Day 1 @ YR CAMP

Warning: A very long post ahead. Read it at your own risk (:

Yes, if you have noticed I have MIA-ed (Missing In Action) from Twitter, Facebook and of course blogging for a few days, apart from mapling in the first few days of my term break, I was also out for camp from the 17-19 of June.

This camp is somewhat like Daja Vu for me because it reminds me of MAD@Cambodia. Apparently, I feel that this camp has greater obstacles than what I have faced in Cambodia. Although I remember how difficult it was for us to communicate with the kids due to language barrier, we still manage to communicate with body language with is really quite a feat. In this camp, we were with Singaporeans, like our kind, but I admit it is really difficult communicating with them.

On the very first day, after having breakfast with Wei Sian and spam calling Kay Wee’s phone to wake him up, we went to YR for a shot debrief before meeting the kids. There, we got to know 2 more volunteers, Ramy and Xin Ying, and we were given worksheets to look at so that we know our roles and activities that we will be doing throughout the camp.

Meeting the kids got me excited at first because I thought this would be a pretty easy job for us since their age range are closer to ours, but alas, I was wrong. We started the ball rolling with ice breakers like the ‘RAA’ game and the name chain activity and you can see their faces started to change, along with countless of comments and vulgarities you didn’t wish to hear. Honestly, I have the urge to shout at them or even slap them to warn them what they were doing was wrong, but I didn’t want to be that authoritative.

The next always-happen-at-camps activity was the setting of ground rules and that was when Xin Ying and I got to know our group. We were the facilitators of Marisa, Wen Jun, Jun Han and Earnest and initiating conversations with them was really difficult. Most of them were just giving us one word answers when we asked questions and we can see that the conversation with them will never ever exceed a minute. No doubt, I was really looking forward to lunch to escape this awkwardness.

It was only during lunch when I told myself not to give up talking to them because I can see that Marisa was getting more and more attached to me and hey, she is actually a very nice person. Maybe, maybe if I talk to them more, they will also open up to us like we are their very close friends.

And yes, I succeeded in doing that. After lunch, we proceeded with the Special Olympiad activity whereby each member has to choose a role (Blind, handicapped, crippled, No arms and dumb) and each team has to come up with a method to transport them from the centre to the pavilion opposite, which requires them to climb up the overhead bridge.

My group members started to open up and communicate with each other and they thought of many ways to move as a team. It was really difficult because we have Marisa in our group who was the only girl, and they have to consider factors such as physical contact. Although we were the last team to reach our destination, my team didn’t give up and they even completed the task they were given at the pavilion although they were reluctant to do so.

So, G DOUBLE O D J O B, Good job! :D

After the Special Olympiad, a very important guest speaker, David Lim, a member of the first Singapore team to climb Mount Everest successfully, came to give us a talk. He is really very inspirational and motivational to me and I really love all his stories about mountain climbing and how he associates all his stories with what we will face in life.

I love it when he says, “People who think they are useless normally think that they are worthless”.

I think this statement is really true. Many Singaporeans, not only teens, but talking about everyone in general, always think they are useless because they always think that they have never met the expectations of their loved ones and friends. I feel that useless people should be defined as people who have the capabilities and ability to do something that benefits themselves and others, but they choose not to do it because of laziness and selfish reasons. Useless people don’t mean that they are useless because they did not meet the expectations of other people.

The talk is so motivational but sadly, not many of them cherish this talk. )=

Things got a bit better because it was the BBQ planning and volunteers were allowed to take a break, in fact it was a pretty long one. We also had our quick dinner before leaving for Pasir Ris Park's Mangrove Swamp for our night walk. We had to reach early just to station ourselves, thankfully Xinying and I were at the last station. No joke, the swamp is really dark and you'll need a torchlight to see.

The night walk was something that brought me closer to the guys and I, because I had a chance to talk to each of them and they opened up pretty well. Finally, we ended the activity at around 10 plus, went back to the YR for a quick shower and debrief and then we had our sleep! (: