Well this is the blog for my recently finished camp at my very own university’s jungle (talk about beauty… where can you find a jungle just next to your university) on 21st and 22nd January 2006. Filled with passion, grit, tears and sweat. As a director ( pengarah) of the project , it really digs deep into my energy to do this camp. Hard work at the beginning sweet memory in the end I must say.
First Day
Noon
As we all know, the first is usually reserved for the committee itself to come in one day earlier to make preparation. By the way, they charged us extra RM 100 for that day. Luckily I managed to negotiate to only RM 50. They say it’s for the ranger’s fee but I must say the ranger is very “useful”. One day I can only see him at night period only. What to do? Ok, the first thing we did was to clean up the pile of dead leaves inside the camp area. I was shocked as once the leaves was raked up the whole place looks really divine compared to the few days earlier when we came there. Then so-called 40-people-can-fit tent also looks... better once the mat was laid. Good news for now. Then the PA system guy was already there. They did good job in setting up the audio there. Luckily, I’ve told my friend to book from them even though we had already borrowed from our college. But since it’s free I say why not? The water was a major problem as first when we reached there few days ago. It was just like brewed coffee coming out from the tap directly. This place was abandoned quite a while. Luck was with us as the water look clearer once the old supply in the pipe was cleared. But still, I bought a mini RM 2 filter made in Malaysia that claims to be effective in filtering out rust and sediment. RM2 wonder!
Night
I drove down hill ( hmmm… down hill?? yea down hill) to buy dinner for my committee. I must say thank God again that I drive this semester. This little Iswara really helps me a lot. That few days my car was transformed to a “Transformer Optimus Prime Truck” ( I hope I spell it correct). From humongous speakers to weighty 80 people meals, my car performed exceptionally. The night situation at the jungle was really relaxing. Peace… My program committee was doing their last minute preparation at this time. Fortunately, we had two laptops and one printer there. We managed to do our paperwork and some souvenirs there in a jungle! Talk about technology! Soon everybody was tired and dozed off at 2 AM. As for me, I pulled Adris, my program leader to rehearse with me till 4 AM. I acted up what will happen tomorrow. It really helps to minimize the error that we’ll make on the big day. Zzzzzzzz…..
Second day
Or first day for the participants. The participants reached a bit late of schedule. But still we managed to cover it up. Our buses were not able to send them up. So they have to walk to the campsite. They were divided to their group with funny name (Honolulu, Kimshaha, Limpopo ….) Ooi Lai (treasurer and acting program helper) said that it was name from Africa country.. Huh?? Honolulu?? Africa?? I really salute Adris for coming up with 12 ice breaking activities for each facilitator to choose for their respective groups. So every group will have different set of ice breaking. Good! Then they need to come up with a flag which I didn’t get a chance to witness them all. After that, they all went to lecture session by our very own En Mat Arsat, the emergency staff from university medical center. We had a break in the middle for tea time at 10 am. It’s Vera time! (Vera is my food department head). The participants were delighted when she showed up cause when they see her they know it’s eating time. It’s just some biscuits, tea with milk ( must specify it cause this the first and last time we used sweeten milk!) and the 25 cents bread. Must give a mention on this bread cause it sold 50 cents in the market. But I’ve been to the bakery last year for the same Red Crescent project. Initially, the said 30 cents… then I thought I got the best price of 28 cents…. but credits must be given to Ying Lee (my Special Task Force unit). Not only did she managed to persuade the boss to 25 cents but even landed us free cakes supply. I must say being cute like a children really melts out the heart of every business man. In the end, she helped me get discount for the biscuits from an old man, free half packet of charcoal, and free roof covers ( we need it for BBQ). I regret didn’t utilize her at early stage of negotiating food supply. Aiseh… After they resumed their lecture session, came the uninvited guests. Two cars parked in front of our camp and then came down one bunch of students who look around and started to walk into our campsite without any permission. Hello? Who the host in the house??? They were from the Red Crescent who will be doing their Annual Camp here too. Copycat! Sorry for using this word but the way they surveyed thing around was really annoying. I’m not sure whether they purposely chose this time around to visit on the first day of our camp when they can do it any time during the weekday. Not only this but their people were interrogating my committee especially their technical guy keep on pestering my Wem Jin (technical & logistic head) on where to borrow this and that. To our frustration, they even took picture of our name tag, song request, camp them title, and all our ideas!!! I couldn’t bother them as I have to “transformer” my car (take lunch). So I told my assistant (Yu Guan ) to keep an eye on them.
Afternoon
Lunch was bit troublesome as I have to purposely drive out to buy vegetarian food for some of the participants. Sometimes, vegetarian food cost more than the meal with meat.
By the time I came back, I got to know that the activity were behind schedule. Adris broke down in tears. He hid himself inside the room. I was even sad. He can’t succumbed to the pressure maybe. I tried my very best to motivate him back but to no avail. I asked him to take our next activity time (jungle trekking) to cool down and relax. With heavy heart inside I left for the jungle trekking. The experience in the jungle was full of laughter and leisure and some exhaustion. I was at the back of the bunch with Mazrin and Azrol (they were the invited facilitator). There was a lot of muddy area there but no leeches. Once we came back the participant cleaned themselves up and off to another heavy-eyed lecture session. Again we were behind schedule but I know we’ll soon cover it up. I can’t help anything as I needed to buy BBQ raw food. We went to the night market to buy sate and sweet corn (one bad thing about buying things at night market was they provide no receipt) , then Tesco to buy sweet potatoes and some hotdogs, fish balls and brain-brain :p (otak otak). Sumptuous or not?
Night
By the time I came back I missed another visit from the uninvited. This time some bigger and higher post came. I don’t care. I quickly take a bath while the participants were watching CPR show or slept maybe during this session maybe. Around 10 pm, with the spot is dark, came another group of uninvited for the third time in a day. Just imagine, darkness out here then emerged one group of white suit walking towards you and came near you then raised her hand and say “hello”. I just can’t bother with their presence as I need to prepare the fire for BBQ. Soon, the white suits had to leave as the entrance gate will closed at 12PM. The participants then started their acting session for each of the accident case given to them. It was quite creative as they come up with different props to overcome their shortcomings. The BBQ session was a nice one except for us the committee. Hard to explain. Even our En Arsat also says “Hentam sajalah” when Ying Lee brought the half burned half raw sate to him. Even Mazrin also preferred to be in dark spot area so that he can’t really see clearly what he was eating. BBQ was the time for Adris to cover up the activity which wasn’t successfully held in early part of the day. The quiz was one of them. But his quiz is no ordinary quiz. It’s more like gambling though where each group need to put up an amount of money (tokens) for them to answer the question. The tokens earned will be used to bid items in the auction. The purpose of the auction is to bid for items that will be used to cover an A4 paper from getting wet when we pour water to it. Post mortem followed once the participant slept. It lasted till 4 AM! I didn’t join much as I was busy doing photo story. So I asked my two assistants to conduct the meeting. One thing I learnt during this project was to utilize the people around me to work with me and not me alone doing one man show like what I used to do last time.
Last day
Morning
After a few hours of nap, the participants woke up earlier than us. A bit shame. Then we prepared for the aerobic session which was filled with laughter. I managed to hire an instructor to conduct the session. A virtual cute chicken from the flash I downloaded from Puah managed to make them groove around till breakfast. Back to their lecture session and then come the last part of the auction before they embarked on building the shelter. Ying Lee’s group was the best as they had a bottle to seal the paper and adhesive tape to cover it. But one group that didn’t manage to bid anything used one of their member’s body to shelter the paper was the picture of the day.
Afternoon
After the lunch came the big thing. Closing ceremony. The rehearsal was done in a simple manner. Once the VIP came, the ceremony started with me giving a speech. Nervous?? What do you expect from guy that has been competing in public speaking for 7 years and retired for 3 years and then given the chance to speak again. It was a breeze. After the short photo session and tea time with the VIP, they left the house. I soon began my photo story session which the participants draw happy memory looking back at the activities they done this two days. But the show only comes to an end when the fat lady sings. Well, the fat lady is me. It’s Au Yong’s time. I asked them to close their eyes and began my story telling about a prince who fight back to reclaim his throne with the beat of the story follows the Hans Zimmer’s music. It was quite interesting when the story reached it’s climax the music hits top note. When the story goes to the end with the music faded.. Splash!!!! The water on the participant without them knowing it. Au Yong 1 Participants 0. Everyone was wet. Bus arrived to bring them back to college. After we cleaned and packed off, I reached back at 6PM. I dozed off at 7PM till 9 AM the next morning. Wow...
First Day
Noon
As we all know, the first is usually reserved for the committee itself to come in one day earlier to make preparation. By the way, they charged us extra RM 100 for that day. Luckily I managed to negotiate to only RM 50. They say it’s for the ranger’s fee but I must say the ranger is very “useful”. One day I can only see him at night period only. What to do? Ok, the first thing we did was to clean up the pile of dead leaves inside the camp area. I was shocked as once the leaves was raked up the whole place looks really divine compared to the few days earlier when we came there. Then so-called 40-people-can-fit tent also looks... better once the mat was laid. Good news for now. Then the PA system guy was already there. They did good job in setting up the audio there. Luckily, I’ve told my friend to book from them even though we had already borrowed from our college. But since it’s free I say why not? The water was a major problem as first when we reached there few days ago. It was just like brewed coffee coming out from the tap directly. This place was abandoned quite a while. Luck was with us as the water look clearer once the old supply in the pipe was cleared. But still, I bought a mini RM 2 filter made in Malaysia that claims to be effective in filtering out rust and sediment. RM2 wonder!
Night
I drove down hill ( hmmm… down hill?? yea down hill) to buy dinner for my committee. I must say thank God again that I drive this semester. This little Iswara really helps me a lot. That few days my car was transformed to a “Transformer Optimus Prime Truck” ( I hope I spell it correct). From humongous speakers to weighty 80 people meals, my car performed exceptionally. The night situation at the jungle was really relaxing. Peace… My program committee was doing their last minute preparation at this time. Fortunately, we had two laptops and one printer there. We managed to do our paperwork and some souvenirs there in a jungle! Talk about technology! Soon everybody was tired and dozed off at 2 AM. As for me, I pulled Adris, my program leader to rehearse with me till 4 AM. I acted up what will happen tomorrow. It really helps to minimize the error that we’ll make on the big day. Zzzzzzzz…..
Second day
Or first day for the participants. The participants reached a bit late of schedule. But still we managed to cover it up. Our buses were not able to send them up. So they have to walk to the campsite. They were divided to their group with funny name (Honolulu, Kimshaha, Limpopo ….) Ooi Lai (treasurer and acting program helper) said that it was name from Africa country.. Huh?? Honolulu?? Africa?? I really salute Adris for coming up with 12 ice breaking activities for each facilitator to choose for their respective groups. So every group will have different set of ice breaking. Good! Then they need to come up with a flag which I didn’t get a chance to witness them all. After that, they all went to lecture session by our very own En Mat Arsat, the emergency staff from university medical center. We had a break in the middle for tea time at 10 am. It’s Vera time! (Vera is my food department head). The participants were delighted when she showed up cause when they see her they know it’s eating time. It’s just some biscuits, tea with milk ( must specify it cause this the first and last time we used sweeten milk!) and the 25 cents bread. Must give a mention on this bread cause it sold 50 cents in the market. But I’ve been to the bakery last year for the same Red Crescent project. Initially, the said 30 cents… then I thought I got the best price of 28 cents…. but credits must be given to Ying Lee (my Special Task Force unit). Not only did she managed to persuade the boss to 25 cents but even landed us free cakes supply. I must say being cute like a children really melts out the heart of every business man. In the end, she helped me get discount for the biscuits from an old man, free half packet of charcoal, and free roof covers ( we need it for BBQ). I regret didn’t utilize her at early stage of negotiating food supply. Aiseh… After they resumed their lecture session, came the uninvited guests. Two cars parked in front of our camp and then came down one bunch of students who look around and started to walk into our campsite without any permission. Hello? Who the host in the house??? They were from the Red Crescent who will be doing their Annual Camp here too. Copycat! Sorry for using this word but the way they surveyed thing around was really annoying. I’m not sure whether they purposely chose this time around to visit on the first day of our camp when they can do it any time during the weekday. Not only this but their people were interrogating my committee especially their technical guy keep on pestering my Wem Jin (technical & logistic head) on where to borrow this and that. To our frustration, they even took picture of our name tag, song request, camp them title, and all our ideas!!! I couldn’t bother them as I have to “transformer” my car (take lunch). So I told my assistant (Yu Guan ) to keep an eye on them.
Afternoon
Lunch was bit troublesome as I have to purposely drive out to buy vegetarian food for some of the participants. Sometimes, vegetarian food cost more than the meal with meat.
By the time I came back, I got to know that the activity were behind schedule. Adris broke down in tears. He hid himself inside the room. I was even sad. He can’t succumbed to the pressure maybe. I tried my very best to motivate him back but to no avail. I asked him to take our next activity time (jungle trekking) to cool down and relax. With heavy heart inside I left for the jungle trekking. The experience in the jungle was full of laughter and leisure and some exhaustion. I was at the back of the bunch with Mazrin and Azrol (they were the invited facilitator). There was a lot of muddy area there but no leeches. Once we came back the participant cleaned themselves up and off to another heavy-eyed lecture session. Again we were behind schedule but I know we’ll soon cover it up. I can’t help anything as I needed to buy BBQ raw food. We went to the night market to buy sate and sweet corn (one bad thing about buying things at night market was they provide no receipt) , then Tesco to buy sweet potatoes and some hotdogs, fish balls and brain-brain :p (otak otak). Sumptuous or not?
Night
By the time I came back I missed another visit from the uninvited. This time some bigger and higher post came. I don’t care. I quickly take a bath while the participants were watching CPR show or slept maybe during this session maybe. Around 10 pm, with the spot is dark, came another group of uninvited for the third time in a day. Just imagine, darkness out here then emerged one group of white suit walking towards you and came near you then raised her hand and say “hello”. I just can’t bother with their presence as I need to prepare the fire for BBQ. Soon, the white suits had to leave as the entrance gate will closed at 12PM. The participants then started their acting session for each of the accident case given to them. It was quite creative as they come up with different props to overcome their shortcomings. The BBQ session was a nice one except for us the committee. Hard to explain. Even our En Arsat also says “Hentam sajalah” when Ying Lee brought the half burned half raw sate to him. Even Mazrin also preferred to be in dark spot area so that he can’t really see clearly what he was eating. BBQ was the time for Adris to cover up the activity which wasn’t successfully held in early part of the day. The quiz was one of them. But his quiz is no ordinary quiz. It’s more like gambling though where each group need to put up an amount of money (tokens) for them to answer the question. The tokens earned will be used to bid items in the auction. The purpose of the auction is to bid for items that will be used to cover an A4 paper from getting wet when we pour water to it. Post mortem followed once the participant slept. It lasted till 4 AM! I didn’t join much as I was busy doing photo story. So I asked my two assistants to conduct the meeting. One thing I learnt during this project was to utilize the people around me to work with me and not me alone doing one man show like what I used to do last time.
Last day
Morning
After a few hours of nap, the participants woke up earlier than us. A bit shame. Then we prepared for the aerobic session which was filled with laughter. I managed to hire an instructor to conduct the session. A virtual cute chicken from the flash I downloaded from Puah managed to make them groove around till breakfast. Back to their lecture session and then come the last part of the auction before they embarked on building the shelter. Ying Lee’s group was the best as they had a bottle to seal the paper and adhesive tape to cover it. But one group that didn’t manage to bid anything used one of their member’s body to shelter the paper was the picture of the day.
Afternoon
After the lunch came the big thing. Closing ceremony. The rehearsal was done in a simple manner. Once the VIP came, the ceremony started with me giving a speech. Nervous?? What do you expect from guy that has been competing in public speaking for 7 years and retired for 3 years and then given the chance to speak again. It was a breeze. After the short photo session and tea time with the VIP, they left the house. I soon began my photo story session which the participants draw happy memory looking back at the activities they done this two days. But the show only comes to an end when the fat lady sings. Well, the fat lady is me. It’s Au Yong’s time. I asked them to close their eyes and began my story telling about a prince who fight back to reclaim his throne with the beat of the story follows the Hans Zimmer’s music. It was quite interesting when the story reached it’s climax the music hits top note. When the story goes to the end with the music faded.. Splash!!!! The water on the participant without them knowing it. Au Yong 1 Participants 0. Everyone was wet. Bus arrived to bring them back to college. After we cleaned and packed off, I reached back at 6PM. I dozed off at 7PM till 9 AM the next morning. Wow...
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