This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. Welcome to Youth in Action, where young people have dreams that are flourishing big time. And remember, your dream is valid. In today's program, we have Fibian Chepchirchir, aka Miss Kibabu University, and also a student of education. Let's hear more. So Fibian, welcome to the show. Tell us a bit about you. Thank you. So my name is Fibian Chepchirchirki Plagat from Eldoret, and I'm studying at Kibabu University, a third year student pursuing Bachelor of Education Arts, Maths and Geography. Maths and Geography. Yeah, Maths and Geography. Yeah. So being on the spotlight takes courage. How did you get into modeling? Okay, I get into modeling when I stepped at Kibabu University. So I remember I was, I had friends who used to call me Miss Kibabu University, and yet I was just a first year. And I didn't know even anything about modeling. So I was like, why are they calling me Miss Kibabu University? Then they told me is because of the way I used to wear my outfits. So for that reason, I decided to be a model. I said, let me try. And at that time, I, there's no one who can, who can train me. Then I decided to look for a former Miss Kibabu University. Her name is Ada. Then I told her to train me. I want to be a model. Then she said, okay, then we trained. At first I didn't know even how to work on heels. I didn't know how to cut work. She used to tell me that I'm dancing. Okay. Yes, she used to tell me that I'm dancing and I really have to improve. But I have that, that modeling something in me. Then I tried and tried and tried after sometimes this girl, I don't know where she went and I was left alone. Then what I did is I kept on practicing and kept, I kept on training. I kept, I just kept on training about modeling because I wanted. I used to go to YouTube, TikTok, just looking about modeling, how they cut work, how they turn, how they pose, their smile and everything. Because I just wanted to be a model. Now that my friends are calling me Miss Kibabu University, I said, let me try and be. Let me try and be. Then I kept on doing that. Then at that time, we had a cultural week at Kibabu University last year on April. I was not even prepared. I didn't even want to contest. I don't know why. But I said, let me try. In fact, I was training for a long time. Let me try. So I tried. Apart from time to go to a train school, I went home, I came home and in your YouTube, I do more research, at least I learned one more thing from the yesterday one. So during that time, I had a lot of challenges during cultural week. I didn't have money to hire a designer and I wanted to contest. So I had a friend of mine called Massy Massicharity. I can help Navitu that day. I can help Navitu mob. I came to Nawial in Saidiya and creative work at Afuta, and I said, now I'm ready for the event. And do you know when I get ready, it's the 7th day that I'm going to be at the Kibabu University, and the event is going to be very happy, very happy. And so let me try. Then I tried. I went to Ranoi. I picked tag numbers. During I picked tag numbers, imagine I picked tag number one, and I'm not even ready. I'm not even sure. I was like, no, I'm not taking this number one. I'm not going to be number one. Just take your tag number. Then I just take yours. Then I just say, okay, let me try. I used to be more gassana, but that day I said, let me try, because I had a small courage. I want to be a model. I want to be someone great. Let me try. Then I say to myself, mama, just try. Okay, it kind of ran away and I was like, see as you're not going to watch what we're going to model. Let me just model and chill. They do their own things. Let me just do me. I don't want to see whatever they're doing and stuff. Let me just do me. Then I picked tag number one. So I'm going to be on everything. Okay. Before, I was like, I'm ready for anything. Whether I didn't know how to win, I didn't expect to win. So I said, let me wait just for anything. Anything for me, I'm good. Then I said, we are announcing now girls who are in a contest. Number three, number two, then number one, they said, let's let's wait. We are not even in a position to announce our winner. Okay. So you are so happy. That's so nice. Congratulations for that. This is quite a catchy story and experience of yours. The experience has been so nice in that even when I told my dad I'm contesting, he was so happy because my dad knows that I'm such kind of a person when you're entertainment and famous. So it told my dad, I want to be, I want to be a more, I want to contest. Then my dad was so happy and I said, it's okay. In fact, I remember some amount to me and I can say my all the best. So after me win, I told him and he loved Ali Tchaika like he was so, so happy and I like making my father happy. Wow. Being Miss Kibabi, you are a figure to look up to. So what, how do you maneuver the expectations of being this perfect icon that I am looking up to? Okay. Being Miss Kibabi University, first I really want to thank God for giving me this opportunity to be Miss Kibabi University because I've been a person whom I wanted to be. I wanted to be a model during, since my first year at Kibabi University, I wanted to be a model and this has really helped me to be the person I wanted to be. So I'm looking forward to mentor a lot of people to be models. I know there are, there are many people who want to be models, but they don't have that opportunity. So I would like to encourage people that if you really want to be a model, just do whatever you want to do. Try. Yeah. And modeling is often associated with beauty and fashion. What else can you say drives the modeling? Okay, modeling is not all about only clothes and makeups and stuffs. They also look at how you express yourself, the person you were and also, yeah, I guess how you express yourself, how you speak to other people, how you associate with people, how you interact and stuff.  Like for example, for me, being in Kibabi University is like being a leader. I'm also a leader in this school. So I should act like, I should act as a role model, be a good person so that other people can do, can follow what I'm doing. And being on that platform, do you feel like on expectations, when I feel how you're meeked, you've changed some of your identity to maybe please other people because of being in Kibabi? No, I guess there are things that have not yet done. I really want to bring many people into modeling. I want to bring many girls into modeling. Like for now, I'm training some of my girls. They're not too many, but I really want more of them. I really want people to do what they want to do and be what they want to be. And from what I've heard of you and interacting with you, I understand you're a jack of many trades, so many artists, so many poets, so many dancers. How come you've mastered all these trades? For this, I think it's something that is inside me. It's something that I was born with, I guess, because since I was in primary, I used to love dancing and singing. In fact, I was the best singer. I used to sing Kikale when I was in primary. I used to solo. So I guess it's something that I grew up with. And during also primary, I joined choir. I joined choir, I was the best dancer in that choir all over my place. I was the best dancer and again I was the best singer in solo. So I was the best in dancing and singing while I was young until now. For now, I can dance. I love dancing. For singing, no, but I do spoken word. Spoken word, I started doing it during Kibbe University, when I joined Kibbe University first year. I just felt like I can do this. I didn't know even how to bring out that word, so spoken. I didn't know even to speak that spoken word. But I took my time and write some lines and try them, try them, try them. I used to go to YouTube and listen to Akina Karembo and that's how I just wanted to do it. Wow. Oh, many fresher. There's something you said about being shy, but being an artist, a spoken word, artist, a poet, a dancer, those are things not a shy person can do. How do you do it? Yeah, I was so shy when I grew up and one day I said, God, I don't want to be shy anymore. I prayed. I really prayed for that, for real. And all of a sudden, because I took one word. Wow.  How did you have an experience with that as a model and also speaking your words and voice? Okay, for singing, singing kale engine, I don't know, but my mother used to tell me that I can do it. My mother doesn't know how to sing in kikale and stuff. I love entertainment. So that's why I can dance, I can sing, I can model, and I can do the training at the same time. I can model for some time. I can go dance, I can do it. I just have that passion and I love doing them. I don't feel even bad going for training and stuff. And how do you get to balance your schoolwork as a student of education and all these activities? Okay, it's kind of, it's kind of hard, but sometimes you just have to schedule yourself. You have to schedule yourself. Like for example, weekends, you can do all like modeling and stuff on weekends because we don't have classes on weekends. And during also weekdays, you can do trainings after classes and do classes during class times. And how has that been? Has it been challenging? Yeah, it's been so challenging because sometimes you miss classes. Sometimes maybe you're called, come here, we have to do this, we have to model, we have to do this and this and this. So you have to miss class and coping up with it in a quahad.  What themes are those? Okay, I have one that's for love and another one is my feelings. Okay, I lost my mom, so I decided to write a poem about that. But it's all, I lost my mom, but the poem is about losing both parents. So I just use it to express what I feel. And so how did that help you become the person you are right now? I've really been wanted to be someone famous, someone people will know. I used to feel good when I go somewhere and people call me Miss Kibabi, Miss Kibabi, Miss Kibabi and I don't even know them. I feel good when my dad is happy because I am Miss University. I feel good because my siblings, my my sisters and brothers want to be the person I am. Yeah, like my sister wants to be a model, she's studying at Pony University, Pony University.  My younger sister who is in from one now wants to be a model. I love that. Being such an inspiration to your family members, what about the society around you? Do they have the same feelings as your family? Yeah, also the society have the same feelings in that when I used to move around, there are girls and other people who told me that may come you train me, I want to be a model, may you train me, I want to be like they are begging, they are begging, I train them so that they can be the person I am.  Yeah, challenges are there like for example when you need a lot of money or when you need money to do something with modeling and or whatever like even recording spoken word, the only person I'm depending on is my father. And when my father doesn't have money, you'll feel like I wish mom was there so that she can at least give me something small to cope up with it. So it's been, it's not, it has not been easy. It's been such challenging. Yeah. You speak often about motivating other people to join modeling and stuff like that. How does that make you feel being an icon to look up to or being someone figure to look up to? Okay, what I can say about it is modeling is not all about being beautiful, being, I don't know, people think that if you want to be a model, you must be so light skinned, your skin must be so pure and stuff. No, you can be a model the way you are. You can be a model the way, like even you now, you can be a model the way you are. Modeling is all about courage, trusting in yourself, having faith on you and doing you. You don't have to feel like I'm not light skinned, I'm not tall, I'm not skinny, no. Being a model is just being you. It's being you and being courageous enough. So and maybe there's someone out there, they have a different talent, they don't want to be models, but they want to be something else. But they are still reluctant, should I do it, should I not? What can you tell them? What I can tell them is do it, do it right now, if not today, not even tomorrow. Do it right. If you want to do something, just go for it. You don't know the price, you don't know whatever God has planned for you, just try it.  Ah, interesting. I am curious to know, where do you see yourself five to ten years in time? Okay, five to ten years in time I want to be, I want to mentor a lot of people in modeling. Like for example, I want to have my own agency, my own agency of modeling. I want to train a lot of people, both children, girls and boys. Yeah, that's what I am really yearning to. I want to have my own agency and train a lot of people in modeling. But what about your academics? I'll also like to be a teacher. Yeah, I'll be a teacher and during that teaching time, I'll use that teaching time to bring that agency and maybe during part times and during my old days, I'll be training people from there and when I'm fixed, I'll maybe look for someone to help me train the model.  Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me and talk about yourself. So nice, so commendable and you'll be a supermodel. Thank you, that's what I'm yearning to. Thank you so much. This has been an interesting experience for me, Miss Kebabu University and she has said it, do it right now and I love how she has done it, do it right now. There's no other time, see Kesho, see Kesho Kutua, do it right now. This has been Youth in Action, I am Nyongweso Grenis, see you next time. This is the way to do it.


We are coming to you from our studios of ThinkTekowai in downtown Honolulu and from my home office in Makiki. Remember back in the day where many of our parents used to farm and they ate the produce from our backyards? Literally we know about the value of being out in the good air and producing. Today, we shall be discussing the therapeutic values of gardening with Dr. Tonya Featherston. Welcome, Dr. Featherston. Now let's get started. Hello. Thank you for having me. I'm glad you're here and you could take time off of your busy growing schedule. So could you tell us a little bit about what is plant therapy and garden therapy? Okay. So plant therapy is really using any type of plant-based activities with the goal of improving your mental, emotional, or physical health. So plant therapy activities could include things like in my practice, I may have some of my clients do journaling, but instead of doing it indoors, I would recommend that they do it outdoors. Go outside, connect with nature and journal in a park or in some at the beach, for example. So in places where you can really sort of get grounded and connect with nature. So that's plant therapy and you could use any plant-type products as well.  Gardening therapy is a little different in the sense that you're going to actually grow the plants. So you may grow vegetables, so it may be a vegetable garden that you're doing. It could be a healing type of garden where you're growing plants that are medicinal type plants and herbs. It could be a kitchen herb garden. The gardening therapy is really sort of getting you actively involved in growing those plants and nurturing those plants, planting the seeds, like all the everything from the beginning process and to the end where you're taking in the food. So that's just subtle differences between the two. Wow. And you know, that's the key component to this all is, you know, of course in the home, you're doing it home and getting all the different qualities of the plant growing in your home. But when you take it out to the aina, to the garden, to the yard, I think that's really important because we seem to learn better in the environment that we're going to be working with. And the plants grow usually in yards. And so, you know, there are a lot of programs in Hawaii where the kids don't learn well in classroom setting. But when you put them in the aina in the earth, they are more apt to be excited because of the stimuli on the outside. And all the exciting things that happens in a garden is that what is actually what you're trying to incorporate as well? Yes. So plant therapy and gardening therapy both work very well with children. You know, all of us spend a lot of time indoors. So now after COVID, we're all working indoors so much more. We're on computers, those types of things. We have a lot of lighting that's not natural lighting. And so incorporating plants and gardening into your day-to-day existence. It does help us to rid our bodies of toxins. It helps for your brain. It's super powerful in the sense that it really does help you to be able to focus and concentrate better. So the example that you gave of the cakeies and how a lot of times when they're in the classrooms, many classrooms, I was a former teacher, so many classrooms don't have plants in them. But as a teacher, I always had plants in my classroom because I understood that they were cleaning the air. They were providing us with more oxygen, which is going to oxygenate our brains better and cause you to be able to think and focus a lot better. So yes, we should have plants in our houses. We should have plants, of course, outside in our yards, even if you live in apartments and high-rises. You can always incorporate plants into your living spaces. Well, you hit that right on the nose, girl, because, you know, you being a teacher and knowing the benefits by putting those plants in the classroom, that's already cutting edge for a lot of classrooms. Because like you said, they're sitting in there. There's no none of that freshness coming in and oxygen, you know, that's a key component to a healthier brain, healthier body. So healthier brain means better productivity with the kids. Is that right? Absolutely. For the kids, for us as adults, if you think of the work that we do, so much of it is computer-based now, you're going to be much more productive if you have a plant in your office somewhere that's helping again to boost your mood even. Sometimes with people, we stare at the computer screen for so long, you get tired, you get headaches, you really start to feel sort of lethargic. And so having plants in that room is going to clean that air, it's going to boost your mood. So there are specific types of plants, house plants that you can have in your office space, whether you work in a home office or whether you work in a cubicle, you know, in a larger company, you can have those small plants in there that are really helping you to be more productive as an adult in your workspace. So I highly recommend that for people who are working in office type settings with boosting your mood. Again, it keeps us, it sort of reenergizes us, it gives us that same sense. You know how sometimes you can be inside working if you just take a quick walk outside and breathe some fresh air, get some sunshine and just kind of be around plants, it kind of energizes you and makes you feel better. Well, you can't always do that indoors. In schools, kids can't always do that. You can't always do that if you're in an indoor work environment, but you can do it if you incorporate those plants within your space. And the other thing that it does indoors is it helps to improve our immune system. So we learned this during COVID where many times I got really into this practice and incorporated it more into my psychology practice during COVID when so many people were having issues with being indoors for so long. And we're really experiencing a lot of anxiety and a lot of depression and those kinds of things. And I was recommending that they go out and secure different plants and add them to their spaces indoors so that they could clean the air so that they could boost their immune system and those kinds of things. And the research shows that it really works well. But then with my clients, they were saying, oh my gosh, I feel so much better. I don't feel quite as sad. I don't quite as depressed because now I've added these plants into my home environment. Exactly. And you're now just accumulating some creativity here as another opportunity for a business. They have rental, plant rentals, and also you as busy as you are. Maybe you should be growing some potted plants and making it pretty and decorative and then take them to offices. Talk to the bosses, the CEOs, and encourage them to put plants within each of the desks. And each of the cubicles because then the employee doesn't have to worry about that. It's so much as if you had a plant service that came in and changed it out and made it really lovely. It makes the office more alive and more like home friendly. So and then, but it's having a dual purpose by supporting the person with better oxygen as well as better stimulation with their brain while having it right there in their cubicle. So let's think about that. Another business year. So how did you get involved with this type of therapy? It really came. I've always been a gardener. So but as I worked and got older, I always felt like I didn't have as much time. You know, we always say we don't have enough time. There's not enough time, you know, to grow plants or to garden. And so I had, you know, just houseplants and every now and then I might grow a vegetable or two during the summertime. But when COVID hit and we had all of that extra time to sit at home, then I really, you know, focused in on my personal mental health. And I did that through gardening. So I knew that I had the time I knew that I, you know, could very quickly get to Home Depot or someplace to secure some some seeds and some pot. And so I just started growing more vegetables on my deck at the house. And so I didn't have, I lived in a townhouse at the time. Didn't have a lot of space, but I had a 10 foot deck and that was more than big enough for me to start growing a lot of our vegetables, lettuce, you know, tomatoes, cucumbers, those kinds of things. And so as I was there growing and sort of going outside every day, and that was my opportunity to get outside of the house and to get the fresh air. I was on my own private deck and really kind of created a an Oasis, if you will, outside, you know, my wife, Wendy would always say, oh my gosh, there's so many plants out here. But so I really had them kind of covering the entire deck. So we were sort of shielded, but we could go out there and just sit as long as we wanted to. And so it made me think about how many people didn't really have that opportunity to be able to do that during COVID. And so I just started sharing with people, you might not have a deck of your own to go to, but you can do the exact same thing in a room in your house. So you could do it in your living room, you can do it in a spare bedroom that you might have if your office space is in your house. Then you could really curate enough plants within that office space that's a bedroom to where you feel like you're outside. And so I started helping people do that during COVID so that they could have, you know, sort of bring the outdoors in. And so I started helping people with that during COVID. And then it just kind of took off from there and people kept asking me questions about, you know, what plants should I get? How do I do this? You know, how do I grow that? And so at that point, I really decided to incorporate it holistically into my psychology practice to now where I offered, you know, plant therapy and gardening therapy services. Wow. So, you know, I also try to farm and I'm not, I don't have a history like you do, but I do now enjoy growing my vegetables.  Nothing grows, whatever I touch dies. So what if I needed the assistance of, you know, somebody like you, I wanted to grow, but every time I bring home a plant or I started dies? What advice or how would you help me? Okay. And I get that all the time.  I could never, you know, do this. And so I have a little saying that, you know, a lot of times when I make posts about gardening, I'll say, let me help you turn your brown thumb into a green hand. Yes. You know, there are, I think one of the things that happens a lot of times with people when they want either house plants or they want to garden is we try to do sort of too much too fast. So we go and we get like all kinds of plants and you bring them all in the house, but you have, they all have different requirements. And so I connect this to how we are as individuals and as humans, we all have different requirements and so do each one of those plants.  And so I always tell people to choose plants. I have a list of plants that are really simple for you to grow. That's really hard for even the brownest of thumbs or the blackest of thumbs to kill. And so some of those plants are like snake plants are the air plants, those types of house plants grow really well aloe vera being one of them. It doesn't need very much. And so it adds that element to your house, but it doesn't require a lot of caring on your part.  If you're going to start with a garden, then I always tell people don't go and get like a huge raised bed and do a lot of things. Choose one thing.  And so with gardening, a lot of us eat salad a lot. And so I tell people start with lettuce, leafy greens are really easy to grow, lettuce, kale, Swiss shard is very easy to grow. So again, start with some of the easier things until you get a really a knack or a hang for it. And then into more complicated things like cucumbers and tomatoes and those kinds of things. So there are lots of ways for you to get started really easily to where, you know, if you're trying to grow something for you to consume, you can, you know, in 30 days, you can grow ahead of lettuce and be able to consume that head of lettuce. But you're setting them up for success. Yes, that's exactly what I try to do. And that's the first step because if I plant something and grows and I'm able to eat it. Wow. Right. The benefits of growing is just incredible. And it's helping us because we're eating the best quality because we grew it and we're saving money at the same time. Absolutely. Yep. So what are the benefits of having plants inside your home versus outside where we think they should be. Right. So the benefits of bringing nature into your home is that, you know, it's not dependent upon the weather. So sometimes, you know, if it's raining, if you live in a climate where it gets colder, then we tend to not want to go outside. Some people are averse to bugs and things like that. So they're like, no, I don't want to go outside because of the bugs and things. So when you have those plants inside, then you don't have to deal with a lot of the pests and things like that that come along with outdoor growing. So sometimes with people, they will say, you know, I tried to garden, but then it was going well. And then one day I looked and something had eaten it all up.  So, you know, when you do indoor gardening or indoor plants, you don't have as much of that to worry about. You may still have some pests, but you don't have as much of that to worry about. And I think, you know, overall, I feel like every house should have some plants inside of it just because it changes the air quality. So the quality of the air that's in your house totally changes when you have plants inside of your home. And so that's helping us, that's helping our bodies to heal better. There are a lot of hospitals now, you know, in the past hospitals never really, they had plants, but they were always in sort of the waiting areas. But now hospitals are using plant therapy and gardening therapy with the patients because they recognize that it helps you, your body to heal faster and to heal better if you have some connection with plants. So they're allowing for some plants to be in hospital rooms now. They're allowing for the patients to actually be able to interact with plants. And it may be something as simple as like bamboo that doesn't require any dirt. So it's in water. So, you know, there's no contamination or that type of thing that's taking place. But there's definite research that says that, you know, when your body is in a healing process that you being close to nature and around plants is going to quicken that process.   Same thing, those plants are going to help you be able to better deal with those issues. So I have a question. So, you know, I live in a condo and I have plants growing inside, but I also have a lot of plants growing on my balcony. You know, when the breeze blows in from the window through the plants to my apartment, does that also, does that help or should the plants be actually within the apartment? No, you can definitely have kind of and yours is probably similar to mine where it's a an indoor and outdoor connection where you know I love keeping the doors and the windows open and you get it because again you're cleaning the air as well when the wind blows through your apartment. Then it's helping those plants that are in there and it's helping you as well so definitely you can have them a lot of people will hang plants around their windows. That helps the plant to get some natural sunlight because natural sunlight is going to help that plant be able to produce the oxygen that you wanted to have anyway. It's going to help it be, you know, a lot greener and those kinds of things. So yes, connecting the outdoors with the indoors is definitely a good thing to do. Wow. Okay. So that's good. I will grow more plants in my apartment from now on. I mean, I have a couple and I have some fake ones, but I'll replace them. Good advice, doctor. Most definitely. Anytime I see places that have the fake plants, I always look at them and I'm like, oh my gosh, I wish they would replace those with live plants because sometimes we think of plants as just adding like a nice aesthetic value. Right. It's pretty. You know, we're trying to sort of pretty up the space, but it's like you can have both. You can have that aesthetic value, but then you also have sort of the mental, emotional and physical value that the plants give you as well. Got it. Now we just got to bring somebody into water room and take care of them. Right. That'd be me.  It forced you to go out there. You're out there now. You were one with nature on your deck. And yeah, it really helps because it forced you to take a break and a positive break so you could create more positiveness out there while you're taking your break. Most definitely. In my practice, a lot of times people deal with a lot of stress, anxiety, and so in one of those, you know, when I work with them on those issues, I always ask them, well, how many times a day?  And most of those people will say, oh, there's no time for that. I have other things that I have to do. You know, I don't have time to sit still or even with meditation because that's one of the things I recommend. A lot of people will say, oh, I can't meditate because I can't steal my mind that long. But one of the easiest ways to steal your mind actually is to sit amongst plants or to sit outside in nature. And so when you're sitting outside in nature, again, plants have a very calming of like a naturally calming effect on our nervous systems. And so if you go outside and sit out, I always tell people if they're trying to learn to meditate for the first time, a great place to do it is outside at a part at the beach at a place that's naturally calming, because then you're not so much forcing your mind to slow down. Your mind kind of naturally calm.  Right. The thing when you go to the forest or you go to a park is that same kind of feeling.  Absolutely right. You're really opening a lot of thoughts into my head right now and changing up, changing up my lifestyle. So I'm hoping other people in the audience will understand and see the value to what you're saying and make their homes more green on the inside and start growing. It is and it's a mental pleasure that it gives us knowing that we're doing something beneficial towards our health, and it's not costing a lot, but it makes a big difference. So Tonya, I need to ask you what are the benefits of gardening? Yes, gardening itself has tremendous benefits towards any person that wants to get started with it. I always tell people, you have to think about, you know, when you plant a seed. That seed, you know that it's going to take some time for that seed to grow and to cultivate into the plant that you want it to be. And so it's the same thing when we plan a seed for any intentions that we have in our life for any goals that we have, we know that automatically those things just aren't going to pop up the next day. So I like to combine mindfulness with gardening.  When you plant those seeds in the garden, it's that exact same thing. So you're planting a seed of intention in your life that you want this thing to grow and produce for you and you want to be able to consume it at some point. And so, you know, as we go through and start the gardening process, it really helps us to learn patience.  You're going to have to take care of it, right? You're going to have to pay attention to it. You're going to have to be mindful about what it needs and caring for it. So there's great benefits in teaching people and helping people learn to be a little bit more patient and mindful in their lives. Again, it's that calming effect. So there's a lot of programs that are out there for veterans and for people who have issues with PTSD. There's been a lot of studies that show that, you know, if you get into gardening, that calming effect, the effect that it has on your nervous system helps you long term to be able to deal with some of the issues with PTSD. Same thing with children and ADHD. It's very, you know, children, if you get kids who have ADHD and you put them in a garden, it tends to have a very natural calming effect to it.  He's always, you know, moving in the school. But when he goes out here to this garden and he's like a totally different child. And that's that effect that, you know, gardening can have on you. Same thing with the elderly. There are lots of cases where, and in this picture that's up.  She's teaching me about a lot of the native Hawaiian plants and how to grow some of the native fruits like papaya and those kinds of things because she's garden her entire life. And so with elderly people, it really does help with issues of dementia and sort of keeping their mind sharp.  So gardening has many benefits for people across all age ranges.  It's a tower garden and we place them in classrooms and a lot of special needs classrooms uses the tower gardens. And I remember in, I want to say it's in Truckee in a next to Lake Tahoe, this one town in Truckee, the special needs. This one boy comes to class and he goes, wow, it's so good to come to class because Miss Sandy has magic waters and it calms us down. And she looked at him and he said, what, what are you talking about? Because, yeah, the magic waters, it just makes us feel so relaxed with Sandy. And then she knew that they were referring to the water from the tower and then the garden in the classroom really causing them to be more just more calm and peace at peace. And so she wrote back to me just mentioning that and it made me feel so good because we all want these kids, the ADHD kids, the autistic kids to have an environment where they feel safe, secure. And wanting to learn. So you're absolutely right about having plants and growing within gardens or even within the classrooms. It makes a big difference. And I've experienced that. So that's, that's exciting. We should talk about this even more in another episode. But I want to ask you, Tonya, what services do you offer and how can we contact you for more information about growing in health? Yes, you can contact me through my website, ask doctor Tonya.com. And I offer the plant therapy services, whereas if you need professional development coaching and counseling, then plant therapy is a complimentary service that I offer in addition to that. And then also the gardening therapy. So helping you to be able to set up a family garden and individual garden tower gardens as well. And I always say with tower gardens that you get a two for one, you get a nice water soothing waterfall. And you get the growth of the plants that are on the tower. So all of those services I offer. And I'm actually having a gardening workshop at the end of this month on February 26 to show you how to do small space gardening. So again, there's no excuses as to why you can't garden because you can do it in small spaces in containers. So yes, come out and join me for one of my gardening workshops. Wow, exciting. So yes, I'm hoping that people will contact you on your website. But for now, Dr. Tonya Featherston, we've run out of time. So we'll have to catch up with you after your class probably. But who would have thought something so simple as farming could mean so much for our daily well being. Mahalo to Dr. Tonya Featherston for sharing your passion on how we can take our health back with gardening. I'm Wendy Lowell and we'll return with another edition of Taking Your Health Back in a few weeks. Aloha everyone and Mahalo to Dr. Tonya Featherston. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktecawaii.com. Mahalo.


The Penelope's, Virgil and Parker are ready for the day, the first day of the bash and what a wonderful way to start the day with a very special presentation to Sidney Maxwell. This is a specialised tray, organised through the Roger Club $2,000 to go towards the cost of the bike and Variety came in with the other $2,000. It's definitely going to help, especially in the shopping malls and that I can take this into the shopping mall instead of using my wheelchair, which is cool. That's what the bash is all about, very very special. Now we're on our way to Balls, so if you see us today, give us a toot, give us a wave, if we're rattling the bucket, how about a gold coin, remember it's all for the kids and it's an awful lot of fun, but we better get on the road. Parker, if you wouldn't mind, the honours please.


Hello, Namaste. Welcome to the session of Spiral Antenna. Myself Rohini Mirgo working as associate professor at Walchin Institute of Sulapu. Learning outcomes at the end of this video you will be able to explain spiral antenna and its types. You will be able to list the applications of spiral antenna. So before I move further let us just discuss what is made by an antenna. Just think of what is an antenna. Antenna or aerial is sometimes also called as aerial. It is a means for radiating or receiving radio waves. It is a linking component of guided wave and free space wave. It is a source or radiator of electromagnetic waves. When I am saying source in that case I am talking about transmitting antenna. It is a sensor of electromagnetic waves. When I am saying sensor then it is the receiving antenna. Antenna acts as a transducer between the transmission line that is the guided wave and the free space wave. Spiral antenna has came into picture. So let us see its history. In 1954 Edwin Turner started messing with the dipole antenna. Instead of leaving the arms as open as a straight arms he wrapped them around each other. He wrapped these arms around each other. So like this forming a spiral. So here you can see this is a lambda by 2 dipole antenna whose arms are straight. But here this arm is rotated like this. This arm is rotated like this. So you can see this type of structure forms which is nothing but a spiral antenna. Let us see the characteristics of spiral antenna. Spiral antennas belong to the class of frequency independent antennas FI frequency independent antennas. So frequency independent antennas are characterized by a very large bandwidth. So the antennas which are frequency independent they have their parameters constant over a very large frequency range that is the large bandwidth. Antennas which theoretically have no limitation on bandwidth are called frequency independent antennas. In practice lower frequency limit is determined by the size of the antenna and upper frequency limit is determined with a precision of construction. So F low is C upon 2 pi r2. C is the free space velocity which is 3 to 10 raised to 8 m per second and F high is C upon 2 pi r1. The fractional bandwidth for this frequency independent antenna which I am talking today is the spiral antenna is as high as 30 s to 1. It means that the lower frequency is 1 gigahertz and the antenna still can efficiently be used up to 30 gigahertz. That means its parameters will remain same still if I use up to 30 gigahertz and every frequency in between 1 to 30 gigahertz. Half for bandwidth that is HPBW is approximately 70 to 90 degrees. What about polarization of spiral antenna? So when I talk about the polarization of spiral antenna let us first discuss what is polarization and what are types of polarizations. Polarization it refers to the path traced by the tip of the electric field vector as a function of time. There are three forms of polarizations linear circular and elliptic. So here we can see this way the tip of the electric field intensity vector will scan a straight line. So it is called as a linear polarization. In this case you can see the tip of the electric field intensity vector is scanning a circle. So it is called as a circular polarization and in the last case if you see the tip is forming a ellipse. So it is called as a elliptical polarization. What type of polarization is there in case of spiral antenna? Spiral antenna usually are circularly polarized. Spiral antenna's radiation pattern has a peak radiation in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the spiral. So we are going to talk about the radiation pattern also further and in the broad side direction the radiation happens but its polarization is circular polarization. Like you can see here the tip is forming a circle so that it is a circularly polarized antenna. So radiation pattern of the spiral antenna. So if I see this spiral antenna maybe airborne if I consider. So in that case here you can see the radiation pattern is a figurate pattern like this. So it is a bi-directional radiation pattern I can see here. But in case if the same spiral antenna is backed by some cavity as shown in the figure B. If the spiral antenna is backed by cavity the lower lobe is suppressed and will get only unidirectional radiation lobe like this. There are different types of spiral antennas. Out of that the first one is Archimedean spiral antenna. It is a popular frequency independent antenna. We have talked about the frequency independent antenna in previous slides. It has two arms. Each arm of Archimedean spiral is linearly proportional to the angle psi. It has two arms and each arms are proportional to the angle psi and which is described by the equation r is equal to r0 psi plus r1 and r is equal to r0 psi minus pi plus r1 where r1 is the inner radius of the spiral. r2 is the outermost radius of the spiral. W is the width of the spiral and s is the spacing between the spirals. So spacing s can also be given as r2 minus r1 upon 4n where n is the number of turns of this spiral. So here it is shown diagrammatically whereas its actual spiral antenna is shown here. So Archimedean spiral antenna is one of the popular spiral antennas. Another type of spiral antenna is a log periodic spiral antenna. The log periodic spiral antenna also known as equi-angular spiral antenna. Each arm defined by the pole equation that is r equal to r0 e raise to a5. r0 is a constant which controls the initial radius of the spiral and a is a parameter which controls the rate at which the spiral antenna grows with angle. So a is the rate with which the spiral antenna grows with the angle. So here you can see in the log periodic spiral the spiral antenna's width is increasing like this. The width is increasing. So this is the actual antenna. This is diagrammatically it is shown. Another type of spiral antenna is cavity-backed spiral antenna. They are commonly used in aircraft and other metallic backed object. As such it is desirable to design the antenna to be cavity-backed. So why it is needed to be cavity-backed antenna is it is backed by some metal. So due to this it isolates the spiral antenna from what is behind it. So it is mounted on the objects without worrying about returning antenna. So if it is cavity-backed we can mount it anywhere. Then it comes to the applications of spiral antenna. Spiral antennas are widely used in defense industry for sensing applications where very wideband antennas that do not take up much space are needed. That means small size where it is needed in that case when for wideband applications spiral antennas are used in the defense and sensing. Other applications of spiral antenna include GPS Global Positioning of Satellite where it is advantageous to have right-handed circular polarized antenna RHCP. Spiral array systems are typically used in high-gain applications such as high data rate satellite and terrestrial communication networks also in ultra wideband communication technology. So for high data rate satellite and terrestrial communication networks for ultra wideband communication technology the spiral antenna array systems are used. Spiral antenna arrays are also used in military aircraft for the frequency range of 1 to 18 gigahertz. Spiral antennas are useful for microwave direction finding. So here pictorially some applications are shown like spiral antenna array. See here you can see this is a spiral antenna. So number of such spiral antennas are kept and which forms the array of spiral antenna which is used in missiles. Also here you can see the spiral antenna is mounted which is used for identification of friend or foe IFF warning system. In that case also the spiral antennas are used. So these are the references used. Thank you.


Thank you so much, Mr. President, Vice President and colleagues. It's been a great day to listen to you all and many wise things have been said. Today we have discussed our past, we have discussed our present situation, and we have discussed our future that we know little about. But we are all determined that we are going to do everything to secure the future for our citizens. And I'm very happy to hear about the consensus and the determination to tackle these challenges that we have in Europe. As Mr. Kiran said, we have a map and this work program is a map and also toolkit. But I would like to add something to that picture of the map and the toolkit. And that is the importance for us as politicians in the committee regions to make sure that this map that is going to be read by different people, that we are in consensus of where we are going. And here we have to collaborate with all the multilevel but also with the private sector and the companies that we have in Europe. And to the map is going to be read by people and also the tools are going to be read by people. So here it's very important that we make sure that democracy works. This crisis has taught us many lessons. And I think that in the work to rebuild Europe, we need really to speed up all the things that we have been working on for years with the Green Deal or the digitalization and other things. The time has come now. And I think listening to you all today, I feel positive about the future. And I think also that we have to discuss more about the democratic challenges because the consequences are going to be bad if we don't do that. So I want to thank you all for a very interesting day today. And this work program is really a map and a toolkit in this work. Thank you.


Bismillah alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salam ala Rasulillah. So we've been talking about al-nafs al-amara, al-nafs al-lawama. And now that we're finishing up these sessions, we talk about al-nafs al-mutma inna. So in the past, we talked about how al-nafs al-amara, that's the nafs that commands us to bad choices. In the past, we talked about how the nafs can command us to bad choices. Once we become aware of this drive within us, then we can enter into a stage where we start to work on ourself. And the nafs that's working on itself and pushing back on that drive, the nafs that's working on itself and pushing back on that drive is al-nafs al-lawama. This is the nafs that's censuring itself. It's number one aware of the drive, because that's half the battle. If there's no awareness of this drive that's pushing us to bad choices and all we're seeing is behavior or we're not even aware of the behavior, then we're not able to intervene on that drive. So once we become aware that there's actually this drive within us that drives us to actions that we don't want to partake in, then we're able to push back. So we become aware of the drive, then we start to use different strategies to push back on that drive when we feel that drive. And that's al-nafs al-lawama. After a while of these exercises and doing this over and over again, it becomes our natural state. So for example, if you're right-handed, if you're right-handed as your dominant hand, and let's say you play basketball or football or baseball or you're a writer and you do a lot of writing, if you write with your dominant hand, that's gonna be natural to you. But after a while, if you wanna be proficient in basketball, if you wanna be really good at baseball, you have to learn how to be good with your left hand, your non-dominant hand as well. So let's just go into the basketball example. Suddenly you practice dribbling with your left hand. At first it feels awkward, at first it's difficult, doesn't feel natural, but over a period of time, your left hand gets wired through use to dribble well with the left hand. And at that point, you develop this habituation to be able to dribble with your left hand. And then at that point, you're able to just kind of move forward in this more advanced state. Similarly, when we do these exercises against our nofs, when we do these exercises with our nofs, at first it might feel awkward or not easy or not intuitive, but after a while, our nofs gets to a point where that drive is no longer there and that ability to censure ourselves or push back on that drive is automatic. That's the automatic part. Not the drive towards the bad choices, but the drive pushing in the opposite direction towards the good choices. That becomes automatic. A nofs with multimainna is the nofs that's balanced, it's pleased. And when we get there, it's about keeping that balance. It's about keeping that balance. It's about recognizing just like there was a set of circumstances that led to the nofs amara. And then we, those set of circumstances were sort of life circumstances. Maybe they were somewhat arbitrary. Obviously they were by design. Then we intentionally choose another set of exercises and circumstances to push back against that nofs amara. When we get to a nofs and multimainna where we've achieved a level of balance, now we recognize that we can absolutely go back to the way things work. If those circumstances come back in place, then that drive towards bad choices can come back again. So let me just, I can make that example simple. Let's use an example to make it simple. So you're naturally dribbling with your right hand. You learn how to dribble with your left hand. You stop dribbling with your right hand, you become dominant with dribbling with your left hand. But after a while, let's say you have an injury to your left hand. And now all you can do is dribble with your right hand. Pretty soon the circumstances have been created to go back to dribbling with your right hand. So when we have achieved a balance in our life, when we've broken behaviors or habits that have been longstanding and we've been working on to get rid of from our life, it's important to recognize it's not over. Those can come back. And so the next stage is to recognize when those habits are creeping back in our lives and to have a plan in place, to have a plan in place to address that. So it's not that when we feel like there's no longer a drive within us, it's not like the game is over. Actually, in a lot of ways, the game is starting to start because we need to, for most of us, our goal is to be free of this habit long-term. And so the same ways that we went from An-Nafs-Al-Lawamata, An-Nafs-Al-Muqma, Inna, well, how did we get there?  So the first thing is abstinence. So fasting from the behavior, from the habit. So if it's something that we would look at, fasting from that, if it's something we used to ingest, it's fasting from that. So fasting allows your body to adjust, your mind and brain to adjust, and we've discussed that plenty in the past, but also keeping a distance from that thing. How did we get to this point? Keeping a distance from that thing and recognizing that that distance, when it closes, that might affect our ability to stay away from our habit. Okay, so fasting and then number two, we engaged in a series of exercises. That's what this whole book was. This whole book was exercises. What exercises can we learn? What exercises can we learn to motivate us and enhance our motivation? What exercises can we learn to push back on the nefs? When it tells us to do something, how do we talk back to it in an effective way? When it pushes us, how do we push back on it in an effective way? And so on and so forth. So we've been talking about that, essentially. How do we engage in specific exercises? And then what do we do when we're getting close to relapsing into that addictive behavior? How do we get back on track? How do we create self contracts with ourselves? A self contract is if I relapse into my behavior, what will I do this time to make sure that I'm able to be successful the next time? So for example, if I'm doing good, you say something along the lines of I'm gonna do plan A, but if I'm not able to succeed, then I'm gonna add an extra tool. I'm gonna make this self contract with myself. So maybe plan A, you're motivated to do groups and meetings and learning circles of Dean a counselor or a sponsor or a mentor to help you through the process or reading a book. Great, but let's say you're not motivated to something that you know would be good for you. What you wanna do is you can add that to your plan B. Obviously it's better to do it with your plan A, but you add that with your plan B, a self contract. If I can't get it with these eight tools and I relapse or I'm getting close to relapse, I'm gonna add this ninth tool or this 10th tool in order to defeat the addictive behavior. Another thing you can do is to have consequences. So for example, if you engage in your addictive behavior, you don't drink cold water for a month or something along those lines. So ideally you wanna do a consequence that is gonna help you in resolving your addictive behavior and that could simply be adding that extra tool, but you can also use a consequence that is a help you motivate you to stay away from that behavior. Like for example, we've talked about in the past, anti-charities. So in behavioral economics, you'll see anti-charities or in behavioral science, you'll hear anti-charities as a tactic, which is to basically pick a charity that you're opposed to that organization's values and views and mission and goal. And you say, if I relapse or if I engage in my addictive behavior, I'm gonna donate to that charity. So for example, if it's, I don't know, if you're against animal cruelty or something like that. This is a bad example, but I'm just gonna say it to get the point across. If you're against animal cruelty then, or you're against guns or something like that. I don't think there's an example I can give that's not a, that's gonna be a fence something or someone, but if you're against guns, let's say hypothetically, and you engage in your addictive behavior. So then just donating to a cause that is against your values. That can be a really strong motivator. Again, it has to be something that you're against that you're really strongly passionate about. Because then what it does is it tethers this cause of getting over your addictive behavior to that cause. And in reality, all the causes are together because it all stipends up to one cause. So a plan in place when you relapse, putting a plan in place when you relapse. So when you're at that stage where you have balance, then you start to, you keep in mind what tools have worked for you in the past to get you to that place. And then you have a low threshold for re-engaging in those tools if you start to develop warning signs of going back to your addictive behavior. Can you see my screen? Okay, all right. Okay. All right, so chapter 10, your personalized recovery plan. This is actually a short chapter. This is the last chapter. In this chapter, you put all the skills that you've learned through the whole series of sessions that we have. You put them all together into a personalized recovery plan. So you look at the menu of options and you look at the ones that now it's time to pick some options that'll work for you. So you start with the ones that look tasty or that you have an appetite for. Just start with there. You should start somewhere. Some minimal viable effort to address your addictive behavior. You start there and then you iterate but you start somewhere. You have to start somewhere. Like I was watching something Steve Jobs said about putting out products. He said, one of the problems that people come across that impedes their success is that they have a great idea and then they work on making it perfect before they put it out into the world. And his suggestion, his advice was, put together a minimal viable product. Put it out into the world, see if it works and then iterate and refine from there. Refine from there. I'm in the Bay Area, so we talk like this. Silicon Valley and so I didn't used to be like this. Just over time it happens. So you refine based on what's needed, based on the feedback you get. You thought this would work, this would be a good idea. It wasn't, drop it, move somewhere else because success is what you're looking for or you didn't think this would be a good idea but you're getting feedback that that's where you need to be going. So then you move towards that even though it's not comfortable for you, you move towards that, you refine that, you learn how to integrate that. If that's not something that you have experience in, that's what your base wants. That's what success dictates. So then you learn how to do that and you go from there. So just looking at your menu of options and taking the couple that you have an appetite for, put them together, that's your plan and then iterate from there. Likely you're gonna need more than what you're just comfortable with in order to overcome a long-standing addictive behavior that's so firmly rooted or and started from childhood when our brains had yet to develop and our personalities had yet to develop and sort of integrated with an addictive behavior or a specific behavior. All right, so you pick the plan, you start getting to work and then you don't worry about having the perfect plan, you just start putting it out there and then you refine. First you will need to be aware of your personal warning signs for relapse. So it says there's a few ways that you will use the skills you've learned to prepare for a long-term recovery, not days, not weeks, not months because many people will get months simply by virtue of a consequence. So they have a family member find out, they're super motivated, they're able to just get a few months or maybe even a year of abstinence or some other consequence happens. The idea is not to wait for external circumstances to change our behavior or give us the motivation to change our behavior. The goal is to use those external circumstances as a brief reprieve so we can start working on how do we take the reins of our own motivation and then you start working on your own motivation and how to increase that. When life is simple and easy and there's no external life stressors and you're emotionally balanced, then you use that time to take the reins of your own emotional regulation. And you say, well, how do I maintain my internal states and manage my internal states and go from there? So you use those external circumstances to your advantage. There are a few ways that you will use the skills you've learned to prepare for a long-term recovery. First, you will need to be aware of your personal warning signs for relapsing into your behavior. So that awareness is not a step to just fly over or breeze over. That awareness is so key and that's why mindfulness is so important. That's why having moments to check in with yourself in the prayers and between prayers from Juma to Juma and meeting to meeting, week to week, so on and so forth. So you'll need to be aware of your personal warning signs when they're occurring and be prepared with the plan for what to do if you're someone close to you begins to notice these signs. So it can be that you notice them or it can be that you have a network of people who start to notice them. You have a network of people that say, you told me isolation is an issue for you. I haven't seen you for a while. You've just sort of been grumpy or irritable. What's going on? It doesn't seem like you're in a good place because it's fine to have a bad response but if that persists, that can be problematic. So first, you'll need to be aware of your personal warning signs, be prepared for with the plan for what to do if you're someone close to you begins to notice these signs. Second, although the hope is that you don't slip or relapse given that most people who are in recovery do it one time or another, you'll need to prepare for how to handle a slip to prevent it from turning into a full blown relapse. So where you're at right now, let's say you have a period of abstinence. That's not the goal. That's the beginning for a lot of people. That's the beginning of relapse prevention. That's an incredible goal to be at. It takes some time to get there. But then in terms of long-term recovery, you use that time of calm to start to really start the planning and start the awareness of what are my personal warning signs and what do I do when I start slipping? And then you go from there. So we'll stop here, inshallah. And what I would do is I would read the next couple of sections, signs of trouble, exercise 11.1. And although this is a short chapter, we may take a little one or two more in classes to go over it before we wrap it up because it's a lot of good stuff here. A lot of good stuff here and it brings it all together.


The United States has been a long time supporter of Ukraine. We have supported the independence and sovereignty of this country since it became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. We have worked hard here at this embassy and our military forces have worked hard to build ties to the people of Ukraine in every sphere, including the military sphere. I am pleased this week that we have a number of exercises underway which will bring our militaries closer and closer together. This is something that's of advantage to both of our countries and I think builds the kind of people-to-people ties as well as military professionalism that is so important in this modern world.


Central Lakes College is a little quieter this week as they mourn the unexpected death of a popular communications instructor. Thurman Knight passed away last Thursday. Our Logan Gaye discussed Knight's lasting legacy with his friends and colleagues. Beloved Central Lakes College instructor Thurman Knight passed away unexpectedly last Thursday. This week, his students and colleagues are honoring his memory. This campus is very much poorer for not having Thurman here. Newly appointed CLC president, Harry Charlier, may not have known him long, but she says he left a lasting impression on the college. If you had met Thurman, you would have never forgotten him. He's described as kind of a rock star, biker, persona, always in a leather jacket and just a personality bigger than life. So he impacted everyone around him. He was very, very dedicated to his students and worked really hard to connect with them. So his students are missing him tremendously. So even though I only knew him for about three months, I felt like I'd have known him for a very long time and he will be deeply missed here. Knight was very popular with the students and was voted faculty member of the year multiple times. It's astounding to hear how much they were moved by this, how much they were affected by him when he was alive and now if he was passing. Thurman was a unique individual who really connected with his students and cared for them, wanted them to succeed. That showed in everything he did. Counseling services have been available for students having a hard time dealing with the unexpected loss. It's just very hard to lose someone that close to your life. So yes, we've offered counseling services since Thursday here on campus that are making sure that students can talk about it. Teachers have teamed up to fill the void and to take over its classes. In Brainerd, Logan Gay, Lakeland News. Thurman Knights Memorial Service will be held Saturday, November 12th at the Cremation Society of Minnesota in St. Paul. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.