unfortunately, to put it in a nice way, my expectations of camps are relatively high and since this is the first time they are organising a training camp, i suppose it must be a pretty good effort for them. yes, we spent alot of time watching and waiting for them to organise themselves. oh yar, y camp is an outdoor camp for people with intellectual challenges. the volunteers are from very diverse backgrounds. there wasn't really much training, just dessemination of information i have heard before.
and i don't agree with alot of things alicia said.
but i'm certain i will enjoy myself. :)
under no roof famine camp:
i think i'm a lousy facilitator. haha. my team's father reminded me so much of alaric, negative connotation. ala is a nice guy in certain ways la. haha. i wonder how ala is. haven't seen him or talked to him for sooo long! and to think that we were good friends once.
the fasting.. wasn't really fasting. ashamed to admit, i didn't really pray so.. i guess it was considered dieting instead of fasting for me. i can't imagine the chronic hunger that the impoverished children endure every single day. i wasn't that hungry. impoverished children don't have soya bean or winter melon tea to drink for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper.
what impacted me most was not the simulation, not the fasting, not the newspaper collection, not the concert, not the people, but a question a girl threw to the crowd during debriefing.
she was highly agitated. she was so emotional she was screaming into the mike. she was extremely upset that we were having fun during the famine camp when there are so many people dying and suffering outside. she thought that we were supposed to do something more sustainable and effective such as packing food for the people(yes, she really said packing food). she didn't see and understand the purpose of this camp and she wanted to do something immediately and not in the future for the people. she said that we can obtain information from the internet they taught us during the camp, so why are we here? and it went on and on for a few minutes. yes, she really said all that.
this led to a fiery debate amidst 600 people in the cultural centre. and i'm proud to say that we are pretty spontaneous. i thought we would all sit there and keep quiet.
that lady received alot of rebuttal but i still applaud that lady for even bringing up this question. i think behind her question and her making a scene, is a pure and innocent heart. she really wants to helpand she wants to do it immediately. if she thinks that the famine camp did not do anything tangible, she is wrong. firstly, each crane we folded will contribute 100grams of rice to 5 beneficiaries. songhe is sponsoring the rice and we folded about 10800 cranes in all. that is about 1080kg of rice. secondly, the newspaper collection drive on the 2nd day will also indirectly contribute to helping children in vietnam, cambodia, uzbekistan, africa and somewhere. yes, the money from collection drive can actually go up to the thousands and will be donated to these countries. thirdly, this is a platform to raise awareness about the situation outside our sheltered homeland. about justice, poverty, aids, poverty housing, broken families. as one of the facilitators mentioned, teach a man to fish instead of fishing for him. yes, at this camp, we were taught about the plight of many underpriviledged(how to spell.) and through this, we can step out of our comfort zone, we can initiate many projects and in the long run, effect sustainable changes in the community, local or overseas. and it doesn't have to be immediate. i'm sure many heartstrings were tugged at and many saw powerful visual images that they won't forget. now that we are aware of the situation, we can start doing something. ask ourselves, what did we bring home after this camp? i still need time to reflect. i thank God yiwei and i hold our own debriefing after every event. haha.
ronin came. they were bad. they were crude. hosea said that they won't invite them again. haha.
haphazard entry? yes, i agree. a whirlwind of thoughts i can't express.
me.
ah^ya
child of God
25th september 1987
18-going-19
hougang kindergarten
st. hilda's primary school
tanjong katong girls' school
victoria junior college
soon-to-be university college london :)
