Ecoventure 2010 -- walk the green talk

Hey all

As mentioned, I will need your reflections for the trip asap.

So last submission - this Sunday @ 6pm alright! (So you can rest for Sunday night!)

For references of others' reflections, click on the picture above! ^^

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

The time spent in vietnam has been especially enjoyable and im indeed very happy to have made many good friends from NTU and friends from vietnam.

The village stay was short. The reforestations we carried out was meaningful in the sense that it was a seed effort to spur the community into more awareness of the impoverished state of the village. Through the stay, we were fortunate to have the company of the volunteers from ecovietnam.

Especially thankful to Thang, who spend much time explaining the vietnamese words and entertaining my numerous requests, I felt very fortunate to have made a good friend.


The teaching at the school has truly given us an opportunity to contribute to the development of the village. By providing the village children wit education, it gives them a big window to the world. Education is the most important towards breaking the cycle of poverty and I feel that more could be done in this area of education.

Given the opportunity, I would like to bring more friends to spend some fruitful time at the village in order that we may contribute to the less fortunate part of this world and this also allows us to appreciate all that we have in Singapore.

12 July 2010 in 12 June 2010 is Day 8 of Ecoventure 2010.

This day was a special day. "How so?", you might ask. It was the day when Wai Fun and I were in charge of housekeeping. However, that was not all. It was also the day of our jungle trek!

So the day started off with a flurry rushed activities for us. We woke up early, kept our sleeping bags neatly aside and went to get ready for the start of the day. The first thing to do was to help Auntie with the preparation of breakfast. Even today's menu was something special as well - it was bread after so many days of noodles! Harry had bought the bread loaves from town and brought it back the previous day through the stormy weather, so thank you Harry! ^^ (Don't say I'm not nice to you. =D)


Doesn't the breakfast just look so delicious? We even arranged the milk cartons to spell the letters, "ECO" to represent "Ecoventure" and "Eco Vietnam Group". Very thoughtful, isn't it? ^^

We ate our breakfast quickly and while the rest are still slowly enjoying their meal, we hurried on to carry out our next tasks, washing the toilets and cleaning the other room while it was still empty. After we were done, we returned to the room where the last few loaves of breads were still being cleared off the plates and started cleaning the area up as well. It sure was a hectic scramble all over the place!

It took a while before we were finally ready to leave the house.


We walked and we walked and all around us the scenery was simply captivating. I would very much love to describe the view to you but I know that at one point I'll find myself at a loss for words to describe the beauty that was before us so I'll let my pictures paint the images necessary for you to conjure up a better idea of what it was like. =)


We went past farmlands and farmers hard at work under the scorching sun. We saw the corn and the coffee plants. However, a very long walk later, there was still no forest in sight. Many of us were puzzled but nonetheless, spirits remained high. Even while some of us were wondering where the "jungle" from the "jungle trek" was, all of us very much relished the experience of the walk despite the sun's merciless heat, shining down heavily upon our backs.

Finally, in the distance, we seemed to be approaching our destination! We entered the cool shade offered by the trees and listened as we were introduced to the leaves that some of the villagers cook and eat and yet others tuck behind their ears for whatever reasons not yet fully comprehensible. XD


Isn't our dear leader, Wan Ying just the most interesting character ever? XD

When all that was over, we officially began our jungle trek.


It sure was not my typical Bukit Timah forest trek. There were overhanging branches lined with thorns across the paths and a huge centipede carefully camouflaged in yet another but what can I say? It sure was quite an adventure, short as it was.

After lunch, it was back to our daily routine of heading down to school for the lessons. Even though it was a Saturday, it was still a lesson day for the students and only Sunday is a rest day.

That day, we decided to introduce yet another new game to the students, knowing how much they enjoyed playing and running around. It was another improvised game played according to the rules of "Hang Man". Blanks were drawn on the board and the students had to guess what word the blanks represented according to the clue that was given. However, what was different between this game and the real "Hang Man" is that each student had to run up to the board to write the letters and they can each only write one at a time. Their friends had to help complete the spelling of the word by taking turns and writing a letter each. The team that completes the word correctly in the shortest time win points.


For me, it was extremely fulfilling to see the enthusiasm the students showed in the game and I was deeply affected by their energy. They were practically jumping up from their seats and rushing to the front to write the letters! I hoped that meant that they really had fun playing the game and for all of us who worked so hard, the gleam in their faces was the best reward we could have. Learning should always be fun! Or at least that is what I think. ^^

The students were becoming so smart that they were actually counting the number of blanks before the clues were even revealed to start guessing the possible answers!

The climax of the game was reached when one member from my team, in her hurry, flung the chalk from her hand as she was about to write. The flyaway chalk cost our team time and the other team won that round by a mere margin.

Eventually, the game came to a close and our team was declared the winner! Congratulations! I hope the other team that didn't win weren't too disappointed though. Prepare well and let the next round of competition begin! =)

Dear all

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Opps... Wrong story!

Anyway, just some announcements.

Singapore Garden Festival
It's settled!
Date: 16 July 2010 (Friday)
Time: 5pm (Dinner together before going)

Night Cycling
Previously, we mentioned that the night cycling will be on the 16th but now that the Singapore Garden Festival event is on the 16th, we were wondering if there are any oppositions as to changing the date to the 17th instead.

Alternatively, I would like to change the Night Cycling to Night Festival if everyone's agreeable. haha. XD More people might be able to join then? Since it's safer and not overnight. =D

Please leave your comments.

Thank you very much!



Much appreciated! ^^