Ecoventure 2010 -- walk the green talk

If I were to rank my top 5 learning experiences in life, I think Ecoventure 2010 would be up there. Each day's reflection is longer than the allocated space, and my mind is still teeming with memories! Even now, I get random flashbacks and reminisce.

I will attempt to summarize them.

Great
Great view. Great people. Great children. Great times. Great coffee. Many many many greats.

Insights
Insights into how to alleviate poverty - will you solve the problem by just giving the kids an education? Or by just giving 50kg rice to the family? Or by going back to teach English everytime. Or by throwing in millions of dollars to create infrastructure and jobs. Or by forcing them the villagers to move to the city. There is no easy answer, you need a little bit of everything.

About life
I think we all learnt more about ourselves, and about life at high altitudes of Gia Bac. When pushed out of the comfort zone, how does one react? To each his own answer. For me, I learnt how to manage a team and how to effectively nurture each individual's passion and fervor. If I made any mistakes (and I'm sure I did many), my apologies!

Back to kampung days
I learnt how to chop open a coconut, kill flies using a bowl of water, touched a horse, played with a goat, etc etc. Especially with Mr Ronnie's experience, it felt like a trip back in time. I will always remember my conversations with him over the good ol' days. It didn't help then, that the book I brought to Gia Bac was The Bondmaid by Catherine Lim.

Awesome people
Before agreeing to go on to this trip, one of my worry was that the team members would be evil and mean and make my life hell. I think it turned out to be heaven instead. Quite thankful that I came on the trip to meet all this great people! I think the testament is in the photos we all loved to take - so many smiles!

Cool mornings
I think the cold morning sunshine is one of the coolest things I have experienced so far. Really beautiful. Its the silence, the feeling, the atmosphere, the view, the people, the coffee. I cannot exactly put my finger on what it is - but the mornings were really cool.

So that's it, Gia Bac summarized - great! :)

Malik