers
• Maternal fetal transmission (rare)
• Hair dyes
• Genetic predisposition - some studies researching family history and looking at twins have indicated that some people have a higher risk of developing leukemia because of a single gene or multiple genes.
• Down syndrome - people with Down syndrome have a significantly higher risk of developing leukemia, compared to people who do not have Down syndrome. Experts say that because of this, people with certain chromosomal abnormalities may have a higher risk.
• Electromagnetic energy - studies indicate there is not enough evidence to show that ELF magnetic (not electric) fields that exist currently might cause leukemia. The IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) says that studies which indicate there is a risk tend to be biased and unreliable.

The link to this site: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/142595.php

So get this - you can get leukemia from a genetic disposition - that is something really new to me... I never thought that genes could play a role in having or not having leukemia... It opened my eyes, has it opened yours? Also, some of the other ways one could get leukemia are astonishing - I never would have thought that hair dyes could play a part in someone having leukemia...