Mazingira club wins at International Shows in Nairobi and Mombasa

Thirty-five Mazingira Club members took part in the Nairobi International Trade Fair and Mombasa International Show. The club’s performance in both fairs was outstanding; the students were knowledgeable and confident. They came in second overall in Nairobi and first overall in Mombasa. Naira Gilani and Aya Mahmood won first prize in the local handcraft and cookery categories and Nivyan Lakhani won first prize for his science project. Both students tell us a little bit about their experience below.

Naira: In the category of local handicrafts, Aya and I presented coasters made from local beads and handmade greeting and festival cards. For cookery, we made chapati, cabbage curry, lemonade and sponge cake with cream cheese, all from scratch. As facilitator and leader of the enrichment, it was a challenging week for me because there was a lot to coordinate with the entire group. Despite this, I had a good experience because I got to work on my communication and public speaking skills when presenting to the judges as well as learning to be patient yet firm with the other grades that came along. The two main highlights were interacting with the judges because they gave me an opportunity to express myself and winning for best exhibit. In the end, all the planning and hard work paid off.

Nivyan Lakhani: For me, technology has always been the passion to do better and to develop further. This passion is why I agreed to represent the school in the Mombasa International Show, the experience made me perceptive, resourceful, and opened my eyes towards the rich culture that perfumes the streets of Mombasa. I built a computer-vision algorithm that could detect movement in a field; I learnt a lot about machine learning and how to critically approach complex problems.