1st day. We did a DISC profiling check, it's a behavioural profile check so that we were better able to understand ourselves. D=Dominance/Direct, I=Influencing, S=Steadiness and C=Conscientiousness. This activity may not be very accurate but it really helped me to understand my own character as well as to identify what are other's behavioural profiles so that I can know what are their motivations/fears & more. At night, we had this session titled 'Servant Leadership'. Ms Rachel Ong from ROHEI shared about her life & it was SUPER INSPIRATIONAL. She shared on how she was just an accidental businesswoman but I don't think so. She had that passion, that WANT to help people (in particular the youths) & it's as though the more time she spends investing in this passion, the more she absolutely loves it & wants to do more. She shared with us the 5 traits of servant leadership & it's so beautiful - to have integrity, a ferocious will to succeed, humility, serving others & having moral excellence.
I think many of us were truly amazed at what she has done,& her resilience to just go out and serve & serve and serve! This also made me reflect A LOT, on what it really means to have the servant leadership attitude. Many a times, we just want the best for ourselves. We rarely humble ourselves to serve others, & even if we have to, we do it unwillingly. Personally for myself, I don't have much of this attitude. I don't mind lending a helping hand to others, but I won't really do so if there is a need to. Last week, I was at Nex with Joe & we walked past this blind man and a lady who were selling tissue & when we walked past, the lady said: Jesus loves a cheerful giver. WHY DID SHE HAVE TO SAY THAT.... It really made me think during this camp, simple things like helping the handicap, it can be so difficult because we refuse to let go. We want to hold on to even $2. I must say, I feel ashamed now. This has really got me thinking about wanting to help the handicap/elderly more now.
"Humility is not thinking any less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less." - Timothy Keller
2nd day. Learning about resilience was something my secondary school taught me. It was one of our GRACE values. Adversity Quotient (AQ, something like IQ/EQ): the ability to bounce back from difficult challenges each time, emerging even stronger & fulfilling your dreams eventually. The more resilient you are, the more effectively & constructively you can respond to life's difficulties & the more fulfilling life will be. For lunch, we were split into 3 groups based on a card we picked (into A/B/C group). B's got to sit at an exclusive table where they were given chicken chop with fries and orange juice. C's (me) got to sit at another area where they were given the usual camp packed lunch boxes with an apple. A's had to sit at an alley (yes they set it up to look like a beggar place with dirt & trash bags everywhere) on the floor where among 70 people, they had to share 4 loaves of plain white bread. I think many of us felt kinda guilty & sad so we started to share our food with the 'beggars'. At the end of this lunch, Sherman (camp host) took our a bag of food = our leftovers, what we didn't eat. When I saw it, I cried. We have enough, there is enough to go around but yet we always take more & in the end, this all goes to waste. I am really blessed to have enough in life. We are all provided with basic necessities & our parents give us what we want yet we aren't happy with it at times. But through this activity, I really saw that each of us do have compassion for one another. The only happiness we need are the people around us.
In the afternoon, we went out to do a Community Adventure Challenge (CAC). We went to interview foreign workers, gave bread to single-room flats and cleaned tables at the kopitiam. When I interviewed this man living in the single-room flat, I saw that he was really contented with what he had. He lives with his friend & only sells fish for a living but yet he was already contented with what he has. I only gave bread to one house, to a really old man living with a maid. When I gave the uncle the bread, his face lit up. He seemed SUPER THANKFUL for the 1 loaf of bread and he even invited us to go into his house for a drink. At that point, my heart really ached. I thought about my own father & teared. I love my father so much (hello daddy if you ever read this someday, yes i love you a lot).
At the kopitiam, we cleaned tables. I was the videographer of my group, but after 5 minutes I just decided to stop filming & got down to business. I spoke to the cleaner aunty & she shared with me about her job. If she did certain things wrongly, she had to pay fines & on top of cleaning, she had to push in chairs. Instantly, I cried & walked away. I felt so much regret, sometimes when I go out to eat, I take for granted the cleaners & I don't push my chair in after eating. Simple things like saying thank you or pushing in our chairs, we don't do it. The aunty then told me to study hard, don't do this job as a cleaner next time, make my parents happy and be a good girl. I couldn't stop crying. She has made such a huge impact in my life. For a cleaner aunty who cleans up after me, a total stranger to say such simple words, it really warms my heart. Somtimes I'm so unappreciative of my family/grandma, but I think after this CAC, I'm going away with so much more. My group came in last in this activity but even though we were the last, we were the ones that walked away with the most. I really learnt that life isn't always about yourself, it's important to remember the people around you, whether they are related to you or not.
At night, we played this game which required us to work as a camp, as one big team. In the game, we couldn't talk, couldn't step out of the box (one small toe/heel also cannot), couldn't go out of sequence (it was stepping on numbers 1-12 in order). We kept failing and it was quite frustrating because people from other groups were making mistakes & had to restart every time we failed. After 699 attempts and after 6 hours 58 minutes, we finally succeeded as a whole camp. 93 people worked together, encouraged each other, ton-ed the night from 815pm to 3am + and the sweet feeling of success and accomplishment was just amazing! Through this activity, I learnt about resilience, what it really means to endure through hardship, & the importance of what it means for you to want your teammates to also succeed in order to succeed as a whole. If we leave an open box, go out of the box, we have to restart and no one will learn.
3rd day. We had an induction programme to finally be part of The Christiera Programme! Proud to say I'm part of this programme in Ngee Ann :) The mentors did skits and performances for us, it was really fun! We ended the camp on a sad note lol. The mentors did a short skit, on how they had to get through the door to success. They were each carrying baggages, burdens of their own and couldn't get past a door. Burdens, lies such as I'm not good enough, I'm alone, I'm worthless, I can't fit in, I'm defined by my failures and more that weighed them down. It was not fake, they weren't just showing as these statements but it was really their true problems because all of them sobbed as they held those signs. Sherman then came up to them and gave them statements & they just cried. In fact, many of us cried including me, even the guys! It was a very touching moment, because many of us realised that we're actually so amazing in each of our individual ways. Paulo shared about the $2 note theory. He crushed a $2 note, stepped on it, but brought across the point to us that even though people step over us, people defeat us and make us feel like crap, but in the end just like the $2 note, we still have value. No matter what, we are precious.
All in all, I think I have so much to say about this camp as you can read. It's just a life changing camp & I've gone away from this camp learning so much. I'm so encouraged by my mentors & the speakers too! In the past, I felt a little self-centered, took certain things for granted & when faced with challenges, I was tired to try and persevere on. But after this camp, I'm willing to step out to serve and make a difference in another person's life. I'm thankful for every single bit I have. I'm motivated by success & will carry on to try and remember that EVERY MEMBER MATTERS. Thank you ROHEI for this experience, it's something I'll remember for life :)
sleeping buddy/sec1+2 classmate/otaku girl hahahaha, sally the blondy
love this girl meganmegmeg
danish~~~ sumpa, he is like ridhwan from abtm! & he's hilarious and amazing! he has 3 races too :o
hahaha Chris from the hotdog stand! Gonna go pester him from now on to give me more chips when i buy hotdog lol! He's so talented too, with his dancing and guitar playing! & he's super fun to talk to!
bernita & priya! they are so prettyyyyyyyy ^^
Paymon! He wasn't a mentor but just look at him, wowwwwww lol :)
BLAINE. DON'T YOU THINK HE LOOKS A LITTLE LIKE DANNY FROM THE SCRIPT? Like a younger version and more gentle hahah! I told him he looks like Danny and told him to go learn 'Breakeven' and he did! & he can sing and play the guitar too oh my.... ^^
Doelnay from South Africa, my mentor. She is truly inspirational, and her personality is just like mine CONFIRM + CHOPE. Haha! She's a friend I'm definitely going to keep in touch with even after camp & she's my favourite mentor hehe I love her so much! Thank you for the past 3 days and may God bless you in everything you do! Continue to inspire others just like how you have inspired me :)
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