Clutch of Inspirations.

Since it has been ages since I last joined a camp, I immediately decided to take part in the Famine 30 Hour Camp when I first came across it on FB. Kind of miss those good old times in church camps back during sec school days~ Okay, so I went with winy who was the only person I managed to pull to the camp successfully lol. I ate rice in the morning for the first time in my life the day we entered the camp, hahah!

The opening ceremony. 24-Seasonal Drums performance by primary school kids.

After the opening ceremony, there was a spotcheck to make sure the participants didn't sneak in any food or prohibited stuff. (like MP3, sniff sniff TT) I didn't know beforehand that all electronic gadgets except camera aren't allowed. And that they don't allow participants to bath, hahah! Maybe World Vision wants us to experience more the lives of the poverty-stricken.

Then they gave us an hour's break. Duh. I don't even get why it was necessary. I find it a waste of time. Group dividing was a bit of a mess -- my group ended up with 32 people when we were supposed to have only 22. Time wasted again for them to find out the problems and solve them. Next, the usual stuff. Introduction, think of group name, create your group's motto and perform it blablabla. OH, there was this group named No Idea with the motto, "I've got no idea, no idea but you! x2" *plays Nobody by WG*. But okay, it's creative in a way. This other group...was called Justin Bieber. Motto? *plays the famous Bieber song* Kill me, please. I was SO glad I wasn't in that group. I mean, besides the fact that I'm not a Bieber fan, what has Mr JB got to do with the theme of the camp! Might as well name yourselves Johor Bahru, lol. *ducks from bashes*

Concerts and performances were another thing. Maybe it's fine to invite a few singers to perform a song or two. But 5 seems a bit too much for me. First, it's not cheap to invite them and sponsor for air tickets, accommodation etc. Plus, why make it seem like a real concert for the singers, asking us to cheer for them and yell replies as they sing to promote their own albums. *roll eyes* Do something more connected with starvation or pauperism issues please. Same goes for the beauty queens. Why FIVE? Miss Marlene should be enough. The rest didn't serve any purpose there as far as I'm concerned, except for the male-beings gazing at them. Should I ramble on about the belly dancers and fitness centre people? TT

I took it as an opportunity to play with my camera but I'm rather disappointed. Oh geez I'm getting the crave for a better camera! O.O

Now if only it's the brat kid there.

Time moved on bit by bit. A big, messy, confusing game. Singing songs. Dancing to 'Waka Waka'. Urgh. Meaningless...Treasure hunt was slightly better, at least we get focused on looking for something. Safety issues get a red light though.

Playing with candles at night ;D Yay. My group's candles. I did the left half of the heart hehe.

One of the many times we sat on the floor waiting aimlessly with sore bottom.

Finally time to sleep, after queueing to brush teeth. Maybe 400 girls takeing turns to use 3 basins? Whatever. Alice and I talked till past midnight I think, till I felt like my throat was getting a bit too dry.

5.15a.m. in the morning after the brush-teeth-queue once more. We had to gather at 6a.m. The night was a little cold cause my feet kept getting out of the blanket. Gosh I hate that.

When there's nothing to do during empty slots.

I'm getting lazy and tired to mention what we did in the morning. Pretty much tons of exercise, games, motto-shouting etc. Weird how they always forget/ignore our group though, lols.

Juwita Suwito. I remember she came before for one of a church concert!

Everyone taking pics with the singers. I opted not to squeeze along :P

*fast forward to countdown* 3 mins and 21 secs.

Past the 1 minute mark!

13 ;)

Last second.

Congrates everyone!

Glad to meet you all there -- Alice, Eileen Momo, Alyssa, Michelle and Yung Wei! All the best in your studies yeah! ;D And my group members too...though you peeps made Lee Moi and I felt OLD. TT

End of the day, I would say that the camp is not organized well generally, especially on time management and activites. I feel like besides the fact that we starved for 30 hours, the whole concept and point of the camp was not portrayed to the participants. Firstly, in the case of mine (and many others I'm sure), hunger didn't hit in big at all. I drank only plain water, so lest said those who drank other more filling drinks like soymilk or isotonic stuff. I doubt many managed to experience the pang of hunger the children starving in Africa gets. Another thing is that we know we'll get to eat all we want once the 30 hours is up. But those kids out there? No. The future lies unknown to them. They can only eat whatever they get to live on for tomorrow. Of course I'm not blaming the committee for this, since we can't ask people to starve critically for this sake. Lol.

Still, the activities planned could be better. Something to ignite people's concern for the millions in need all over the world. Something to bring up the awareness of people regarding the communities living in vulnerable conditions. Do the participants even know after attending the camp what World Vision is and what they're reaching out for? Do they learn to be appreciative and thankful for what they've got today? As Suwito said, the children in the hope home she visited in West Malaysia surprised her by saying that the thing they're most happy about upon moving in there is that they can now focus on their studies. And their wish? That they can have tuition to help them learn better. So city children, please don't be ignorant to how fortunate you are and stop whining and bickering unnecessarily in class! I observe that kids nowadays are maturing much slower than before. Ahh drop it. I'm getting out of topic. The point I'm stating is that the camp committee should put in more effort to embed in the campers' mind how we can lend a hand to help others. That, is after all, the theme of the camp isn't it? Sadly, lots of teenagers seem to be there to stick to their bf/gf like octopuses or simply to fool around with friends.

Alright. I must refrain from being too long-winded. O.O I hope people will realize what this whole camp project is about. For more information, feel free to visit http://www.wvi.org/ or www.worldvision.com.my/. It would be wonderful if just 1 out of 100 decides to do volunteering stuff or sponsor a child at RM50/month. Try to change their lives, you'll change yours too :)

Labels: normal me, summer

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