NYAA Entry - Service

Date: 31st Jan, 2008
Venue: MPFSC
Duration: 1.5 hours 1700-1830
People involved: Seth, Jiawei and a friend from SAJC-Junhe

Today was the second time we were conducting our weekly visits to Brother Paul. He seemed to have looked considerably better compared to our last visit; He had no more troubling ailments of headaches and back pains. We had first held our conversation by his door at the entrance of his flat but after awhile had to shift within his flat. This was due to the burning of incense paper by his neighbour which he told us had been giving him some inconveniences.

During our visit, he had recounted certain anecdotes that had occurred in his life, sharing with us some of his experiences and was quite frank about it, like how he had been a sailor in the past, as well as his reflections on it. We were grateful that he had appreciated our visit and was quite willing to be open in sharing his thoughts. In our conversation, he shared with us a few of the current happenings in his life, like how he had recently encountered the problem of pollution caused by his neighbour burning incense paper along the corridor. Another thing he had been doing recently was cleaning up his flat. We offered our assistance but he declined, insisting that he wanted to do it on his own and be "independent", to quote him. Another reason cited was that he wanted to have something to do at home. At this, though we were worried, my friends and I shared a admiration at his tenacity to rely on himself and keep himself occupied. After offering our help anytime he needed it, we felt assured that he understood he could come to call on us if he needed anything. Before we left, we made sure his dinner had been provided for.

We had also taken this opportunity to ascertain dates for the Chinese New Year (CNY) and Valentine's Day events. The CNY event is to be held on the 16th of Feb while the Valentine's Day event is to be held on the 14th of Feb. More details will be given once MPFSC has sent the email for it.

NYAA Entry - Service - Befriending

Date: 29th January 2008
Venue: MPFSC (Blk 6, Marine Terrace)
Duration: 2 hour (1445 – 1645)
People involved: Edmund, Thomas and zhan liang

Today was the second befriending session with Mdm Ng. We walked from school at about 1430 hours and reached Mdm Ng’s apartment at about 1445 hours. We had no need to report to Seow Hong anymore as subsequent visits after the first will be arranged directly with Mdm Ng.

The door of her apartment was closed when we arrived and we feared that she was not at home. However, after we rang the doorbell, the familiar barking sounds of her dog indicated to us that she was at home. Upon seeing her friends (as what she considers us to be) at the door, she opened the door and welcomed us in. Once again, she displays her hospitality as she tries her best to make us feel at home, offering us Chinese New Year cookies and drinks as soon as we entered. We kept telling her that we were full and that she does not need to walk around offering snacks and drinks to us, asking her to take a seat, but she continued to, pushing those snacks and drinks to us, leaving us no choice but to accept her offers, before she would sit down. Her hospitality is so good that it is now achieving some sort of a reverse effect in that we were starting to feel uneasy, always being offered snacks and drinks whenever we visited her.

However, as soon as we started conversing with her, her friendliness and ease to talk to made us feel really comfortable again. She asked us about school, our schoolmates and how we are coping; about family, how close we are, how often and what we do when we spend time together; about overseas holiday trips with family, where we have went and our experiences; and about overseas CIP trips, where we have went and what we did there. We also discussed certain issues such as the influence of Western culture in Singapore, its good and bad points; and boy-girl relationships at teenage age, our thoughts about it. She is quite a frank and open person, thus she spontaneously shares her views, thoughts and opinions, which are informative and valuable, and we always gain lots of new knowledge from our conversations with her.

We recalled her telling us during our previous visit last week that her dog was injured and was scheduled to go to the vet earlier this morning, thus we asked her what its situation was. She told us that the vet said the dog’s injury was not serious to the extent of requiring an operation, but would require some medication to reduce the pain and some time for the injury to recover. We were quite relieved and happy for Mdm Ng to hear that as she revealed to us on our previous visit that she has quite an attachment to the dog ever since it arrived with her rental tenant last year, thus with her dog being alright, she would feel better too. Now, our worry is her check-up tomorrow, on the 30th of January, which will reveal the seriousness of her stomach health problems. However, we have faith and believe that everything will be alright for her.

Besides her health problems, she does not have any immediate needs that require our attention, but we will be constantly looking out for her and to provide her with any assistance we can anytime she needs. We are also gradually getting used to the way she speaks, thus being able to understand and communicate with her better. This second session has been another rewarding and enjoyable one for us and we will be looking forward to our next session with Mdm Ng.

NYAA Entry - Service

Date: 24th Jan, 2008
Venue: MPFSC
Duration: 1 hour 1700-1800
People involved: Seth, Jiawei and a friend from SAJC

This was going to be the first of the weekly visitations we were to make as a pair to visit brother Paul, a single elderly person living alone in Block 15, Marine Terrace. This time we met immediately after our lessons ended for the day before going to the MPFSC to confirm our visit with the person in-charge, Mdm Yah Yee.

After receiving our go-ahead, we went up to have a look at Brother Paul and see how he was doing. Although we made an uninvited visit, he was very happy to receive us at his door. He seemed happy to talk to us about almost everything under the sun; making jokes and discussing issues such as Suharto's recent hospitalization. All these was proof that he still maintained a healthy and active mind despite living alone for so long at his age. However, his flat was still rather messy and disorganized, making difficult for him to move around easily. Further more, he complained that he was having some problems with his backbone and asked us to see if anything was wrong. Other than a red patch just below his neck and pain felt upon compression, he was alright. After asking about his dinner (it was delivered to him at his doorstep before we came), we decided to take our leave and allow him to rest for the day. We informed him of our next visitation next week before ensuring he closed his door properly to retire and then leave.

Our friend from SAJC was a secondary school classmate who wanted to source for service learning opportunities working with children, thus he decided to approach the MPFSC through us. As such, after a brief discussion with Mdm Yah Yee, he has decided to consider doing a project with the MPFSC in the near future. This has allowed the center to have more volunteers to work with, of which we are more than happy to help liaise from now on.

NYAA Entry - Service - Befriending

Date: 25th January 2008
Venue: Block 53, a particular unit on 3rd floor
Duration: 1.5 hours (1500-1630)
People involved: Calvin and a friend, Changyang

The main purpose of this visit was to inform Mdm Alimah and Azmi about the probable dates of future visits and just to check that they were fine.

We set around and interacted with Azmi, sharing with him what are some of the things we are busy with at school. We also asked him about his art exhibition whereby he had presented his own oil paintings at Suntec City convention hall.

Both Changyang and I were busy with school the past weeks and were unfortunately unable to make a trip down. We hence saw the need to make a personal trip down to greet them. We informed that we would visit them on free Tuesday and Friday afternoons in the future.

NYAA Entry- Service

Date: 24 January 2008
Venue: MPFSC
Duration: 2 hours (1330-1530)
People involved: Edmund, Thomas and zhan liang

Today, we started our first befriending session with Mdm Ng. We started off by first reporting to Seow Hong as she had to confirm our appointment with Mdm Ng before allowing us to make a personal trip down to her house at Blk 6. After everything has been confirmed, we made our way down to Mdm Ng’s humble abode. I really meant what I said that it was a “humble abode”. As we entered her house, a state of comfortable cleanliness had greeted us. The furniture was kept simple and everything was just neat and tidy. She had also kept a dog as a companion.

Mdm Ng was also an extremely kind and amiable person. She was full as hospitality as she tried her best to make us feel at home. We felt really comfortable throughout the whole session as she entertained us with her life stories. We actually found out that she was a teacher at “Guangyang Primary School”. She taught music in the school and she has been in this occupation for close to 30 years. Mdm Ng had showed us a picture of one her classes in which she had taught for 6 straight years. She had even presented us with a mug with imprints of her photos with her class. It was a birthday present from her class. She was a very independent woman. She had divorced her husband at the age of 30 and had no children. Ever since then, she had been living on her own as she mentioned that she did not want to be dependent on others. Mdm Ng is also a very well-educated person as she had also imparted lots of knowledge to us through her own life experiences.

We managed to find out that recently, she had visited the doctor for several health check-ups and in the process had been diagnosed with a stomach ulcer. However, it has since disappeared on her next check-up and still awaiting further medical reports on her next check-up which is around the 30^th of January to confirm the existence of the stomach ulcer. Besides the current health problems, Mdm Ng does not have any immediate needs that require our attention. Mdm Ng also has a slight problem in her ability to speak. She is unable to speak clearly due to the inflammation of her throat but nevertheless, we would still be able to understand and communicate with her. It may only be the first session but it has really been a fruitful one for us as we managed to learn a lot from her. We also got to know her much better in person and we would be looking forward to our next session with Mdm Ng.

Fusionoize Laos/Cambodia 07 Reflections

For the Laos/Cambodia trip, we had all taken part in pre-trip preparations such as the collection of donations from a bookshop vendor and meeting to discuss the itinerary we would follow. These preparations allowed us to have a focus on what we had intended to do during the trip, which was to give donations to schools we encountered along the way as well as backpacking. During the trip itself, I had begun to fully realize the significance of pre-trip preparations when I witnessed the different parts of the trip requiring us to depend on these preparations of ours. Despite certain phases of preparation being seemingly dry, it is not until the actual trip that we truly appreciate the purpose of these preparations.

During the trip, another thing I had come to realize is how uncertain circumstances can be, and how research could never cover these areas. As such, we had learnt how to be flexible and adaptive to situations as they presented themselves to us. During the trip, we had brought with us 6 large “ah-ma” bags which made crossing customs potentially problematic. During our entry into Bangkok, we had been stopped by customs officials who had thought we might be trying to sell our donations within the country. We had risked losing our donations even before they had been used for their intended purpose. Eventually we had managed to cross customs with our donations with us still though it was be the leniency of these officials rather than that we had the right to cross (according to them proper documents were required from the donor organization and recipient organization to show that we were really going to bring donations from Singapore to Thailand).

Another time was after our stay at Champasak when we were waiting for transport to take as the Siphandon. Despite transportations arrangements made via a telephone call to a travel agency in Pakse, we had no written agreement. Being in an unfamiliar foreign country, we did not know how reliable the agency was nor were familiar with any other definite ways to get to Siphandon. When the time came and the bus driver was no where in sight, we had seriously considered the fact that we had been stood up by that agency. Eventually we found our driver who had been there all along but had encountered some difficulty in communications that made finding him a little difficult.

Even in the estimation of time, we had learnt to be flexible with estimates which were not within our control and dealt with it. In the journey from Don Khone to Phnom Penh, the duration was expected be from around 9 a.m. to 7p.m. We had ended up reaching at only around 10p.m. We felt quite worn out toward the last leg of the journey and had even grown a little apprehensive regarding the time we would arrive within Phnom Penh since we would not have the luxury of time in choosing ideal accommodations or even familiarize ourselves with the place. When we finally reached, we found a Tuk-tuk driver who did not understand us and we could not find the guesthouse we had in mind. We find alternate lodgings after getting help from locals along the way who helped us to communicate with our driver.

However, we had also learnt to have a better sense of anticipation for things that were within our control. We learnt this through settling the giving out of our donations. During our stay in Pakse, we had given things out at a school within town. On our way toward a waterfall on the outskirts of Pakse after this activity, we encountered a needier school who would have perhaps needed more of our attention than the previous one. However, we had not expected this encounter and had not brought any of our donations. Though the shoes we gave out had benefitted the children at the school in Pakse, we could have helped the other school had we a better sense of expectation. This had occurred as well in Don Khone. But in Phnom Penh, we had reflected upon this point as a group and realized that we should always expect to consciously carry out service learning at all times and not only when we felt that it was time to give out more donations.

During our trip, we had learnt to understand the different cultures of the countries we visited. In doing so we had learnt as well to interact with people who led vastly different lives from us, and to appreciate the lives they led. In Laos, we learnt of the friendly nature of people who were always willing to serve us with much hospitality despite the apparent lack of clear communication (“Sabaydi” which meant “hello” was the common word we used when we requested for anything). We had interacted with the different people we met - from a lady near Pakse who was Vietnamese but had not seen Vietnam since her childhood, to a French tourist who recounted his travelling experience with much enthusiasm. Even in Cambodia, we had managed to talk to Tuk-tuk drivers while being taken around Angkor Wat. These human interactions throughout had truly added a unique experience to our travels.

The difference in culture which extended as well to heritage was witnessed in great works of history such as the Angkor Wat. We had learnt to appreciate the beauty of another culture despite it being so different from what we were used to.

In travelling, I had learnt to grow aware of what it was like to live with a degree of uncertainty which was largely absent in Singapore. I had not fully grasped and been grateful to the peace I had grown up in. In Cambodia, Phnom Penh when we visited Tuong Sleng (S21 prison), we witnessed the rooms in which people were tortured and murdered during a time of political instability. We saw testimonies of victims of the place and photographs of them. I had never been so intimately exposed to the reality of what political instability was capable of. This had allowed me to appreciate what it meant to be living in peace. To never have witnessed any other reality than peace, it was a very jarring experienced that opened my eyes.

Throughout the trip, I had learnt how to gradually handle unforeseen circumstances as well as plan as much as possible for things that remained within one’s control. Travelling on this trip had also taught me to appreciate cultures and people who led different lives as well as be grateful for the things that I had grown up taking for granted like the peace in Singapore.

Seth

Fusionoize Laos/Cambodia 07 Reflections

For this trip in 2007, it was a totally different experience this time round that I am glad I went through the entire project. For most of the pre-trip period, I was the expedition leader and was made to plan aspects of it such as the itinerary and service. It is in my deepest regrets that thoughts of scraping a possible CIP project and even the whole trip itself ran through our minds due to a lack of productivity on my part. The many scoldings taught me that leaving things to the last minute and being benign about it was instead the biggest mistake I made. In similar expeditions in the future, I would definitely approach the planning stages with apprehension and urgency to avoid such an embarrassment again; for that I am sorry for myself and the other participants of this trip.
As the time came to make or break it did our doubts finally began to lift a little, with plenty of salvaging done by the other members of the trip and this was during the last 2 weeks before departure. I was also hindered by many other issues such as my relationship with others and how I handled them with regards to this trip. It was through this tedious and draining process that I rediscovered the friends I made in my VSNPCC years, including the Fusionoize members not with us.
During the trip itself, I believe I tried my best in making up for what I have lost to the others. I must admit we really pulled through this time because of our efforts in covering one another and unspoken support for each other, for which I am thankful. The 16 days was like a reward to me as a result of hard work put in by everyone, a pity it lasted only awhile. Our relationships were really tested as I am sure I made everyone sad, worried or simply pissed off at least once. However, I am appreciative of the fact that we did not have to fight over something before making up; our bond simply put us back together within a mealtime.
Now that everything is over, I am glad things that are meant to be kept are still there amongst us while the ills of my character have hopefully been put away. Let the year of 2008 bear testimony to what I have said, where it is my resolution to have another successful EOY trip project with the same Fusionoize again that I can say for once that I have done everything to my best.

JW

Minutes of Meeting - 21/1 Monday

General NYAA Report

• Each section (there are 5 of them) are to have three sub-categories.
• They are the main log, reflection and assessor report.
• Main log can be in table format (if you have many dates of same entry) or any other format you find suitable but have to be organised

NYAA Physical Recreation Report

• Final copy of main log and own reflection to be in as a single file by 31st Jan Thursday.
• Assessor report to be submitted to Mr. Khoo by 31st Jan Thursday.
• All these to be done with right format (your own nice format). This should be what you want to submit in the end (means complete with pictures and documentation if any)

NYAA Adventurous Journey Report

• Research on minorities (you choose your own theme) to be in together with main log by second week of Feb where there will be another meeting
• The research is an extra catergory apart from the three sub-category.

NYAA Residential Report

• To be done by end of February.
• Will be further discussed on the second meeting on the second week of Feburary

Extra Notes

• If you have passed the deadline for submission the whole group will just continue with the next section so best if fix to deadline.
• We will submit to the council by end march.

Laos Reflection

• All reflection to be in by end of Jan.

Fusionoize Laos/Cambodia 07 Reflections

This trip proved to be a huge learning experience right before even it began. There were doubts on this trip just a month before and all the happenings leading up to the day of departure was a great learning experience. Whether it was a wise choice to continue with the trip and would it be better if it had been cancelled was the question in everyones mind. We were under pressure to meet up to our own expectations and tried hard to prove ourselves wrong. All the time, I thought that this trip was fixed based on a moment of eagerness not knowing what was ahead for everyone and perhaps it was better to have it called off for all the headaches it has caused. However, i realised that it was these headaches that gave the trip one of its most valuable learning points picked up. Making up what should have been done in during the past few months in a weeks time, preparing for the trip (logistics itinerary etc) itself and rushing for proposals was just the few of them.

The trip itself packed a whole lot other "thrills". Here and there was afew backpacking experiences of been cheated, negotiation with people and 'pokemon' experiences. The service aspect of the trip came and go during the trip. We did it when we saw the need to and overlooked other opportunities many times. But overall, the trip was more of a exploring and fun trip rather than service and doing the syllabus thing. At many times i was in a state of fun and enjoyment, which maybe is a better mindset to be in. Otherwise, a more serious tone often sets the trip into hibernation. Whatever was said to be done prior to the trip was met to the minimal and that required some form of probing too. That aside, there was some standard of auto in us with respect to getting around and organising what was to be done as a group.

Towards the end, it was good that the trip carried on instead of being cancelled. Nothing from this trip can be picked up elsewhere and certainly is unique only to this group of people and this tirp.

Notice for Meeting - 27/1 Monday

Date: 21st January, Monday

Time: 1700 hours (if u have anything on come asap)

Venue: VS Canteen

Agenda

Laos Reflection

NYAA (Gold) Physical Recreation Report

Residential Project

Deadlines

Hi,

Happy New Year to everyone!!! (abit lag)

If you would look to the side bar by the right you would see that this blog has gone through two whole year already and that this is the last year that we will be doing our NYAA (Gold).

Thus, i hope that whatever you guys have yet to do or have to do, please do it by the deadlines.

Here is a copy of my report for Physical Recreation.

Please take a look through and come up with your own format and everything else. There may be a need to edit some things as well.

For those who are not sharing the same Physical Recreation, please do your own reporting.

Everything is to be done by mid jan or the next meeting whichever earlier.

Next meeting date might be on the third week of Jan so that you guys can do whatever you need to do (which includes the syllabus, Laos reflection etc etc)

Otherwise, please give it your best shot for we shall finish this ASAP.

Thank you,
Zhan Liang

Song of the Month - January

NYAA Entry- Service - New Year's Eve

Date: 31 December 2007
Venue: MPFSC
Duration: 5 hours (0800-1300)
People involved: Boon Kiat, Edmund, Joseph, Seth, Zhan Liang, Calvin, Thomas and Jia wei

On New Year's eve, the MPFSC decided to share its' collected donations with recipients in the Marine Terrace area to spread the festive cheer going all around. The donations were part of the Boys Brigade's H.E.A.R.T project, supported by the Singapore Prison Services as well. These included daily commodities such as rice, cooking oil and canned food that were painstakingly collected from the generosity of various individuals.
We all met up at 8am sharp before heading to the MPFSC. Many volunteers also had arrived and our first task was to arrange all the donations properly as their sheer amount proved to be a logistical nightmare for the MPFSC staff who were mostly female. The food had to be sorted out into groups such as rice, cereal, biscuits and salt/sugar before we could place them in the already filled storeroom. It was crucial that we organized everything perfectly as the food was to be disbursed to needy residents to tide their meals over. Although the task was laborious, we all knew it would be much easier to access the donations and also provide a more conducive environment for the service center to operate as the donations had even 'flooded' into its' main communal area!
By the time the center sorted out the piles of donations with our help, we then had to deliver the food to the many residents around the Marine Terrace area, such as blocks 51 and 55. To cover more ground, we split ourselves up into groups to facilitate the movement of our donations with the help of trolleys and push-carts. Each household received 2 bags of rice, some cooking oil, a box of instant noodles and some canned food. In addition, we were also tasked with ensuring each recipient received their Special Assistance Grant Card by handing it to them personally, to qualify them for the various help schemes to tide them over.
It was worth it to spend 5 hours helping many needy households to see their smiles as they received the donations from the MPFSC. Their appreciation went a long way as it made our time volunteering worthwhile and yet meaningful. We were all glad that the joy of the coming new year was made available to all.

Residential Project Tender

• Objective:
• to produce a complete service learning toolkit for overseas community involvement projects
• Target groups:
  

• Facilitators accompanying these trips.
  
• Upper secondary school school students
• Components of toolkit: ACTS
  
• Activities:
• Suggested service activities & outcomes
  
• Pre-requisites & preparation
  
• for facilitators
• for participants
• Logistics & Budget
  
• Time-frame
• Learning log
• Community:
• Characteristics of the recipient organisation
• Transport, location & directory
• Networking and communication with liaison persons
• Pre-trip research
• Team
• Goal setting & expectations
• Team dynamics and allocation of responsibilities
• Pre-trip team building
• Sustainability
• Fund-raising & accounts
  
• Awareness education projects
  
• Reports & Reflections
• Citizenship education
  
• Format of toolkit: final soft copy collated package should include above listed components and contain any/all of the following resources where applicable. Pls provide blanks and samples.
  
• Briefs/summaries
• Admin notes
• Learning log/reflection
  
• Worksheets
• Forms
  
• Instructional guides
  
• Feedback forms
  
• Gantt charts
• Checklists
• Job descriptions
• Estimated budget
• Maps & travel guides
• Slides
  
• etc.
• Deadline: pls advise