Project Waterloo

Back from Cambodia and raring to share!!!

2010-01-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

As you have read from the blog entries below, Team Project Waterloo has had an enriching, eye-opening and fun-filled two weeks in Cambodia! The lessons learnt can never really be summarised within a few points, and we have all had our individual learning journeys, but here's a few that I can say we all learnt:

- Learning to appreciate the things we have in Singapore

- Learning to be content with the simplest pleasures in life

- Learning that the Cambodians are truly warm and hospitable by nature

- Learning that Cambodian children really do enjoy school, and their enthusiasm and openness to learning is something that we hope our own education system can emulate

We definitely wish to share the plenty we have learnt with the children in Singapore, so that they too can experience what we have experienced, without having to buy a plane ticket to Cambodia.

Therefore, we are in the process of developing a program designed to bring children to action through activities that allow them to empathise with those less privileged than them. In the process, the children will also see that they have much in their own lives to be thankful for, and will learn to share the joy of giving with others!!

We also hope to have more participants who have gone on similar overseas expeditions to join us on this journey of developing our youths. If you are interested to join us, do email us at ntusife@gmail.com

More updates on our progress coming up!!

Day 10 (Royston & Evelyn)

2010-01-12T07:57:00.000-08:00

DAY 10

Urbanisation just made everyone a little lazier. The huge soft beds were clearly the culprits. The entire balcony were fully utilised: Ledges, clothes line, tie new lines, areas not belonging to our rooms; we used every possible space to accommodate 3 days' worth of washed clothes for a team of 20 people.

Hot milk from the breakfast menu wasn't the nice warm cup of milk prepared from milk powder, but rather, just condensed milk with hot water. Refreshing enough eh?

Once again, we took Super Truck back to Croap to finish up the BSF that we've left half done! All of us 'level up' as we are now very much appreciative of the non bumpiness of the sandy roads on the way to Croap.

Upon arrival at CROAP, guess who we met? The NUS medical team! They were leaving to visit the floating village. Can't believe they have been staying at Croap for nearly 10 days while we were enjoying our aircon at our guest house. One of them, an environmental engineering graduate student, Jeremiah, was interested in our BSF project, stayed with us for the rest of the day.

The people at CROAP had prepared an elevated concrete platform behind the kitchen under instruction from father Hernan to stage our 6 BSFs. It provides level ground to support the BSFs. Unfortunately, it wasn't perfectly flat so we had to use sand and bricks under the BSFs as additional support. The patience-testing task took us almost an hour; it was difficult because the platform was rather narrow such that the 6 BSFs had to be put merely 2-3 cm apart from each other, consequently rendering invisible the designs we had drawn on the left and right sides of the BSFs =(.

We thus had had to delay our next activity by 1.5 hours as, finishing the BSFs took more time than expected. Leveling and measuring the gravels and sand levels in the BSFs took some time as we had only one measuring-plus-leveler stick for six BSFs. The BSFs were finished at 1 pm. They worked perfectly well; we could see the difference of the water colour before and after filtration. If somebody had put the filtered water into one of our mineral water bottles, we would probable accept it as potable water.

While waiting for the truck uncle to come, Minghui brought us behind CROAP to see a big pump by a stream which was installed for the villagers by one of the political parties prior to election. The pump has long stopped working due to poor maintenance and the villagers have resorted to manual means of collecting water-- with buckets.

SC Feedback

Mingzhou was not his usual chirpy self today. The prophecy has become true! Yiing Jye stayed back to accompany the non-chirpy boy. The rest of us went to SC after lunch.

The sewing students managed to complete 21 laptop bags; rather amazing considering they had only 3 days to finish all of them and they had never seen or done a laptop bag before!

Joyce, Eunice, Diana, and Denise interviewed Mr. Bong to clarify some doubts that were brought up during the meeting the night before. This included the manufacturing costs of the laptop bags, sales and demand for their products so far, and also to gauge SC’s response towards our idea. Mr. Yla, the head of the whole vocational training programme was there as well.

Feedback session with SC started at 4pm. Our idea on the laptop bags were well received by the SC. Both teams expressed each other's gratitude and thanked each other for being understanding and cooperative during our entire stay. Both sides agreed to pursue future joint projects. SC then invited us to watch a soccer match between the SC students and the state school students the next day.

After we had a photo taken together with SC, Minghui, Diana, Denise, Joyce, Eunice and Evelyn left to discuss the details of the microbusiness plans with Mr. Phalla (in charge of education) and Mr. Yla at the SC office upstairs. Issues brought up included the transport cost if the bags were to be sent to Singapore. Mr. Phlla referred us to an SC volunteer based in Phnom Penh, as sending the goods from the city would be cheaper compared to that from Pursat.

We were glad that SC was receptive to our ideas and was helpful in providing information. They agreed to provide us with necessary otherwise-confidential information regarding the sales of bags and pouches, consisting of inventory and incomes. They also confirmed that 80% of the profit from sales of bags goes to the SC students.

It was indeed a nice full stop to this 10 days YEP journey. However, this is just the beginning of a new chapter, waiting to be filled with even brighter colours and bolder and more creative ideas. We're sure our next project will be a blast.

Wait for us, Pursat, we will be back!

Day 9 (Yi Ting & Amu)

2010-01-12T05:46:00.000-08:00

Day 9: 17/12/09
Today was our last day at Kravnah!. We would probably return to Pursat by afternoon. Today’s breakfast was also prepared by our host. I doubt it would be as tasty if we had prepared it.

After a scrumptious breakfast, we set off energetically on our last round of visits to the schools in the vicinity, giving the students the items that we had brought for them. The genuine smile that lit up on their precious little faces when we distributed food to them was priceless. A particular incident that touched us immensely was the sight of the children keeping the little portions of food that we gave them for their siblings without eating it first. It brought out a flurry of emotions in most of us. It was surprising that they showed that amount of concern towards their siblings even at that tender age.

Besides the preschool programme , SC is also involved in other aspects of education as listed in the picture below:

Via these programmes, SC reaches out and provides education to the kids and villagers in the rural areas where the majority do not have easy access to government schools and other educational facilities . Sadly, most often, even if they do, they lack the financial resources to attend school. Sometimes due to a lack of resources the lessons are conducted at “basement” of a villager’s house, with just basic resources, consisting of a whiteboard and chairs. The enthusiasm shown by the children, was infectious and we had a fun time interacting with them.

The road to the last school had surprises awaiting us, firstly there were many trees by the “roadside” which poked us mercilessly as we made our way through. We reached the last school and met with a pleasant surprise- there were young coconuts filled with cool refreshing juice. A boon, given the sweltering heat we were under.

We literally took the path less travelled to the next location, a plantation. The road was too narrow for the van and we had to get down and walk to the plantation that we were visiting. There were vast fields filled with neat rows of various vegetables and fruits. The lack of proper roads posed a major hindrance for the farmer, for he was unable to transport the tonnes of fresh produce out quickly. He thus has to rely on manual carrying or transportation via bicycle to the main road, quite a distance away before loading them onto a truck. It was inefficient. However, it was pleasing to note that he has benefitted substantially from the SC programmes, and now has many fields with a variety of produce and thus earns much more as compared to before. Seeing, for oneself, the actual benefit that the villagers get from SC programmes brings joy to the heart and adds meaning and voice to the aim of SC and their projects.

Before heading back to Pursat, we detoured to a mountain nearby to climb it,

On the way up to the mountain, our dear Royston Loo kicked his leg against a rock and suffered a deep gash on his left toe. Ironically, he beamed and said, “ Hey, I shed blood sweat and tears for the land of Kampuchea.”That marked the end of our rural escapade and everyone was glad to return to the guesthouse. I believe we really appreciate the running tap water and spotless toilet that we had at the guesthouse. (:

Day 8 (Eunice & Jack)

2010-01-11T07:14:00.000-08:00

Day 8

After a ‘good’ night rest at the Agriculture Training Centre (ATC), we awoke by the sound of our beloved host geese. (Some of us ‘traumatised’ by the IMAGINARY GEESE in the night.)

Once we filled our tummies with ‘Cheng An Nah’ (Very delicious) porridge, banana and some local snacks we headed to a nearby Preschool somewhere near ATC.

The kids at the Preschool got to taste some of our Singaporean childhood favourites such as sugar coated biscuits. (RMB TO TALK ABT THE CHILDREN’S BIG HEART LATER!!!!)
Like fitting the glass slippers on Cinderella, we tried to find suitable Crocs that were donated from Blessings in a Bag (BIAB) to the little children. Although it may be called a preschool, the kids attending classes may be older than the 8 years old. In replacement of crocs for these ‘young’ kids, we gave them T-shirts!

After preschool, we headed back to ATC to plant peanuts! If all goes well, we might be able to return to ATC to see the harvest.

After sowing the seeds, we proceeded for the English Outreach class held under someone’s house, where we gave out the ‘magical’ flowers to the students and grannies. Mr. Chenda told us that it would be great if we could aid in providing more study materials and if possible build a school compound where there could be morning classes in the morning, English outreach classes in the afternoon and night classes or even village meetings. Looks like next year we might be putting on some safety boots and helmets. (CAN WE FIX IT? YES WE CAN!)

Then it was lunch time! We had our meal at a restaurant nearby Trivani School where there was really well furbished toilets. (YAY!) Following our meal, we took a walk to Trivani School. Unexpectedly, the conditions at Trivani were relatively better than majority of the schools at Kravanh as they received funds from the Trivani Foundation. Thus, we decided to donate the materials to the more rural areas in Cambodia where SC has just begun their community development projects. We got to discuss some future project ideas with Mr Chenda as well. The school teaches IT among other academic curriculum and some of us got to use the internet for a while. (Slack time)

Our beloved Pu Rah (Truck Uncle) then braved the bumpy ride with all of us to bring us to the place that we will stay for the night.
Before arriving at the host’s house, we had to get off the truck to pass the scary and unsteady bridge.
This bridge over the river was built during the Polpot Regime in Cambodia, made up purely of huge logs.
Little did we know that this very river that we were crossing, was where we would take our bath!!! Worst still, with the BUFFALOs. Nevertheless, I’m sure those who bathed in it had an enjoyable time!

While some of us were bathing in the river, some of us were enjoying jackfruit at the host house, with Mr Yla, Mr Chenda, Mr Sameth and the other uncles in the host family.

When everyone was all cleaned, we started to chop firewood and start a few stoves. A campfire was also ready for us to barbecue sweet potatoes with the young kids.

Tom yam soup, instant noodle, canned bamboo shoot, canned sardines, canned mushrooms, BBQ potatoes and tapioca = yummy self cooked dinner!

After dinner, the host set up the stereo and it was “rural clubbing” all night, with some dancing princes taking the centre stage! We were also taught some traditional Cambodian dance, although I dare admit that I still can’t figure out how the hands move. ( I guess I’m just a dimwit.)

Day 6 (Michell & Melissa)

2010-01-06T03:52:00.001-08:00

Boomz, Sugar Cane, Pass-it-on, Stream, Village Living, Agricultural Training Centre

The day started especially early today at 5am, because we were supposed to head out for Angkrong village. For the city-dwellers amongst us who haven’t experienced rural living, there were plenty of uncertainties, ranging from sanitation to shelter and security.
Breakfast was more gratifying than yesterday since we knew what to order after having had yesterday’s breakfast. After breakfast, it was time for most of us to hit the toilets (aka shit) before we moved out into the rural areas where proper sanitation may be a problem.

Splendid view of the fields and mountains in the distance

Sepia shots just have this tinge of emo-ness

During the bumpy ride towards Angkrong, we heard a sudden ‘boom’ (not the kind you would expect from Ms Ris Low). So we had a punctured tyre and we started taking photos around the place while waiting for our ever-helpful-and-thoughtful truck driver to replace the tyre.

See our ever-helpful-and-thoughtful truck driver in tyre-replacing action

Imagine your vehicle breaks down in this kind of ‘ulu’ place, you don’t know how to fix it and you can’t find any help…

And we’re set to hit the road again!

Upon arrival at Angkrong, we participated in the pass-it-on ceremony, during which villagers who have benefited from the cattle rearing programme of Sustainable Cambodia become donors and pass on cattle to their neighbours after the cattle have successfully bred. Villagers were given an update on the statistics of the programme and we were told that the area surrounding Angkrong were heavily mined during the Khmer Rouge era.

Waiting expectantly for the ceremony to begin
After the pass-it-on ceremony, we were treated to an early lunch of Khmer noodles and sugar cane for dessert! By sugar cane, we don’t mean drinking the juice, but actually biting into the cane and then chewing the fibre =D There’s a first time for everything, and while almost all of us were having sugar cane in this manner for the first time, the tough sugar canes certainly were a challenge to our pearly whites.

Yummy lunch!

Yes, we bite!

Then we made our way to a stream to take a dip. We stayed there for a few hours and had a second round of lunch there. I guess most of us ended up overeating on this trip =(

I got peace by the river…

and pose by the river =)

The sugar cane chewing never stopped, hahaha

While the others played with water!

We then went on to take a look at some of the Sustainable Cambodia project sites in Kravanh village.

A half-completed SC well

Nature’s indicator of groundwater, according to a Cambodian elder who served in the military. The bigger the size of the mound, the greater the amount of groundwater in the proximity.

Having a look at the SC fish breeding pond

We settled at the Agricultural Training Centre for the night. Guys had to use an open shower, which was only a water pump on a concrete platform with no walls, but the girls didn’t have it too good either. Their shower room was a small wooden hut that had no light.
Dinner was awesome, especially the peanut chili sauce that came with the grilled fish. It was so good it could be eaten on its own. The soup was delicious, we loved the sweet pumpkins.

Dinner spread!

Day 5(Jeannifer & Guanyi)

2010-01-06T03:51:00.000-08:00

Breakfast
floating village
lunch
move out
check in hotel
dinner

After a good night rest despite the falling insects, we were awakened by the usual morning broadcast reluctantly. After a quick breakfast (no Milo, no water today) we prepared to go to the floating village. While ten of the members travelled in Father’s van, nine others were squeezed into a tuk-tuk. It was travelling at only 30kmh – practically was slower than a passing butterfly – and therefore we could not feel our legs anymore after an hour’s ride. While we were sitting on the back of the speeding van, Michell, who was sitting cross-legged uncomfortably, suddenly asked: ‘Yiing Jye, do you mind if I open my legs so you can be in between my legs?’.Honestly, another SIFE moment made by Michell (after last night’s “Hey I’ve just seen a crab walking sideways!”).

We loaded onto a motor boat (which emitted black clouds from its side and therefore contributed to lung cancer) and there we went! Along the journey, we saw provision shops, a police station, churches, a clinic, and a police station. Simply put, the floating village was self-sufficient. We finally alighted at a local church and stayed there taking pictures, taking in the breathtaking scenery of the Tonle Sap, and wishing to be able to take the adorable kids back with us until around 11am. We finally had to make our way back to CROAP, as we need to prepare to leave the premise permanently and move to another guest house since CROAP’s guest house was booked by NUS students already. So, we went back to have our lunch at the by-now much-beloved al-fresco eateries. Today’s menu included pasta made by the equally beloved and very much revered middle-aged house keeper lady. We very much wished to hire her to follow us to the rural areas for three days (and obviously knew such miracle would not happen despite the many times we’ve got to wish upon the dozens (yes, plural) shooting stars we got to see every night here in Cambodia).

Not too long afterwards, we made our way to a new guest house which turned out to be a decent hotel (hotel!). We had to carry our belongings to the third level as there was no elevators but believe us, we did not fret a bit. Compared to the CROAP’s guest house, this new home of ours was a major improvement (HA! Jealous much?). Electricity will not be cut off at random timings, water is ever flowing, and there will be no funny creatures (which were so diverse that actually we have no idea what species they belong to)! We pretty much were in a good mood, and our mood was further escalated by the fact that we got to eat Cambodian delicacies! We guessed we were too hungry (or one table was, at least) that we practically finished the food, including the peanuts served as a free appetizer. By the way, the name of the restaurant we were eating at was New Than Sour, and the dishes we ordered included Fried Chicken Made Fly (do not ask what the name means but seriously, we shed tears eating it as it was too shockingly spicy).

So, here go pictures of the day for you to see and envy!

Floating Petrol Station

Jeannifer is well loved by the kids!

Leaving Tonle Sap

Leaving CROAP...

p.s. We left (on) a "SCARY" note.

Day 4 (Joyce + Yedi)

2010-01-06T03:50:00.002-08:00

Today was a fun-filled day with the various activities.

In the morning, we were split into two separate groups with the first group who stayed on in CROAP to listen to the staff that came to explain more about the BSF while some of us went to a kindergarten nearby to interact with the children before the rest came to join us after listening to the staff from SC.

The 2 staff from SC came with the sample test result that showed the before and after result of using the BSF. The samples made use of water from the rain water as well as the pond water which is where the villagers get most of their water from. From the results, it was seen that the use of the BSF greatly reduced the amount of bacteria remaining in the water. This is important to explain to the villagers the importance of making use of the BSF to get clean water.

At the same time, the rest of us made our way to the kindergarten nearby and that was the highlight of the day. We met tons of energetic kids who had lots of smiles on their faces. We shared food from Singapore with them and then returned our gestures by singing 4 songs for us. Then came the exhausting portion where we played with the kids- ball games, frisbee, piggy-bagging etc. They were FULL OF ENERGY! Though we couldn’t really communicate with them except saying stuff like Choo—mo-ah (which means wat is your name), we could still play around with them and it was real fun especially upon seeing the joy on their face.

The kids were very independent and you will see kids as young as 4 years old who made their way home alone. Many of them were barefooted as they made their way home and you will really realize how tough for them to go to school. It was totally different experience which will remind ourselves and we believe many in our team why we even venture to such a place in the first place.

Day 3 (Huili & Victoria)

2010-01-06T03:50:00.001-08:00

Today was a rather monotonous day according to Singapore’s standards, because we had little to do with time passing slowly. Nonetheless, the mudpie we “baked” yesterday was ready to be taken out of the “oven”.

The ingredients for our cement cake is as follows:
1. 32kg gravel

2. 32kg sand

3. 16kg cement

4. 15l of water

How you make this it, mix the first 3 thoroughly. Then create a volcano-like crater in the middle. Pour in half the amount of water and mix. Then, add the rest of the water gradually. Tadahhh… you are ready to bake your mudpie!!

Remove baking tin, and tadahhh, you get your Bio-sand filter cake!

After lunch, we were taught how to use the bio sand filter.
Basically the idea is a copy of earth’s natural process and how it cleans itself. The most important component of the BSF is the sand. When water is passed through it, the micro organisms on the top surface eats the bacteria and when the water that comes out is almost 80% cleaned.

1. First, put in 5cm worth of rough gravel,
2. followed by 5cm of fine gravel on the next layer.
3. Put water through to rinse
4. Pour in 35kg sand and fill with water again.
5. The water that comes out is clean to go with your pie!

Here's us bringing back our VERY OWN CREATION!!!

A lovely family picture...

Day 2 (By Denise & Wenhao)

2010-01-06T03:49:00.001-08:00

Spending the first night at Croap was a totally different experience especially for the girls as it was the first time they could live close to nature. On the other hand, the guys bathed with toads and slept with a white palm-sized gecko. Nevertheless, the CROAP compound is beautiful and is a different sight from all the high rise buildings we see in Singapore.

The 30 minute trip from CROAP to Sustainable Cambodia(SC) on the tuk-tuks was an eye opener for some as we had to sit through the bumpy and dusty ride on Highway 5.

Today was split into two parts – theory and practical. On arrival at SC, we managed to get things rolling immediately with a lesson from Mr David Scott, an in-house volunteer. He had also attended lessons from CAWST. We got more details of the BSF and managed to clarify our doubts on the subject matter.

Immediately after the lesson, we got down to the work sieving through 210kg of sand to get the fine sand for the filter layer of the BSF.

Then, it was break for lunch! Right outside SC, at a local restaurant.

After lunch, it was down to serious business. We were split into two groups. The first group did the washing of the fine sand while the other group worked on the casting of the 5 BSFs out of the iron moulds.

After the hard work, we were invited to attend a Human Rights Day celebration in the SC compound. The co-founder of SC, Ms Susan J. Mastin, highlighted to the Cambodian students about their right to learn.

They had games and performances lined up but we had to leave early as it was getting dark.
In these 2 days, all of us can be quite sure that we took back a lot from the hard work today and we also realized the importance of safe and clean water, especially in rural areas where tapped water is not even readily available.

Day 1(By Ming Hui & Diana)

2010-01-06T03:47:00.000-08:00

After many arduous hours of packing and squeezing our donations into our backpacks, the team finally arrived at Changi Airport at 0345hour on a Wednesday morning.

Team Waterloo taking a group photo before entering the departure hall. We are all wearing our cool Project Waterloo Polo-tee designed by Denise and gang!

The excited girls couldn’t wait for the plane to take off.

A view from the porthole of the airplane as we flew over Singapore skies. The sun was rising and we were presented with an alluring sunrise.

We arrived at Phnom Penh at 0745hr and our wonderful Cambodian teammate Nan, was there waiting for us with a large comfy bus.

Along the way, we bought supplies for our 2 weeks stay at Cambodia – water, biscuits, and soft-drinks. We got 15 cartons of 12 1.5litres bottled water and other food supplies to bring along the way to Pursat

Bus journey was rather uneventful. But we managed to catch some candid moments when everyone was dozing off during the 4 hour bus journey to Pursat Province.

The team had lunch at a roadside restaurant in Pursat Town and it was the first time most of the team members got their first taste of the Khmer cuisine.

We reached CROAP at around 4pm, just in time for sunset.

Special Thanks to Waterloo Members

2009-10-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I last updated this blog..

Our team has just concluding our fundraising drive for Project Waterloo!

Special appreciation

The following people -

Joyce (for the ice-cream)

Wenhao (for the water filtration unit and layout of the booth)

Shaorong (for the hearts and photos)

Have helped tremendously in the organising and running of the booth.

Without them, we wouldnt have gotten such success from the booth.

Team Kamikaze

Thank you to the crazy fellas who stayed overnight at the booth!

First Night: Joyce, Yiing Jye, Wenhao

Second Night: Wenhao, Ming Hui, Shaorong

Third: Wenhao, Minghui, Diana, Shaorong, Denise, Michell, Joyce

Best Vocal Award:

This award goes to our dear Eunice, for having the sweetest and loudest voice in Team Waterloo.

According to a report from one of the Mentos, Mingzhou, he was able to hear Eunice's "Ice-scream for sale" even when he was at the toilet's urinal.

Best Money Counters:

Shaorong & Guanyi for counting the money and depositing the money on a daily basis.

Btw, I still have alot of coins in the drawer.

Please clear them!

Best Gossip Monger:
This special award goes to Yi Ting!

No one else has proven to be more worthy of this award, other than Yiting.

With her daily feed of the latest gossips in the team, our guys at the booth have endless stream of entertainment.

According to YiTing herself, she is quiet and reserved.

Apparently not so.

Her claims are now being questioned by several, including the Royalty.

A check-up has been scheduled with IMH.

Everyone in Waterloo!

Last but not least, every single one of you who had taken time off your studies to help out at the booth!

We have all gotten closer to one another after putting so much effort at the booth.

I believe our booth is the only 24hours stall in NTU's history, even better than 7-11. :P

2009-09-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

My email to Waterloo Applicants

2009-09-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

Boo!

Did your heart miss a beat when you see the title of the mail?
I must apologise for playing such a prank on you.
I know all are eagerly waiting for the results.
I am not releasing the results now, because I still have people who have yet to pay up!

The purpose of this mail is mainly to show my appreciation to everyone who make time for the application.
At the same time, I would like to share my thoughts with everyone who applied for Waterloo.

Both Diana and myself had the opportunity to talk to every single one who had applied for Project Waterloo.
Despite the time-constraints that we all have, everyone made the effort to attend the interview sessions.
My stomach was rumbling during some of the time because of the lunches I missed.
I was hoping that someone would have bought me some nice muffins for Cafe Express to bribe me during the interview.
Jokes aside, I would like to apologise for any hiccups along the way(i.e. missing out names or failing to keep to the scheduled timing).

Limitations on group size.
Over the past 3 days, I could feel the sincerity and eagerness that most of you have expressed during the interview.
Unfortunately, the vacancies I have are limited.
Furthermore, the village in Cambodia may not be able to sustain a group that is too big.
On the other hand, the people who deserve a place within the team is definitely more than 20.

Diana and myself had literally spent hours poring through the applications at night.
Even during today morning, I still had a big headache finalising the namelist.

For those who arent selected, please do not be disappointed.
I still would like to invite you to join us in the local efforts for this project.
I strongly believe that the local projects is certainly equally meaningful.
For those who continued to persevere with us despite not being chosen, I will do my best to let you join the expedition.
I am looking into the possibility of increasing the team size.

Just some thoughts I had during the interview.
1. Firstly, I was very much impressed by the experiences of community service everyone has shared with me. With all these experiences, I hope you will continue to serve as well as to inspire those around you to serve. NTU SIFE attracted me because it gave me the free reins to do whatever projects I would like to be engaged. I hope all of you will take part in our projects and eventually play a part in creating new meaningful projects for the community.

2. Secondly, I also do come across some who are still searching for their passion. Our time in NTU is very short. I will urge you to expose yourself to as many different experiences as possible. SIFE promotes a worth and interesting cause. You will be pleasantly surprised by the warm reception that we students enjoy from people experienced in their fields. Talk to people. Businessman. CEOs. Poly students. Politicians. The namecards will be extremely useful. Make good use of them.

3. Thirdly, NTU SIFE is made up of a group of friendly and down-to-earth NTU undergraduates. The most important reason why we can worked so hard together is because we enjoy working together! I will like to encourage a fun and open culture within the club. I hope you will find your true friends in SIFE, just like what I had found.

It is a lengthy email and thank you for reading up till here.
I will look forward to working with everyone very soon.

If I missed out anyone or his/her friends, please either forward this mail to him/her or inform me.
Lastly, if you have any thoughts which you would like to share with me or Diana, feel free to express them.
I would like to hear from you.

Thank you!

Designations in Project Waterloo

2009-08-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Thank you for coming down for the welcome tea session! It was great meeting like-minded folks who wish to contribute back to the community. NTU SIFE warmly welcomes you into our fraternity!

For those who signed up for Project Waterloo, you may wish to be informed of the following designations in our team, so you can prepare for the interview this coming week! (click image below to enlarge)

1.0 Co-leaders

Co-leaders of Project Waterloo will be tasked with overall project management, as well as people management. Leaders have the heavy responsibility of ensuring that all aspects of the project, from pre- and post-expeditions to the expedition itself are carried out smoothly. They have to manage team members’ expectations, and ensure that the well-being of members is constantly taken care of. On top of that leaders are also encouraged to conduct regular facilitation sessions with members, so that members will actively reflect on the activities that they have done.

1.1 Process

Process relates to the core activities under Project Waterloo, consisting of Engineering (building the water filtration system), Local Projects, and Business (fundraising, sponsorship and sourcing of business opportunities).

1.11 Engineering (4)

The engineering manager will be in charge of overseeing the building and implementation of the water filtration system. He will have under him a logistics officer, responsible for soliciting the purchase of the raw materials needed, and transportation of the raw materials to the building site. The liaison officer will be responsible for communicating the requirements of the engineering project to the head of the NGO in the village, and the technical experts helping out with Project Waterloo.

1.12 Local Projects (4)

The local project manager has to ensure that the local projects are initiated and implemented successfully. The importance of local projects cannot be belittled; in fact they are as important as the overseas project itself. They represent areas where the YEP team can contribute to the local community and where members have opportunities to bond with one another before they set out to Cambodia. He/she has to manage the people in his committee, who will also handle liaison and logistical work. One of our local project partners is Blessings In a Bag (www.blessingsinabag.org), but the committee is encouraged to source for other partners that we can benefit.

1.13 Business (4)

The business committee has 3 main tasks: fundraising, sponsorship as well as in sourcing for business opportunities in the village in Cambodia in conjunction with the setting up of the water filtration system. Fundraising activities can be as creative as possible, such as in selling of hand-made or food items in school, selling food vouchers that can be redeemed etc. Sponsorship should take up the bulk of the funds to be raised, and thus the liaison officer should approach corporate for donations of any kind.

1.2 Support

The support activities that help to ensure the success of Project Waterloo include: publicity and media, and welfare/Human resources.

1.21 Publicity and Media

The publicity and media manager is responsible for setting up and maintaining a website/blog detailing our journey through YEP. They will also be in charge of documenting the journey through any means possible, be it through photos or videos.

1.22 Welfare/HR

The welfare/ HR committee takes care of the needs of the team, be they food, shelter or living space, ensuring that all needs are adequately met. In addition the first aiders under the welfare committee will serve as the medics of the team, providing the relevant first aid when necessary.

SIFE Recruitment

2009-08-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

Dear Potential SIFE Members,

A very big thank you to all who were present during our Welcome Tea Session!
We hope the presentation during the session enabled you to gain a greater understanding of what SIFE is, as well as the opportunities that SIFE is able to offer.
We would like to apologise for the minor hiccups during the registration but we are sure the delicious buffet has probably made up for the inconvenience. =)
The following are some administrative matters for SIFE members.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Registration for SIFE membership
1. Please fill in the following form, http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGw4VHRnVm9xNlFEUlNUWVNJWUdxelE6MA
2. Indicate the interested project.(It is for our reference so that we can share more relevant information wrt the project, it does not mean that you must join the project)
3. Registration deadline for SIFE membership is 31st August 2009 2359Hr.

In addition, SIFE will prepare a box of 100 namecards for each member.
For those who have already indicated that they are joining SIFE, please fill in the form so that we can capture your data for the namecards.
As we expect to meet business leaders during our networking sessions, we advise that you give some thoughts to the email address submitted in the form.
Please refer to http://www.saipeopleblog.com/top-10-tips-to-write-a-professional-email-address-in-resume/ for some suggestions.
The cost of the namecards will be advised in a later date.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Registration for 5th September SIFE Workshop
1. Please indicate your attendence in the same form, http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGw4VHRnVm9xNlFEUlNUWVNJWUdxelE6MA

We strongly encourage all SIFE members to attend the session.
This event is organised by SIFE SG. Other universities and polytechnics are also invited for the session.
SIFE SG will be covering the competition criteria and the SIFE team model.
It will be a good opportunity for us to interact with fellow SIFE members from the other schools!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Registration for YEP
1. Submit the completed Registration Forms to ntusife@gmail.com by 29th August(Saturday) 2359Hr via Email with the title"Registration form(Waterloo)"/"Registration form (Tiwala!)" for administrative purposes.
(Remember to register for SIFE membership to be eligible for it)
2. The respective project leaders will be interviewing the applicants over the course of next week.
3. We will release the list of selected members latest by 4th of Septmber(Friday)
4. First YEP meeting will be scheduled on 5th September(Saturday) from 2pm to 4pm (after our SIFE workshop, venue to be confirmed).

We are aware that a number of the attendees may not have received the Registration Form for YEP. We have attached the form to this mail.
Due to the huge response, the team has decided to make both YEP Projects exclusive for registered NTU SIFE members only.
And Project Tiwala! will be extending their registration datelines from 26th August to 29th August 2359.
For those who have submitted your forms already, you do not have to submit again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once again, thank you for taking the time to learn more about SIFE.
The Exco team is very heartened by the favourable and passionate response from our attendees during the tea session.
NTU SIFE is always seeking for passionate, like-minded people like ourselves.

The projects which we have shared are going to be challenging yet fulfilling.
We can assure you that the experience and the contacts that you gain along the way will be very different from your peers.

--
Best Regards,
Students in Free Enterprise(NTU SIFE)

Mission: Serving the community through sustainable enterprise and joint partnership with business leaders .
Vision: Achieving self-sustainable communities and producing socially responsible business leaders.

Recruitment

2009-08-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!

Those interested in joining Project Waterloo, Project Tiwala or NTU SIFE, please note that there will be a welcome tea session next:

Wed,
26th of Aug,
6.45pm-8.00pm @
South Spine S4 Seminar Rooms 12 & 14.

Light refreshments will also be provided.

Be prepared to be engaged!

Register for the tea session by clicking here.

What can SIFE do 4 me?

2009-08-17T08:19:00.001-07:00

SIFE is about developing the capabilities and character of students with its structured programme co-organised with our corporate sponsors.

Through:

Workshops

Internships

Networking sessions

Forums

We hope to equip SIFE students with the essential skills and aptitude to participate and take up community projects both locally and overseas.

SIFE places a strong emphasis on project creation and management because we believe that they are one of the most effective ways of applying what we have learnt in classrooms onto the real world.

SIFE projects are different from normal community projects because of:

Our emphasis on sustainability
Fusion of business acumen with a heart for the community
We do not simply build facilities, but we build up the capabilities of communities to rely on themselves for a living
We track the income and standard of living in the community to assess our impact

First Day of CCA Fair

2009-08-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

It has been a hectic and wonderful day so fair in school. I have never perspired so much in school, running up and down preparing the marketing collaterals for our Booth. Nonetheless, the team enjoyed ourselves sharing our SIFE mission with fellow NTU Students.

Response for Project Waterloo is very healthy and we are bringing in another YEP - Project Tiwala! (means faith in tagalog) for our new SIFE members. Project Tiwala is an overseas project in Philippines and it is a joint project with NUS students. Keep your eyes open for NTU SIFE's booth!

P.S. We are located near LT 8, near the Singtel Booth. For any enquiries, feel free to ask the representatives at the booth. Alternatively, email us at ntusife@gmail.com.

History of NTU SIFE

2009-08-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

To our dear freshies who will chance upon this page,

Below is a summary of the history of our club.

We have worked hard, but we had played hard as well.

We would like to invite you to join us in making a difference to the world we live in. =)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

History of NTU SIFE

Prior to the current team, there was no succession planning.

All of the previous teams were formed for the sole purpose of competing in the SIFE Nationals.

They were disbanded after the Nationals. Thus the experience gained by each team over the years was not passed down.

Formation of NTU SIFE

About 1.5 years ago, a few of us came together and formed an team by ourselves to compete in the nationals with our first project - Hawkers Financial Literacy Programme.

Since then, our team has grew from 5 people to 10 people.

We are now embarking on NTU SIFE's recruitment drive over the next 3 days (17 -19th August 2009).

SIFE Nationals 2008

We took part in the Nationals with our first project.

And we emerged as the finalists in the competition, with the support of Prof Clive and Mr Anthony Teo, Secretary of NTU.

The team was very heartened by the results and continued working on other projects.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First SIFE Project(Hawkers Financial Literacy Programme) (Contributed by Guanyi)

In March 2008, a financial literacy project targeted at the hawkers was conceived as we felt that there was a need to lift the veil about insurance and emphasize the importance of maintaining bookkeeping records to track cashflows.

This will have a positive effect on their personal finance and businesses.

Through the project, we collaborated with various parties to develop suitable materials and method of delivery.

Eventually, a fruitful and interactive workshop was conducted where we shared some insurance insights and bookkeeping skills with the participants.

Second SIFE Project(MISE Competition) (Contributed by Diana)

NTU SIFE participated in the Mayor's Imagine Social Entrepreneurship (MISE) Challenge in 2008, emerging as finalists in the competition. MISE is a social entrepreneurship business plan competition, whereby students are paired with Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) to identify sustainable businesses that can be started to empower the beneficiaries in the VWOs.

Third SIFE Project(CycleCulture) (Contributed by Ming Zhou)

CycleCulture is a project undertaken by NTUSIFE which exploits the recent public transport experiment to allow foldable bicycles on the Singapore MRT system.

NTUSIFE students showed international students around various places of interest in Singapore with the use of foldable bicycles and the public transport system.

CycleCulture embraces the 'Go Public' philosophy in encouraging young people, both local and international, to make use of the public transport network.

This initiative not only promotes environmental friendliness by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, it also promotes a healthy lifestyle through cycling.

However, we stopped the project as NTU didnt support cycling due to safety issues.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First Forum (Contributed by Juhu)

Title: Social Entrepreneurship: Business with a Heart (23 Jan 09)

Speakers: Jack Sim from World Toilet Organization, Hazel Menon from Beauty Immanuel, Bernise Ang from Syinc.

During the Forum, we also had a Student Sharing Session whereby students from ITEs and Polytechnic get to showcase their projects with NTU Students.

ITE KARE Team to present their product: bags made from recycle materials.

SPSIFE Team to present their SIFE projects

NTUSIFE Team to present our vision and mission + past projects: Cycle Culture, Mayor's Imagine for Social Enterprise (MISE) Competition, Financial Literacy Hawker Project.

Second Forum(Contributed by Diana)

Title: Get Real: The Untold Stories of Entrepreneurs.

Speakers: Mr Samuel Chia of NYDC Cafe, Ms Nanz Chong-Komo of Komo Pte ltd, Ms Elfaine Tan of Fr3b.com

NTU SIFE is coorganising this forum in the upcoming Entrepreneurship and Innovation Festival organised by the Nanyang Technopreneurship Centre.

Third Forum(GK Forum) (Contributed by Juhu)

Title: The Art of Changing Lives: Discovering Opportunities in Social Enterprise (27 Aug 09)

Speakers: Antonio Meloto - Founder of Gawad Kalinga, Bebet Gozun - Head of Green Kalinga (GK's Environmental arm)

Mr Antonio Meloto will be introducing their holistic poverty eradicating strategy development: a stage of social artistry. The way social innovation works into process for sustainability.

Ms Bebet Gozun will touch on the reality part of environmental projects implementation, the feasibility and innovation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Existing Project(YEP) (contributed by minghui)

Currently, NTU SIFE is working on Project Waterloo. It is a Youth Expedition Project(YEP) which is funded by National Youth Council.

The project can be broken down into 3 phases, Pre-expedition, Expedition and Post Expedition.

Now till November: Pre-expedition consists of recruitment, fund-raising activities, team-bonding/facilitation sessions, local project(e.g. Blessings in a Bag)

December: Expedition consists of building a water filtration system in Pursat Province, Cambodia.

January till March: Post-expedition is still in the pipeline. It has to be a local project as well.

Existing Project(GK Project)

To be updated by Juhu.

Existing Project(Recruitment) (contributed by minghui)

A solid recruitment is critical to the sustainability of NTUSIFE.

And we are not sparing any effort to ensure that we get the right people we want over the next 2 weeks.

Welcome Tea Session(26th August, Monday)

A session for newcomers to know more about SIFE.

We plan to invite SIFE SG to come down and share with the newcomers about SIFE.
Venue to be confirmed.

Presentation at GK Forum(27th August, Thursday)
In line with the social entrepreneurial theme of the forum, NTU SIFE will have an official launch during the event.
The club will share its vision and projects with a student audience of approximately 100-200.

2009-08-05T23:04:00.000-07:00

Homerun I
1.Fundraising
a.Selling Food
i. YaKun
ii. Finger food
iii. Old Changkee
b.Photography
i. Taking professional shots for namecard
c.T-shirt
i. Selling t-shirts in school

2.Local Projects
a.Blessings in a bag
b.Sungei Buloh Wetland CIP

3.Facilitation session
a.Interview/selection(2nd/3rd Week)
b.Introduction to YEP + Setting groundrules/expectations + Goals/Objectives(4th Week)
c.Cambodian Movie/Make a Stand game/ Human knot(5th week)
d.Cultural lessons/Language(After exams)
e.Final Briefing(Prior to departure)

Expedition
1.Cambodia (December)
a.Water filtration
b.Kindergarten

Homerun II
1.Local Project(???)

Meeting with Blessings In A Bag

2009-08-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

We wish we'd taken a picture with the Blessings In A Bag (Blessings, for short) team during our recent meeting with them at Starbucks, Wisma Atria!

Nevertheless, we had a fruitful discussion and found that their work can be aligned to our YEP project. The people in attendance as follows:

Waterloo - Minghui, Victor and Diana

Blessings - Emily Teng and Darren Lin

Emily and Darren are two gungho souls who have contributed much of their time, money and effort in ensuring that their cause is able to touch the lives of hundreds of needy children overseas. They solicit for donations of school items, hygiene products and clothes locally, and obtain the generous support of travellers going overseas to ship the 'blessings in bags' to underprivileged, abused and medically-ill children across Asia.

Through the meeting, we discovered that the role of ambassadors that Blessings wished for us to take up would/might require the following actions from us:

Conduct a campaign in NTU to raise awareness of the Blessings In A Bag cause
Liaise with the school to obtain permission to raise funds and collect donations for Blessings
Liaise with the International Student Centre so that exchange students leaving the country can donate their items to Blessings
Liase with the halls to seek approval to place the Blessings donation collection bins in their halls

We also got to know about other programmes conducted by Blessings, such as their Scribbly Friends movement (http://scribblyfriends.org/)

We will be making a trip down to their headquarters soon to know more about what they do, so hopefully we'll remember to take a picture then!

Details are in the making, so I'll just leave you with Darren's email as a summary of the things to come :)

Dear Ming Hui, Diana & Victor

On behalf on the Blessings in a Bag Team, we would like to thank you for taking your precious time for the sharing today. We really appreciate the kind gesture. ^_^

As mentioned this afternoon, we'll be sending you a copy of our (1) detailed ambassador programme proposal, as well as a (2) list of donation items we need before this week draws to an end. We'll additionally try to draft a (3) publicity programme to raise Blessings in a Bag's awareness amongst NTU students if time permits. (So much to do, so little time lol)

Hopefully, things will take off from there.

It has been a pleasure meeting you peeps and stay in touch!

Cheers,
Darren :)

Blessings In A Bag partnership

2009-07-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce an upcoming partnership with Blessings in a Bag! I emailed them previously, but they did not reply. So it was heartening when I received a reply the second time round! The main points of the partnership are in bold. A meeting should be scheduled sometime in August. Stay tuned for more updates!

Hi Diana

Apologies for this late reply. Emily forwarded me your email and on behalf of the team, we would like to express our gratitude to hear from you and your friends who are willing to help us with our cause.

We couldn't be more excited with the help that you offered, because we always have Blessings Bags to distribute be it to our beneficiaries or travelers under our Blessings in a Bag Movement program. Our main focus is to help as many underprivileged children as possible and we would not have done it without the kind help from people like you. So, feel free to let us know how many bags you guys will be able to bring over to Cambodia. :)

Also, we would like to know whether you guys are interested to be our ambassadors under Blessings in a Bag Ambassadors program... Maybe it will be best if we can arrange for a meet up, at your convenient time, or you can always come down to Serene Centre to meet the core team, as well as our volunteers, on any Sunday to discuss this better... :)

Looking forward to hear from you again and thank you again for contacting us!

Cheers!
Arbella
Street Team Coordinator
Blessings in a Bag

www.blessingsinabag.org
Follow us on TWITTER: twitter.com/blessingsinabag

-- You can't do great things with small love but you can do small things with great love -- Mother Teresa

--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Diana Yusoff <dianayusoff@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Subject: Wish to be involved
To: emilyteng@blessingsinabag.com
Cc: blessingsinabag@gmail.com, Tan Ming Hui <tan.minghui86@gmail.com>

Dear Emily,

I chanced upon your website through a magazine feature article, and
thought that your cause is very meaningful,

My friends and I are a group of students from NTU, intending to go
down to Cambodia in December for a water filtration project under the
Youth Expedition Project (YEP).

We wish to participate in your Blessings In a Bag programme, be it to
distribute bags to the children in the village in Cambodia, or to
provide some of our manpower/assistance if you have any upcoming
events or logistical needs.

Please let us know how we can be involved. Perhaps we can meet up some
time in the first week of August to discuss this further.

Additionally, through the YEP Leadership Workshop, I've come to know
other leaders going to places like Batam, Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam,
who are likely to be able to participate in your programme as well. Do
let me know your needs and whether you need me to link you up with
them.

--
Best regards,
Nur Diana Yusoff
Nanyang Technological University
NTU Students In Free Enterprise (NTU SIFE)

Liaison with CROAP

2009-07-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

I had just sent an email to CROAP, our Cambodian NGO, to suggest the few areas that we can work on. We are very fortunate to have a very receptive local NGO. In addition to the water facilities, I intend to plan for a few more meaningful activities for our team. Probably will have to check out with CROAP. Otherwise, we can probably link up with other NGOs for mini-projects.

The following is one of the email which i sent to CROAP.

Dear Father,

From the discussion with my university, we would like to suggest a few areas in which we can work on to improve the quality of the water.

Firstly, the water in the existing pond is rather murky. It is likely to be due to the type of sand/soil in the area which caused the water to be unclear.

Instead of relying on the existing dug pond, in which water seeps through the soil from the river to the pond, we suggest building a separate concrete pond(attached as Pond design.ppt) with a drain to channel water from the river to the pond. We can add in different layers of filters in the drain, so that when water is filtered as it travels through the drain.

With the concrete pond, we can directly use the water from the pond for washing purposes.

Secondly, we suggest building a simple water filtration concrete unit whereby water is filtered from the top and clean water is collected at the bottom.

Water will seep through layers of filters. I have attached a sketch(Blueprints.zip) of the proposed filtration unit. It may seems rather confusing.

I will try to obtain pictures of a built one, so that it can help you to better visualize.

With the filtration unit, water produced is likely to be portable, but it will take a longer time. Therefore, water for washing should be taken from the pond whereas water for drinking should be taken from the concrete filtration unit.

Our team hopes to build the above two facilities with the support of CROAP.

What do you think of our proposed solution?

Please feel free to clarify with us.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Journey as a Leader

2009-07-13T06:19:00.000-07:00

On Saturday and Sunday last week, Ming Hui and I went for the second part of our YEP Leadership training conducted by Blossom. It was held at Ubin, where we had to stayover for a whole night. I will be posting up the pictures after this!

Overall, I would say that the leadership training has been a real eye-opener. I feel especially strongly on this, because I myself have never assumed such a big leadership role in my entire life. Possibly it is because of my lack of confidence in myself as a leader in previous years that made me decide not to assume any leadership responsibilities.

However, I decided to grab the opportunity to co-lead in Project Waterloo because I've decided for myself that this is something I would like to try out. I realised over the years that I've slowly been regained more confidence in myself and my abilities, and although I am still lacking in many areas, at least I know I am trying.

Being a leader, as I soon found out from the camp, is not easy at all. Some people are born leaders. Others, like myself, will have to put in more effort. For example, the feedback I received from the camp will be useful because such simulations have made me truly realise the enormity of our responsibilities. It is more than making sure that everything is going according to plan; it is the realisation that we (me and Minghui) are responsible for the lives of our participants.

How I realised this was during the traumatic Emergency Evacuation simulation, where two casualties (played by Yingyi and Chit Chin) had to be rescued. Chit Chin was 'bleeding profusely' almost dying, and Yingyi was supposed to play the role of the irritating girl with the tummyache who refuses to be helped and keeps on screaming away.

The truth was, when the simulation started, I was at a loss amidst all the chaos. Yingyi played her role too well, screaming away like nobody's business, and truthfully, the screams were so jarring they were almost painful and way too realistic. I stayed back to oversee her whilst Minghui went to help the other fella.

THE GIRL DID NOT WANT TO BE HELPED. Every question asked was answered with a scream. It did not help either that the first aider was at a loss too. It was then and there that as a leader, I realised that I should be more decisive and snappy at making decisions - to take control of the situation and to ensure that the participants are given the medical attention that they need. To make the proper calls when necessary and to ensure that overenthusiastic bystanders do not get into the way of the medical attention that is required to be given. These are just some things that books on leadership cannot teach you.

Here are other things that we learnt from the simulation:

Bystanders who have nothing to do should be shooed away. Otherwise, give them a role to do beforehand e.g. runners.
Have other team mates in charge of roles such as telecom (to call up the relevant parties like ISOS, transport etc) and observer (to take down the evaluations of the patient by the first aider as records for future use).
EAP map should be prepared so that the protocol during emergencies are known by the other members, and the leader can immediately refer to it in the event of an emergency
Contact numbers of relevant parties should also be included in the EAP for fast and easy reference
The leader must scold people when necessary to ensure that he is in control of the situation.
The Epipen can be used to prolong the life of an anaphylactic patient,until help arrives
ISOS hotline can be called in the event that the first aider cannot manage, as they will be able to provide sound advice when required. Leaders should practise calling ISOS hotline pre-trip.
Provide the insurance number to ISOS so that they can determine if there will be reimbursements for any medical services utilised.
Certain places such as TTSH Traveller's Clinic and NUH international clinic will be able to provide advice on jabs required for each specific country.
Doing RAMS (Risk Assessment & Management System) will prevent the need to face an emergency evacuation scenario.

Other things I learnt:

RAMS is a good methodology to assess the risks on-site and take the necessary actions to prevent risks.

Step 1: Identify the risks.

Step 2: Evaluate and assess the risks by drawing a chart with four quadrants. For the quadrant with high severity (if occured) and high likelihood, it cannot be Tolerated

Step 3: Manage the risks through the 4 Ts: Tolerate, Transfer, Treat or Terminate

Also a duty of care list should be crafted so that we can be better prepared for the trip.

During my facilitation session as well, I learnt that it is important for both leaders to sync and provide a short and sweet summary that would stick in the minds of participants. Negative feedback, no matter how painful to hear, should be seen positively as they are good learning points for personal growth :)

Participants can be made to use an object or a photo to describe how they feel about their YEP venue.

All in all, the trip was a fulfilling one. I discovered more about the other leaders during the segment titled Learning Journey where we each had to share a significant event in our lives through a drawing.

Ubin was a shocker when we first arrived due to the poor maintenance of the place where we stayed (an Ubin villager's). However, I managed to get used to it and got to know some cute animals as well. One experience that I will always remember is the loud noise of the rain hitting the zinc roof of our building, and the rain slowly drizzling down the holey roof.

I was afraid the roof would collapse! :p

Failitation Skills

2009-07-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

Of particular importance are the skills needed to conduct a solid discussion.

From the 2 days, these are some things that we need to observe, sounds very commonsenscial but it is not easily achieved.

To have a good discussion

Facilitators should talk less and listen more to avoid narrowing the scope of the discussion.
Engage the participants by using ACTS(refer to the previous 2 posts)
Ask questions and use the frame work of ELC to design activities for the team.

I am going to practise that more often.

By doing so, I can talk less and yet engage the participants!

Leadership Training (5th July)

2009-07-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

Social Tree

Making use of metaphors, the team is able to explore issues freely. In the session, we represented Singapore with a tree, hence the name Social Tree. Each part of the tree represents different aspects of Singapore, and we have to explain the links between each part. For example, the roots of the tree represent the foundation of Singapore's society. And the trunk, which is the core of the tree, represent the people.

Some steps in conducting this session

Introduce and explain the concept
break into small group discussion and present their work
compare the differences in their work and explore the reasons that led to the differences

This session is particularly useful in bringing out differences in people's thoughts and is a good start point to bring certain issues out, e.g. Car and Driver.

Documenting Culture

How do we learn from foreign culture? The following are some exercises which we can use to get the team to explore a different culture.

Taking photographs with a story behind. These photographs can be ones that best represent the members' view of Cambodia.
Thick description: Using a paragraph to factually chronicle the locals' daily life/actions (without any personal comment). Then find out with possible questions, e.g. why do they act/behave in such a way.
A day in the life of a counterpart. Follow a local on his daily tasks and document what he did.
Draw a map of the locality.
Photo essay. With a theme & objective.
Cooking own food, buying from the local market.

These are all very good mini-exercises that can get the team involved in the daily life of the locals. Perhaps we can even consider documenting the working of our NGO, such as the agricultural school it runs. It will give others a clearer picture of what they do, and we can possibly work in this area too.

"Make a Stand" game

This session forces participants to make a stand by asking them provocative questions. In the workshop, we watched a film in which a prostitute aspired to marry a rich person in order to climb up the rungs of society. We were asked whether the protagonist was "progressive". We then took a stand by standing on one of the three placards, "Yes", "No" and "Maybe".

Once again, this activity is good for exploring the differences in our thoughts. And it can be easily turned into a debate.

Understanding Reciprocity (Role-playing)

I was appointed the role of facilitating the activity, with another NUS lady, Yingyi. I had fun doing the job! It was a very good practice for both of us. In this session, we were broken into 2 separate teams, one representing the YEP team while the other representing the local village head. In the scenario, the YEP team was only informed by the locals that they could not go ahead with their plans when they arrived at the project site. So we were to observe how both sides would react in this conflict.

Such Role playing scenarios help to bring out real issues faced by YEP teams on the ground. A discussion afterwards enables the participants to air their thoughts as well as to explore what are the possible actions they can take. This is good in mentally preparing the team for any contingencies.

Leadership Training (4th July)

2009-07-06T02:21:00.000-07:00

The training we had received under Blossom: Training were organized into modules. With a class size of around 12, we conducted our lessons in a variety of manners. We made use of discussion, presentation, facilitation and role-playing to bring across certain points. I will make use of this entry to revise the concepts we had learnt, as well as to share some of the useful techniques to conducting discussions and meetings.

1. Self introduction

Having a round of self-introduction enables the leader to quickly assess the profile the members.

2. Setting Expectations

Setting groundrules helps to communicate mutual expectations amongst participants in a team. More importantly, these rules should not be seen as coming from the leaders only. Spending some time discussing the rules, rather than taking a top-down approach, ensures that members are more likely to abide by their own words. Below are some pointers for our facilitating discussion.

•Do not call groundrules groundrules, call them something else e.g. agreement/expectations.

• Leaders should help in facilitating and eliciting, do not just give rules.

• Lead the members in the direction/rules u have in mind.

• Allow the members to understand the rationale behind the groundrules. E.g.

o Rule: Only one person talk at one time

o Rationale: Enable members to pay attention to the speaker.

• Groundrules evolve according to situations. There is no need to cast the groundrules in stone.

• This exercise can be applied in different contexts, i.e. ways to create a meaningful YEP experience, respecting the locals, personal safety etc.

• Difficulties in setting groundrules

o Difficulties in enforcing groundrules, especially people who repeatedly break the rules.

• By making the members come out with their own items, the behavior of the team can be regulated by peer pressure.

3. What is a YEP project

Understanding the nature of a YEP project will enable a team to have a more realistic expectation of what they can achieve.

• Humanitarian Assistance Vs Development Assistance

Most volunteer projects can be categorized into the above categories.

Humanitarian assistance is usually used to describe disaster relief efforts. This can include medical assistance or rescue efforts. It tends to be more urgent in nature and has a shorter duration.

Development assistance takes place during peacetime, possibly after a disaster. This involved building and construction. It is a less urgent and takes place over a longer period of time. Nonetheless, such assistance is equally important.

YEP teams do not do any disaster relief as most teams lack the technical expertise. Thus most people would probably think that YEP is part of development assistance. Surprisingly, YEP actually does not fall into either of the categories.

o Lack of time. A typical YEP project lasts 3 weeks and most teams probably spend around 10 days doing the actual work.

o Lack of funds. A typical team spend around $5000 on the project costs, the majority of the funding is spent on transport and other items which may not be direct project costs.

o Lack of expertise. A typical team usually consists of youths with little technical expertise to offer to the locals. Imagine a group of students going to Cambodia teaching the farmers how to farm, or teaching school children English. We may even have trouble grasping the concept of pedagogy.

Recognising the various limitations faced by a YEP, the direct impact such a project can be brought to the locals may not be as great as one will think. With this in mind, a YEP is actually developed for Youth Development. By exposing the youth to a different and difficult environment, YEP hopes to develop resilient and caring people who will go on with the spirit of giving to others.

4. The YEP Model (Home Run)

A YEP lasts for around 4-6 months. Differing from common perceptions that a YEP culminates at the overseas trip, there is much to do prior and after the trip. Thus the name HomeRun. YEP consists of 3 phases – Pre-expedition, Expedition and Post-expedition. It has a comprehensive framework that prepares participants for the overseas trip, being inspired during the expedition and coming back to continue share their knowledge with fellow Singaporeans.

Since Project Waterloo is water-related, preferably the local projects should be water-related so that our work remains consistent.

5. Goals and Objectives

The Goal is where we want to be.
The Objectives are the steps needed to get there.

Goals and Objectives should be SMART.
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Time bound

With regards to being realistic, there are certain statements that we should avoid, e.g. We want to alleviate and eradicate poverty. Big No-No. A better statement to make will be “We are part of an existing effort to…”

6. Politically sensitive words (Eliminate Colonialism)

Teams need to be aware of their actions and words to avoid being insensitive to our overseas partners and communities. While we may list down some of the words to be avoided, it is more important that we inculcate the correct mentality towards our overseas community.

These words include poor, needy, disadvantaged. The rationale is obvious, we do not want to hurt others’ feelings.

Even words such as “improving their lives” should be avoided. What makes us think that they need us to “improve” their living. Worst still, we may even say things like “We want to share BETTER knowledge” or “Improve their knowledge”. Instead of using “Beneficiaries”, we can use “Counterparts” to indicate that we are working on an equal basis. It may seem frivolous to us, most of us probably do not mean to appear superior to the locals. Nonetheless, it will go a long way in developing our communication skills if we practice this advice.

7. PR Soundbites

Our PR soundbite sounds something like this…

8. Tools (I) - Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC)

An example in which we can adopt this model is as follows,

Experience – YEP provides a wealth of experiences beyond our normal life.
Reflection – Ensures that this experiences will not be lost, by creating opportunities to reflect upon one’s actions.
Rationalise – Enables one to place this experience in the correct perspective and explore the underlying issues, e.g. what had caused the locals to live in poverty.
Action – Looking out for opportunities and avenues to do something about the issue.

9. Tools(II) – YEP Learning Pyramid

10. Tools (III) – Microskills to facilitation: ACTS

The following tool is very useful in facilitating discussions. It allows you to rely on the wisdom of others within your team and give others a say during discussions.

A – Acknowledge what others had say
C – Clarify any doubts
T – Tai-chi the issue to engage the rest of the team
S – Summarise issues that were discussed

Meeting with LIFE (26th June)

2009-07-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

Throughout this project, NTU SIFE has been seeking advice from Lien Institute for the Enivronment(LIFE) with regards to the technical aspects of building a water filtration system in CROAP.

In this meeting, we managed to get a clearer picture of the costings involved in the project. A filtration unit costs approximately 500-700 Sing dollars. A cemented water pond will cost a few hundred dollars, depending on the size. The cost involved is clearly not definited, as it can be affected by the fluctuations of the local prices.

We also obtained a blueprint of the filtration unit from LIFE. It gave us a clearer picture of the internal working and the space required for the construction.

Now I will need to liaise with CROAP with this new information.

Cambodia Recce Trip

2009-07-05T21:20:00.000-07:00

7th-12th June 09

Both Jun Cheng and myself made a visit to the potential project site at Cambodia, Pursat Province. The compound is ran by CROAP in a village known as Keov Mony. It was a short 6 day trip. We visited Pursat, Siem Reap and Phnom Phenh during our stay, in chronological order.

The link will provide more details about our adventures.
http://ming-hui.livejournal.com/612.html

Youth Expedition Project

2009-07-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

Blogging seems to be a very tedious undertaking. Anyway, I feel that blogging is a good way to share my journey with those around me. With the blog, we hope the lessons learnt along the way can be crystallised and be shared with our friends.

This blog is specially dedicated to the pioneer project of NTU SIFE, it will be managed by myself as well as my coleader, Diana. It will serve as an update to our members in the project. Hopefully this blog will become an archive of resources for our new juniors coming into NTUSIFE. It will not end with Project Waterloo. Perhaps one year later, we can then pass this blog to the next generation of YEP Leaders within NTU SIFE.

For any readers who may visit this blog, I will try my best to present my views and experiences as frankly as I can. Let's inspire our peers and juniors to treasure whatever remaining time we have in NTU. Let's build a legacy together!