Archive for May, 2008

Chapter 6: Day Four

By now, we had already scored 3 days of service. Today, Saturday the 14^th of July 2007 was a very hectic day from morning till the evening. We had “One Day Camp” – though it was not actually a camp but rather a half-day filled with activities confined within the school compound. We had literally lined up activities one after another and as a result, the camp was a mix of anticipation, chaos, frenzy, excitement, screams, jubilation, confusion and exhaustion.

We all had gathered early (some came with their siblings) to prepare for the day. I was particularly busy with the food as we also took charge over their breakfast and lunch. Breakfast, was first in the line up, had been included as part of the activities in the course that I would like to call “Family Unit” – that was the concept for the first half of the day. The day before, we had bought most of the food for the breakfast at a nearby sundry shop (cakes, junk food, cokes and etc.) and some were prepared fresh on that day. On that day itself some more food were bought in fear of shortage. I think we spent a lot to prepare for today.

These are some food for the breakfast. Tee Hooi helped me in setting them up. Ok..I admit it was a wrong choice of shirt I wore on that day. I looked like a drug pusher.

The camp began with registration. Students, dressed in their sports attire (like they were asked to), registered themselves and were subsequently divided into 12 groups named after the Chinese horoscope (from mouse to pig). Each group consisted of equal mix of gender, and upper and lower primary students. After they had all gotten their name tags, they gathered in their respective groups for some ice-breaking session guided by facilitators. The purpose is to make the kids comfortable with their group members (after separated from their usual gang) and to fire up their spirit to gear for the battles ahead. When all was set, kids and students proceeded to the hallteen for a short briefing cum opening session of the “One Day Camp”.

Teachers, kids and us gathered in hallteen for a short briefing of the day

In all that time, facilitators/station masters prepared the game stations situated around the school compound. Score sheets and money coupons were then distributed equally to all facilitators/station masters and once more were briefed on their usage for those who weren’t very sure. We had gone through the plans during our preparation days back in Ipoh but somehow, things would just go amiss during the actual day. That’s what I call reality. Anyway, nothing we UTP students can’t handle!

When the briefing ended our one day camp officially started. The kids by now were very excited and made hell a lot of noise. Their collective decibels can match a hard blown whistle. Once a while, we had to chant out something like “ai de an ching” then the kids would responsively clapped and quieten down. To me it was like mind control. Imagine you were monkeying with your friends, no sign that you were about to stop, when suddenly a spell was uttered and you obeyed like a zombie. Anyway when that was done all too frequent the magic was also fading. The zombied-kids were quick to regain their consciousness and the noise level would sky rocketed in seconds. Then we would do something like this to keep them down:

Ah Look: Who thought I’m handsome say "i"

Yea..everyone thinks Ah Look is handsome. I raised my hand too.

Ok breakfast time. Facilitator of each group handed them the breakfast menu in which they as a group had to decide what they want for breakfast. There are mixtures of healthy and unhealthy food and depending on their choice, points were given. When they are done, the facilitator and representatives will go to the food counter and collect their breakfast. The purpose of this section was to teach them the healthy choice of food. They were told to choose wisely and more points will be given for healthier food. They were also told not to spend all the money for breakfast because they still need them to buy lunch. There were also few food pyramid posters pasted on the walls nearby to aid them. Still, some kids succumbed to ordering junk food – so much for the advice and clue. Anyway, the camp paused for about 45 minutes for breakfast.

Kids and facilitators collect their breakfast here. I was also selling some ecstasy pills that morning for the coming "kun yam tan ".

They fueled up their energy for that morning. JunJia was going round asking kids for comments and more or less be a commentator himself

After breakfast, each group were broken into 2 smaller groups – the upper primary and the lower primary. Upper primary kids will play in 6 different station games cater for their level and similarly for lower primary. So there were total of 12 stations games going on at any one time! Each station was to have 2 game masters and so we were all pretty booked. Everyone had a job to do. In each station, 2 groups competed with each other at a time. Depending on rewarding system, some games gave money to the winning group and others were given points. Each station lasted for 17 minutes and when the time is up, whistle will be blown and the groups will scramble to the next the station. Here are some pictures:

This is station ‘name as many as you can’. A topic is given for example animal, and kids shall name as many as they can in an alocated time

This is ‘matching colour’ station. I think is to test their English if I’m not mistaken

This is ‘spot the difference’ station

This is ‘burst the balloon’ station

This is how it looks like on that day. Different stations in different corners

This is ‘build a bridge’ station

This is ‘relate the story’ station where kids have to memorize a story and relate it to another member all the way….

…upstairs. The last person will have to relate it to station master as accurate as possible

This is the math corner

This is the ‘spiral run’ station

This is the ‘bombing station’. Yea the bottle is the bomb…and Ang Khian is the bomb timer

This is ‘toss the coin’ station

This is the ‘photographic memory’ station

Actually some stations especially stations for lower primary always ended prematurely. 17 minutes was a little too long. We clearly underestimated their intelligence. Some finished the game in no time and so they had sit around to wait for the whistle. Some did complain about unfairness because those upper primary stations seemed more fun and I quite agree with them. Some facilitators tried to keep them occupied and entertained while they were waiting.

Babysitting. Poor kids, they have to wait while others were playing

The station games ended at 11.30. All the while lunch was prepared hastily because the canteen operator mistakenly thought lunch was supposed to be at 1pm while actually it was to be at noon. So to kill some time, the kids were grouped in the hallteen to cool down. Motivated them a lil’ bit. Did some dancing a lil’ bit. Chit chated a lil’ bit. The lunch menu was handed to them and again they decide as a group what they wanted to eat. When they were done, the lunch was ready just in the nick of time.

Gathered in hallteen to cool down before lunch

Have you seen so many bowls of rice before? The canteen operator warned not to fill the bowls with too much rice or some of the kids might cry

The food and drinks for lunch. Actually nugget is considered unhealthy..but who cares!!!

I must admit lunch was a bit more chaotic than breakfast. Shortage of manpower was the main drawback and insufficient of Coke did not help to satisfy some fussy students. Towards the mid of lunch session, many facilitators lost tract of money spent and how much food was ordered. But since food was aplenty, it was decided that the buying rule should be loosen and those who still wanted to eat could just help themselves to the food. We all had the same food and dined with the kids. Basically ‘Family Unit’ session ended after lunch.

The evening session continued with the egg challenge and the fashion show. No points were considered for these two activities as they were just for fun and to milk their creativity juice.

The groups were given newspapers, some tapes, balloons and strings to build protection for the egg

Some of the inventions

Time to put them to test! Remember kids, it is not the fall that breaks your eggs, it is the stop

I hope this egg is ok because I don’t think it is of any use hanging a balloon as it was not filled with helium

Some broke, some didn’t. Well done. They were still pretty excited with the whole thing

After egg challenge, fashion show was next. Each group was handed a picture depicting traditional wear of a country and were given some newspapers, tissue rolls, plastic bags and straws to make their costumes. I like the Indian girl most…so cute.

I think he’s suppose to be a samurai. He’s a very skilled one because he doesn’t even have to see

Aloha! When you dressed up like a Hawaiian you must do the Waikiki dance

And he’s sporting enough to do it! Applause applause.. Hey my cute Indian girl is there too!

Sawadikap…This boy from Thailand

Ok one last round of photo before I rushed to calculate the points of each group

After that, each student was given a piece of manila card for friends to write their remarks for the day. Actually they were supposed to go around and ask their friends to write what they think about him/her but instead this was what happened:

We were like superstars for a while because all the kids wanted to take our contacts. We gladly obliged and inserted some good comments such as "study hard", "be handsome and pretty always"..yea something like that. When I went back the last time, my bro and sis’s cards were still hanging on the wall together with the souvenir. Nice! BTW, of all pictures, I think this is the best looking picture taken

After this session, a quick sharing session was done in masses instead of what was planned initially. The “manila card activity” session should be done last while the proper sharing should be done in groups facilitated by group facilitators after the fashion show. Anyway, this was done as such in view of kids getting tired and restless. We were tired too. So it was ok. The kids were very good – listened to all of our instructions. I hope they have learned team play and most importantly had loads of fun that day.

After the points were added up, we proceeded to giving out prizes to the top three teams.

And the winner goes to…..(drum roll)

In the end, hampers were given to the top 3 winning groups.

Tiring but a great one day camp

The one day camp ended about 4pm if I’m not mistaken. Everyone went back, washed up and had a good rest and spent more time with families. As for the evening and night, well like I’ve said before – we all had our own agenda. As for me, I couldn’t really remember much of that evening after that as it was since a year ago. But one thing for sure, I’m glad I did rural service in Liman Kati. That day was one of the best days during the whole period of service.

Coming up next:- Chapter 7: Day Five