Wednesday, 22 March 2017

Toastmasters Speech Number 2 (CC2) - Every Day Hero

In this version of the speech 2 project , Save a life by +Alice Nyamu , the speaker chooses to use the cause and effect outline. She achieves the objectives of the project. She also achieves her specific purpose – to inform.
The speech was easy to follow because it has three clear points that are mentioned at the beginning of each idea. She uses very easy to note transitions namely first, second and last. She captures the listener’s attention because the opening question pokes curiosity. Then she maintains interest by sandwiching her points inside a very interesting story.
Notice too how she finishes with a call to action

Every Day Hero

How do you respond to disasters?  Do you run away from the scene screaming, or do you frozen in shock mumble a silent prayer, or probably spectate craning over people’s shoulders to catch a glimpse of the action and snap a photo?

One sunny Saturday morning, four of my colleagues and I decided to have an adventure. We settled on bungee-jumping, rock climbing and white water rafting at Sagana. It seemed like the perfect get away plan, but alas, they say that if you want to make God laugh tell him your plan

About Makuyu, we found a 42 seater bus that had overturned. And as we joined the pandemonium, I wondered whether we would sacrifice a fun trip that we had planned for months to help the injured? Well, some sacrifices are worth making because, I picked valuable lessons, three of which I would like you to take home.

First, I realized we can all donate blood. Just as we were about to leave Thika hospital where we had taken the injured, the doctor on call, Dr. Maingi stopped us. He thanked us profusely before dropping the bomb shell… “Can you please spare a few minutes to donate blood; these victims will certainly require blood transfusion. The idea of being pricked with a needle was just plain terrifying to say the least. Even Jack, the dare devil of the group looked like he would wet his pants. But when it was my turn to donate, the blood donation representatives were very patient. They calmly took me through it and before I knew it, it was over! Now I am regular blood donor.

Secondly, there isn’t enough blood in the banks. In spite of there being a government policy that every person in Kenya who requires blood has access to safe blood at anytime, this is not achievable without our involvement. But, while Dr. Maingi was leading us to a room labeled “blood donation centre” I noticed that most of the other motorists who had willingly helped in rushing the casualties to hospital had, at the mention of “donate blood“, miraculously vanished. The responsibility was then clearly on us four and a few others. We obviously not enough since one person can only donate half a litre every six months, but it was all we could do.

Finally, donating blood is good for one’s health.  And I don’t mean the free sodas we got. The doctor reassured me it would only take a few minutes and emphasized how much someone would benefit from it, but what won me over completely is a posta on the wall that read “The American Medical Association found that giving blood every six months leads to fewer heart attacks and strokes”. And it is true, having an excessive level of iron in your body is one of the most potent ways that your body oxidizes, or prematurely ages.

In my panic I hadn’t noticed how short a time it took. It was only 10 am. We were heros. Having evacuated accident victims, donated blood all within time to spare to go and Challenge the might River Tana. Even though we set out in the morning seeking to conquer the fear of heights, I conquered one of my biggest fears, doctors’ needle.

Despite appeals for blood donation, there are numerous cases where patients died due to lack of blood in hospitals. Don’t ignore those calls; make it your responsibility to donate blood.


It is the easiest way to become – An Every day hero!

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