Volunteer Work Placement - Canada World Youth

Hello guys,

This week I would like to share another activities that I did in the second week of my work placement..

On Tuesday 29th Oct 2013, I started working again in the second week of my work placement. On last Tuesday I was not at Wonder'neath Studio, but I was at Chocolate Lake Recreation Centre (14 Purcell's Cove Road, Halifax), another studio (Yihaaa). It was quite far tho! But I was still excited to working at that day.

What did I do on last Tuesday??? I should tell ya, it was amazing and productive day! So, I worked with two girls, also Heather. These two girls suffered down syndrome. Let me tell you more about down syndrome. Down syndrome (DS) or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. Down syndrome is the most common chromosome abnormality in humans. The CDC estimates that about one of every 691 babies born in the United States each year is born with Down syndrome. It is typically associated with physical growth delays, a particular set of facial characteristics and a severe degree of intellectual disability. The average full-scale IQ of young adults with Down syndrome is around 50 (70 and below is defined as the cut-off for intellectual disability), whereas young adult controls have an average IQ of 100.

Many children with Down syndrome are educated in regular school classes while others require specialized educational facilities. Some children graduate from high school, and, in the US, there are increasing opportunities for participating in post-secondary education. Education and proper care has been shown to improve quality of life significantly. Many adults with Down syndrome are able to work at paid employment in the community, while others require a more sheltered work environment.

Down syndrome is named after John Langdon Down, the British physician who described the syndrome in 1866. The condition was clinically described earlier by Jean Etienne Dominique Esquirol in 1838 and Edouard Seguin in 1844. Down syndrome was identified as a chromosome 21 trisomy by Dr. Jerome Lejeune in 1959. Down syndrome can be identified in a newborn by direct observation or in a fetus by prenatal screening. Pregnancies with this diagnosis are often terminated.

For me both of them are amazing, they have a magic in their hands. For your information, one of those girls has published her own art's book. She is a talented artist in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada!

Okay, let's move on and talk about our activities. So, I and my counterpart, made some cards that designed by Team Possibles. What is Time Possibles?? Since 2007, Team Possibles art program has run through the Halifax Nova Scotia Down Syndrome Society. It is designed for youth to adults (12-30). It is staffed by professional artists and art educators, guest artists, and a host of student volunteers from Dal, MSVU, SMU, and NSCAD. Team possibles' many partnerships and projects can be found at http://teampossibles.ca. Visit that link guys :)

What I did was just put the pictures on the card and then wrapped it. There were so many pictures that sketched by the children who suffered down syndrome. Those pictures were so nice and beautiful :). Team Possibles will sell the cards as a fundraising. **PERFECT for me**

Here are the pictures of the cards

After finishing the cards, we did needle felting. Sounds weird eh! So, needle felting is a popular fibre arts craft that creates felt without the use of water. Special needles that are used in industrial felting machines are used by the artist as a sculpting tool. Great eh! So, we need a medium to do felting and Heather gave me a flower's shape. When I started to do felting, I was so frustrated. Heather made it so easy to do felting, but the fact wasn't ! It was so hard to do felting tho! Step by step and also keep this mind to stay positive finally I finished it. I felt so relieve to finish this felting. SO RELIEVE. Hehehee..

I finished my work for today !

Time to have a big family dinner. So, there's a tradition in my host fam, every Tuesday, we will have a big family dinner. It was so fun and joyful. As usual, my host grandma cooked us a supper. They were delicious as always :) After had a delicious supper, we had a birthday celebration of grandma and Simon (my counterpart). Actually Simon's birthday is on Halloween, but my host parents wouldn't be home on Halloween, so they decided to celebrate my counterpart's birthday together with my host grandma's birthday. We had a very yummy birthday cake after the supper. We also did another activities which were really weird and funny. What were those things?? Those were supposed to be secret :)

That's all my story, how about you guys?

Have a good day :D

#Sunarto
#Kepulauan Riau
#Canada World Youth ( Halifax-Depok )