Let's Celebrate!

Do you still remember EcoVenture 2010?

We had joy and we had tears. Do you still remember EcoVenture 2010?

Click on each day in the timeline below to bring yourself back in time to when it all happened. The events of those days will be updated on a daily basis, something like "today in history".

Expect the first day's entry on 5 July 2010. Stay tuned! =)

P.S. I also invite each and everyone of you to contribute your daily bits of juicy and interesting information if any, all the better with accompanying photos! XD Just send me your write-up and I'll upload it for you. Alternatively, blog about it here! ^^




Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
DAy 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
DAy 13
Day 14

What a Feast - Microwave Cooking

What a feast indeed, recalling the spread we had during our microwave cooking lesson with Mr Chew at the Sengkang CC on 31 July 2010. =) I'll just fill the entries with many delightable photos since those are always very much well-loved. =)

Be warned! The following is mouth-watering!


I know it's called microwave cooking but Jun Wei brought along Vietnamese coffee and tea and so we were trying to start the fire so that we could get some water boiling. ^^;


Some more shortcuts - Mr Chew trying to cook a packet of bee hoon in a rice cooker. ^^;


We had many kinds of vegetables that day - vegetables are good for health! Don't forget the food pyramid - always eat your greens!


And so, the lesson began! Everyone was paying attention - we want to learn how to cook fast and quick and delicious at the same time!


There! We did use the microwave. =)


Meanwhile, Jun Wei and Malik prepared tea for everyone. They made such a huge pot of it! =X I don't think we managed to finish it all on the spot.


The first dish is out! It's fried bee hoon with chopped vegetables. 



Wai Fun was caught stealing a mouthful while everyone was at the back listening to Mr Chew about cooking the next dish.


This is how we steam egg in the microwave - check out the number of layers involved! One outer bowl, a layer of water, a layer of aluminium foil and in the foil, another smaller bowl... XD

The egg came out delicious though. =)



Look at how everyone was snatching it all up! This is the Japanese-styled steamed egg. If I didn't remember wrongly, it's just eggs plus some flavouring, ie. salt and pepper to your own taste and liking. We made another type of steamed egg, the tofu kind and it's a ratio of eggs and water and flavouring.


This is our vegetable dish! Impressive isn't it? Looks like something you can get from the restaurant. XD See how green the colours still are? It's not overcooked. =) And it is delicious!


Another vegetable dish. It might not look like much but I believe it's one of our favourites! Jun Wei had to stop everyone from finishing it so that Si Hui could have some when she comes. =X


Yum yum! I think I took more photos than I ate though. =X


The last dish was one of the most innovative - it's making curry puff using roti prata! It tasted great too. Here's Hong Yuen trying to make one herself and it's really simple to make! ^^ I'm going to try it one day at home too. Only thing is, I don't have a microwave at home!! ='(


By the end of the session, our tummies were all full and extremely happy. =)

We're on the news!

(click on picture above to see)

Why yes, we're on the World Wide Web - check it out yeah!
Credits to Wai Fun for making this happen!! =)

Wai Fun's Reflections - In Search of the True Essence of Volunteering

--On behalf of Wai Fun




In the past year,I've travelled around some of the places, but none of them as special as this trip. 

I seemed to have embark trip by the time machine - I felt like I went back to experience my dad's childhood life!The experience is interesting for me but it's tough for him I guess! Like the villagers, he used to live in a wooden hut, breed domestic animals, and don't have any toilet in the hut, they have to go public toilet which is shared among all villagers (same with Gia Bac). My father has 7 siblings, which resonates with that in Gia Bac, where the villages have many many children. The children always have to cook or help their parents at the plantations. During the rainy seasons, some big holes in the village will filled up with water and become natural swimming pool, which my father and his brothers liked the most. However, unlike kids in Gia Bac, my father didn't encounter help from volunteers like us, he stopped his studies at Secondary 1 because of his poor financial situation. 

Through such comparison, I figured that even if we hadn't been there, kids in Gia Bac would have grown up as usual,  like how my Dad did. I'm not sure what impact we have brought to the kids. Inspiration? Role model?(Many life skill they are my role models, they taught me how to mow :P) Hope? Did I? 
Hope we brought them memorable school days. Through them, I think I found the part of meaning of volunteering - to provide the best that I can! =)

What's next for Gia Bac?

Hi all,

This is summary report of the discussion of "What's next for Gia Bac?"

GiaBac-1.jpg


Recently, during the June holidays, ETS brought a few groups of students to serve the community in Gia Bac, Vietnam. At ETS, we believe in building sustainable projects to develop communities through collaborations and empowerment. The informal sharing session,What's Next for Gia Bac?, that is organised on 10th July aims to pick at the brains of these passionate students for ideas to sustain and continue the efforts in Gia Bac Village. 

The session was very fruitful as the students, together with ETS, discussed and proposed solutions in 3 main areas, Education, Infrastructure and Environmental Conservation. One of the biggest and most promising projects that was discussed during the session was Project K that looks at the construction of an ECO-Compound consisting of an ECO-School, ECO-Plant and ECO-Raise, with the hope of building a "Sustainable Education & Ecotourism Development" (SEED) in Gia Bac Village. 

Sounds exciting to you? We would have more updates about our projects in Gia Bac on The Little Green Dot as well as our website! Do keep a look out for it! 

Reminder - Microwave Cooking Lesson

Reminder!

Event: Microwave Cooking Lesson
Venue: Kitchen at SengKang CC
Date: 31 July 2010 (Sat)
Time: 10 am
Cost: $15 per head
Menu: 1 Chicken Dish, 1 Fish Dish, 1 Pizza Dish, 1 Mixed Vegetables Dish

Please sign up for the microwave cooking lesson! Many of you have not done so.

Group leaders, please help to check that your group members have been notified of this event and that they have indicated their attendance in the form below. Thank you! ^^

Waterfall trekking

Hello all!

Miss all the fun and adventure back in Vietnam? Looking to see more of what Mother Nature offers?

Event: Waterfall Trekking to Berkalah Falls
Date: 27-29 Aug
Cost: $140
Vacancies: 15

You might want to refer to http://www.x-trekkers.com/Travel/Malaysia/West-Malaysia/Waterfalls-Trek/2D2N-Malaysia-Berkelah-Falls.html for more details.

Here is the sign-up form...

Kenneth's Reflections - Fragments of Memories

(On behalf of Kenneth. Enjoy! ^^)



Time flies! It’s been more than a month since we have come back from Vietnam. Looking back on how this whole journey began, it just seemed so strange and distant; I guess most things on hindsight always looked different compared to what memories registered it to be. It all began with an email that said, Earthlink NTU: Ecoventure 2010 Recruitment Drive. I didn’t think much about it at that point, was probably too busy, but I decided to just indicate my interest in it. I even forgot about the first interview! But then I received a call from Wan Ying reminding me of a 2nd round of interviews. Guess I couldn’t say I forgot again...

As the Confucius saying went: ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ For me, going for the interview was that proverbial first step.

Cutting to the chase, the pre-EV preparations blazed pass like a speeding train; the weekly weekend trainings (in that stuffy room), the weekly teaching and performance planning, the last minute backpack shopping, the last hour clothes stuffing, the cab ride down to Changi Airport on that rainy afternoon…And before I knew it, we were suddenly together! The entire EV 2010 Team! It was actually the first time the entire team had met up, and not in the fragmented bits and pieces which we were meeting each week. It was strange standing there, among strangers, soon to be friends. With one final group shot by our photography major, Willis, we were whisked off on a plane to Vietnam.

Taking the plane from the budget terminal meant that we had an up-close view of the plane. I could not help but notice how much smaller the plane seemed from the outside! It was tiny! So very different from the rather voluminous interior! It really goes to show how perceptions from the outside could be so different from the inside! The entire time in the plane, I sat there wondering how that small little plane could ferry so many of us, across the vast expanse of sea and  land, across the many cities, across the farms and towns to a foreign land and carrying with it, the hopes and anxieties which we all harboured in varying degrees...

The first few days we spent in HCMC were hectic. Each of us busied with our own components to finish, the exhibitions, the performance, the presentations, and the list goes on. Even with the busy schedule to keep to, we found time to talk to our Vietnamese friends and to take part in the various activities. During one of the many conversations, I was surprised to learn that this was actually their exam period! Some of them were only days away from their exams! For some of the volunteers with us, it was right after the end of our trip! What a sacrifice! I was very thankful to be in the care of such a team of dedicated host, and was glad that we would be in such caring hands for the duration of our stay in Gia Bac.

[A BIG Thank you to our friends at ECO Vietnam Group for being such wonderful host; for helping us with communicating with the locals, providing administrative and logistical support, and attending to our varied meal preferences. I hope we can extend the same hospitality when you guys come visit us!]

Somehow I felt bad knowing that they had taken time off their revision to be there with us and providing the necessary assistance to ensure that our event was a success. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure if I could have done the same. And that somehow just deepened the guilt. I can only hope we will be able to extend the same hospitality when they come visit us.

Those few days passed quickly and before long, it was time to leave some of our new found friends behind and embark on an even longer journey – The Road to Gia Bac!

If I have one word to describe the bus ride to Gia Bac, it would be “loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong.”

It was possibly the longest bus ride I had taken in day time. Had it not been punctuated with the numerous stop overs, I would probably have been sitting there in my own puke for the better part of the journey…

However, that same long bus journey provided ample opportunities to glean more information about this country which had such a rich and fragmented history. Just a few hours ago, my only perception of Vietnam was a huge urban buildup with a thousand motorbikes zipping passed in a labyrinth of alleys and streets. Moving away from the city centre offered a very different view, and as the vaguely familiar urban landscape slowly fell away to give way to the alien-rural surroundings I found myself thinking of what I had left behind in Singapore, away from the familiar, from the comforts, from my safety-net, and at the same time I was also excited at what was to come.

The slow and arduous journey up was one with anticipation. The winding path taken by the bus offered a breath-taking view of the surrounding mountain range cast in the ocherous rays of the setting sun, it was almost as if each peak was ablaze. I sat there in my semi-comatose state and wondered at each mountain – Is that where we were going? Is that the village? Our village? What would tomorrow bring?

Half-conscious after the bus ride, I stepped out of the bus only to find myself plunged into darkness. I realised why - There were no street lights!  As my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, I noticed a dimly lit wooden building on a raised platform with someone behind the counter.

On a closer look, I could discern a middle age lady (Chee Bey) who was there manning the mama-store lookalike shop. Suddenly she got out and took hasty steps towards me! She started tugging gently on my arms, pulling me to her shop, at the same time she seemed to be mouthing something which I couldn’t quite make out at first, but then it hit me! She was speaking English! She seemed to be trying her English out on me! Her face was a picture of enthusiasm. She started asking me all sorts of questions, where we were from, how long we took, have we eaten, even though we both struggled to communicate with each other, it seemed we could somehow understand each other with the aid of simple body gestures and facial expressions.

And then she suddenly went behind her counter and started looking for something. Was she trying to sell me something? It turned out I was wrong! She fished out a worn piece of paper, creased from folding many times, and then showed me its contents – It was a vocabulary list in English! It must have been from the previous groups that were here before us! And to think that for a moment there I was sure she had wanted to sell me her wares! Oh my, how could I! She then started reading each of the words out loud, slowly articulating each word, and signed with her hand as if asking me if she was pronouncing the words on the list correctly...

It was then that I realised how much impact our presence, us foreigners, has on this little village! I can only imagine how it was like when the first team came! There must have been a lot of excitement and uncertainty! But from the way it seems, in spite of that, they must have welcomed them with open arms. And so, that was how I first met Chee Bey, the nice lady who owns the provision shop opposite our place.

Looking back now, I think the night when we first arrived was ironically one of my most memorable memories of Gia Bac, since I was barely even acquainted with it. Perhaps it was a welcomed relief after the bus ride or perhaps it was the fresh evening air untainted by pollution (or so I thought…) or maybe, it was the small glimpse of what was to come that truly made it such an unforgettable experience.

And over the next few days, I slowly got acquainted with the daily routines and embraced the many hidden joys of Gia Bac...

The early mornings. The cool and fresh morning air that glides across your skin like cold silk. Greeting the rising sun emerging from behind its mountainous bed. Touring the surrounding areas of Gia Bac and attempting to capture it on camera. Aromatic Vietnamese coffee, instant noodles for breakfast, preparations for the morning’s reforestation work. The treks to our reforestation site, the kids that come out to greet us! The back-breaking, body-aching weeding, the camaraderie, the beautiful mountain view, the strange bugs that we occasionally found.

The blazing hot afternoons with the consistent and invariable afternoon showers. The preparations for teaching. Going for classes, having fun with our students. Teaching them new words, having games with them. Trying to get pass their occasional bouts of coyness. Playing games after lessons. 

And as evening set in, the cool mountain water baths, the occasional long queues for toilets. The missing toilet bowl seats. The blackouts, bathing by the candle light, meeting and talking under the portable lights. The cosy feel of everyone sitting together for dinner.  Doing laundry, washing dishes with friends, feeding the dogs with scrapes, watching the chickens fight it out for food. The swarms of bugs that the afternoon showers bring. The nightly debriefs which always seemed to go beyond the stated time. The daily reflections. Young Soul! Mafia! The starry skies. The chilly night air. Setting up the sleeping bag on the table in preparation for sleep. Brushing teeth under a star studded sky. And at the end of each day, the warm embrace of a good night’s rest.

Thinking back now, I’m surprised that it is the simple routines and mundane events that I found joy and beauty. Those are truly the memories of blissful simplicity.

Waste Management

In Gia Bac, there were many of eye-openers, the beautiful sunrises, the unadulterated view of the starry skies, the unobstructed horizon, whoever, guessed that the issue of rubbish would be one of the other eye openers...
‘So where do we throw the rubbish?’ I can’t really remember who asked that question, but at that point, it struck me that there I don’t recall seeing rubbish bins or collection points since the day we arrived. So where does the rubbish go to? Well, I was soon to find out. ‘This is where we’ll be taking the rubbish to’. I looked at where Harry pointed, yet all I saw was the mountain range spread out before me. Where? ‘Not there, there...’ tracing the imaginary path his fingers pointed to, it dawned on me where we would be dumping our rubbish off the mountain side...

So what happens to rubbish when you dispose of it? Most of us living in Singapore, probably never gave that question a second thought, after all, the next day, the bins are emptied and rubbish strewn on the ground are swept clean and all of yesterday’s trash becomes nothing but just another bad memory. If only rubbish were to disappear so easily...

The reality is that waste, especially inorganic ones so prevalent in our modern synthetic world, doesn’t just decay overnight, they take years, decades, centuries before being broken down completely! Most of us take for granted the infrastructure that Singapore has put in place to handle the thousands of tons of waste generated daily. In a small isolated village like Gia Bac, they lack the financial resources and the technological knowhow to run a sustainable waste management system akin to the one we have. Hence, their solution to the issue of waste is simply dumping it anywhere they saw fit, even if it means off the mountain...

Dumping refuse had always and still is one of the main ways for people to remove rubbish, the only difference being the varying degrees of complexity and sophistication. Dumping is still dumping. So I told myself that I shouldn't be too particular about it. I was wrong. What was truly shocking was what I saw some days later. At the base of the debris shrewn slope where we have been dumbing our rubbish, I saw a coffee plantation. It was just some twenty meters away from the base of the slope! That meant that contaminated ground water from the rubbish laden slope would be washed down towards the plantation! I was appalled! What was the farmer thinking? Then it struck me, maybe he didn’t know better...  

It was then that I realised that the villagers had to have some basic understanding of waste management. Even if they had no choice but to dump their waste, it should at least be in a contained area so that the leachate would not flow out to the surrounding farmlands so crucial to their livelihood. More can be done.

In spite of the lack of a proper waste management system in the village, recycling was very prevalent! Yes, RECYCLING! A concept which seems to have been embraced in a luke-warm manner by Singaporeans was actually quite receptive in rural Gia Bac! The signs were not very obvious, but they were clearly there! Baskets of glass and plastic bottles, boxes of aluminium cans, stacks of cardboards, seemingly stashed in one corner were all collected and sorted by the various provision shops that peppered the village! They are eventually sent to a central collector who recycles it back in the neighbouring town.

Education

Before I went to Gia Bac, I had always considered education one of the fundamental means of ending poverty. I still do, but I no longer see it in the same light.

As a child, most of us have probably heard of the idea, ‘If you don’t study, you’re going to end up as  a road sweeper.’ I doubt the vocation of a road sweeper exist in Gia Bac. But the message here is clear, education is the key to break out of poverty or rather the lack of it leads you to it. But yet, when I spoke with the villagers, I no longer thought of education as a feasible way out of poverty.

I recall asking one of the parents during a home visit what their son did after completing his schooling at the village. Her reply was: ‘Work on the farm’, and his story wasn’t unique, it was sadly very common...

Education was no longer a means to an end; an end where one will be able to get a job. Schooling for most of the children ends after secondary school, most don’t go on to do high school from which they can work their way up to a decent job. It wasn’t that they didn’t make the cut, it was because high school education was simply too expensive for most families. So what’s education for? For most, school was a place where they met up with their friends, had fun, learn about subjects that were sadly as useless to them as what money was to a monkey. It made me wonder if they ever thought about why they were studying such subjects...

Helplessness was probably the word to have described how I felt about the entire situation. To have something that you thought and felt strongly about proven wrong or at least no longer entirely true was something that really sets you thinking about your own perceptions and ideas. Ultimately, I find that education was still the way out, albeit a different sort of education; one which gave rise to more tangible returns, one which would help break away from coffee farming, and hopefully paves the way out of poverty. The education I speak off is none other than skills training. Is that the way to go? Perhaps, but I do not know answers. The solution to Gia Bac’s education problem is definitely not simple. The same could be said of the reforestation project in Gia Bac.

Reforestation

The Reforestation Project; FLITCH; Tree Planting. That was one of the key reasons why we had Ecoventure. The entire problem reminded me very much of this animated film, “Princess Mononoke”, which talks about the difficult balance between economic pursuits and the environment and ultimately the solution was to compromise. Yet this thin line called compromise cannot be easily defined. How do we balance the environmental issues which have long lasting impacts with those of the more immediate bread and butter issues, like food and shelter?

Reforestation meant taking away the coffee plots used to sustain the livelihood of the villagers; yet, if we let the coffee plots expand without restrain, what does it mean for the local environment? It would translate to a lost of segments of the eco-system, already made evident by the lack of tall trees and birds in the village vicinity. It would also mean a lost of their natural heritage, what which have been handed down from their ancestors. What about the longer and far-reaching effects it would have on the region, or on the world? Climate science is not an exact science, but many drops make up the ocean. If everyone makes that little difference, it will add up to a larger difference and consequently effect a larger outcome. We all have to play our part.

Each night we had debriefs on each day’s activities, and it seems that after several nights of discussion, the various doubts that we had culminated in this question: “Are we really helping them?"

Are we helping? It was a question which I wondered too. I wasn’t an idealist, but still, when I had sign on during the project, I had the impression that something tangible would come out of it, that our actions would be able to make a scratch or maybe even a dent on the environment or poverty that was in the village. Yet, at the end of it all, evaluating what we have done, I have to realistically say, we didn’t even make a scratch on it. Like someone mentioned, the work we have done there in that span of a few days was probably equivalent to what the locals could do in 2 hours. I was disappointed.

As we discussed the futility of our actions and commitment, I realised that perhaps the issue wasn’t about our contributions at this point in time, but rather, it was more about generating awareness of the problems in rural villages like Gia Bac. It was about empowering us with the knowledge and empathy for the situation in the village, in hopes that we will take action to help remedy it in the foreseeable future. As Malik says, treat this as an Investigation Phase; to find out more and understand the problems. Maybe 10 years from now, we will have the resources and abilities to help initiate programs to help alleviate the poverty. In a nutshell, the take home message was this: To remember Gia Bac.

Perhaps that was what we were here for, not to give, but to receive. To receive insights into the lives of the villagers, to receive experiences of rural living and to receive the empathy so lacking in the hectic lives we lead back home. And to think that before embarking on this journey, we thought we had so much to offer, so much to give, when in truth we were there to receive. I was humbled.

We will not forget Gia Bac and its lessons.

17 July 2010 in 17 June 2010

17 July 2010 in 17 June 2010 is Day 13 of Ecoventure 2010.

Today is the earliest I get to reach home from work so I shall start blogging! (It is 12.45am now but I work the afternoon shift so... XD)


On that day, it was goodbye to Gia Bac. We were supposed to be ready by 5am so everyone woke up especially early to pack and clean up the house before leaving. All the bags were soon gathered outside but there were still a number of miscellaneous unclaimed items left in the rooms. It took a while for all of them to find their owners again.


It was past 5am already and yet the bus was still nowhere in sight. We later learnt that the morning mist severely lowered the driver's visibility and he had difficulty navigating up the mountains. Some of us then trooped over to Chi Be's for a final farewell. Over the days that we had been there, we had formed such a bond with the people we met in Gia Bac, with Chi Be, the teachers and the students and we knew we couldn't leave without saying our goodbyes.
 
 
Finally, the bus arrived and we were off onto the roads with the house that we stayed in slowly vanishing from view.
 
 
Slowly, the mountains disappeared from the scenery outside my window as well as the bus moved further and further out from the villages and into the city.
 
 
Our first stop was for breakfast. Just look at the spread of food! =) They're making me hungry again.
 
 
Back on the house, it was games time! Look at how a cap was transformed to hold the cards. It sure looked like they were having fun although I hardly understood the rules of the game. XD
 
 
However, as the journey continued, some of us started to get sleepy. Look at Harry, he was fast asleep already! He had been unwell for the past few days. =X
 
 
The next pit stop was a beautiful place and it was not just on the outside - inside, the toilets were quite nicely put together too. Too bad I didn't take any photos. XD I am not exactly sure but I think the place serves as a resort.
 

I mean, just look at this! They even have deer here in enclosures! How interesting...

However, this is my favourite... Ice cream! =P
 
 
What's so special about the ice cream is this...
 
 
Multi-coloured! And those are such pretty colours too - great for brightening up someone's day. =)
 
After long hours of travelling, we finally reached our destination and finally met Cai Ping!
 
 
She had actually been in Vietnam for a few days already but was unable to meet us in Gia Bac so we had to wait till today to see her. Despite her unhappy stomach (remember that she had food poisoning), she managed a cheery mood throughout. =)
 
 
We headed down a few roads away for our dinner. It was a night of traditional Vietnamese cuisine. Some of the food looked familiar to us (there was one that looked like otah but tasted nothing like otah) but we had to admit that there were all something new as they were very much different from the food we were used to back in Singapore.
 
In the night, we went shopping. Initially, the weather was unforgiving and it started to rain when we reached the market. We could only shop within the sheltered area but most of the stalls were closed. Finally, it was decided that we would head for another place for some coffee and snacks. The restaurant had a nice ambience and there was live music in the background we could sit back and relax to. When the rain stopped, we all packed ourselves into taxis again and set off for the market once again to do some shopping. Surely, we couldn't return to Singapore empty-handed?
 
 

Yung Lin's Reflections - A Broadened Horizon

- on behalf of Yung Lin

Ecoventure 2010 has broadened my horizon and I have grown much mentally and physically from the trip. 



As a young adult, I realized that humanity and caring towards others will not be hindered by differences in culture, languages or skin colour. With a pure genuine heart, love has no boundaries. 


Education - The door to other options

In addition, I really felt the importance of education even more when I was tutoring kids in the school of the village. I could not deny the immediate effect and help that money can do to the poor local community in Gia Bac Village but I always believe that “ It is better to teach a man to fish instead of giving fish to him“. Money can only solve problems in the short run, but in the long run, what do the people there need to escape from poverty ? Education is the key. 



With better education, the off-springs will have more to offer and options to choose from than their illiterate parents that can only resort to agriculture or laborious jobs. I was really glad that many parents there realized that and in fact sent their kids to school. And what is even more exhilarating is that the children there were very enthusiastic and attentive towards our teachings, which are very different from city kids that have taken the easy access education for granted. My best wishes goes to the children in the village and hopefully someday they can help to improve the living standards of their family and no longer live in poverty. 


Our Helpful Host Community

Moreover, one of the greatest challenges that we faced was communication problem with the local people but we were lucky to have EcoVietnam Group volunteers to be our translator and also to manage the administrative matters and accommodation in Vietnam. We were very well taken care of and this trip would not be a success without them, kusdo to EcoVietnam Group and lastly, EcoVenture Vietnam 2010, a memorable trip not to be forgotten! 


Yung Lin