Back from Sarawak
Friday, June 8, 2007
Dear Class,
Finally...I'm back from Sarawak. It is a really beautiful country with an awesome history, interesting cultures and geographical features. It was my 1st overseas trip with students, so I was extra excited and felt the responsibility of making sure the students will be safe throughout the trip.
Imagine bringing all 43 of you overseas with me? *Ahhhhhhh!* I wonder how it will be. Wink.
Let me highlight what we did..
1. We stayed over at a place called the LONGHOUSE for the 1st night. It is a long stretch of rooms under a single roof for people to stay in. Totally different from S'pore.
2. Treking for 2 days - very challenging and tiring. Teamwork & Perseverence is a MUST.
3. Medeka Palace (Hotel) for next few nights - everyone is very happy with the beautiful suites and facilities :)
4. Bako National Park: The treking was easier & the beach was so beautiful. The cliff looked like a bird's beak. MUST SEE!
5. CIP at Cheshire Home: Met many disabled people of different ages, but their body sizes can be smaller than you and me. Helped to clean up their rooms, played/chatted with them, brought the books & stationary that we raised funds for from school.
6. Visited some cultural areas of the country, and we learnt malay as the days went on.
7. Shopping! :)
Finally...I'm back from Sarawak. It is a really beautiful country with an awesome history, interesting cultures and geographical features. It was my 1st overseas trip with students, so I was extra excited and felt the responsibility of making sure the students will be safe throughout the trip.
Imagine bringing all 43 of you overseas with me? *Ahhhhhhh!* I wonder how it will be. Wink.
Let me highlight what we did..
1. We stayed over at a place called the LONGHOUSE for the 1st night. It is a long stretch of rooms under a single roof for people to stay in. Totally different from S'pore.
2. Treking for 2 days - very challenging and tiring. Teamwork & Perseverence is a MUST.
3. Medeka Palace (Hotel) for next few nights - everyone is very happy with the beautiful suites and facilities :)
4. Bako National Park: The treking was easier & the beach was so beautiful. The cliff looked like a bird's beak. MUST SEE!
5. CIP at Cheshire Home: Met many disabled people of different ages, but their body sizes can be smaller than you and me. Helped to clean up their rooms, played/chatted with them, brought the books & stationary that we raised funds for from school.
6. Visited some cultural areas of the country, and we learnt malay as the days went on.
7. Shopping! :)
*stay tuned for the photos*
I shared this during the final day debrief with the students, and I'm sharing them with you too.
"All of us have the same 24 hours per day. This 24 hours also applies to Nature (mountains, trees, plants, flowers, etc), Animals (monkeys, jellyfishes), People (of different races, dialects, languages, living conditions, life stories, leisure, etc). What excites me most is when we step out of our own comfort zone, when we step out of our own 24 hours, to enter into how the world around us spend their 24 hours. It is when we do so, we start to be amazed at how big the world is, and how amazing life can be, and we will realise how blessed we are.
Especially when I was there at the Home, and I saw how pitiful the people are - one child was kept in a cage for years before the neighbours alerted the police to free the poor child. By then, the child was unable to grow any taller, and the body has been contorted."
We do not need to go overseas just to experience life. But we can do so right here in Singapore too. Do you look beyond your own 24 hours to the people around you, your parents, grandparents, friends, the disadvantaged?
The question is,
How will you choose to spend your 24 hours each day?
Back to gb camp -
Take care,
Ms Chan
"All of us have the same 24 hours per day. This 24 hours also applies to Nature (mountains, trees, plants, flowers, etc), Animals (monkeys, jellyfishes), People (of different races, dialects, languages, living conditions, life stories, leisure, etc). What excites me most is when we step out of our own comfort zone, when we step out of our own 24 hours, to enter into how the world around us spend their 24 hours. It is when we do so, we start to be amazed at how big the world is, and how amazing life can be, and we will realise how blessed we are.
Especially when I was there at the Home, and I saw how pitiful the people are - one child was kept in a cage for years before the neighbours alerted the police to free the poor child. By then, the child was unable to grow any taller, and the body has been contorted."
We do not need to go overseas just to experience life. But we can do so right here in Singapore too. Do you look beyond your own 24 hours to the people around you, your parents, grandparents, friends, the disadvantaged?
The question is,
How will you choose to spend your 24 hours each day?
Back to gb camp -
Take care,
Ms Chan