I woke up before the azan for Maghrib prayers sounded. This was the result of 13 hours of sleep from 4.30 p.m. yesterday, after 4 days and 3 nights in Sabak Bernam. After waking up, I ran around 4 kilometres.
Now, for what-happened-during-the-leadership-camp part.
On the first day of the camp, all Petaling Utama participants were gathered at the stadium MBPJ in Kelana Jaya at around 12. We embarked the bus and started the journey at 1 p.m..
Did I mention the Wei-Han-did-not-bring-the-second-tent-because-he-thought-the-tent-is-a-spare-tent-and-not-significant-enough-to-bring incident? Oops.
The journey took 3 hours, including a stop at Sabak Bernam town, not to mention the journey is relatively bumpy too. (What the heck is wrong with the suspensions of the bus?)
In the bus, a Malay radio station broadcast was heard, some people gave forty winks, others brought along a book to read, or listen to mp3.
Upon reaching Sabak Bernam, the bus gave many dramatic pauses, which made some of us thought that we reached the place, and they were false pauses. The SBPISB (in full: Sekolah Berasrama Penuh Integrasi, Sabak Bernam) was so secluded, and hid behind plots of oil palm plantations. If you search Google Maps for this school, you will be surprised-it is located at the edge of Selangor, literally!
Anyway, we eventually reached the venue, and to our surprise, the school is HUGE. The land area of the school can accommodate two SMJK Katholik of Petaling Jaya. Wow!
So, we disembarked the bus, and waited until the Camp Commander calls us to assemble at the assembly ground, which is a wide empty car park lot in front of the administration block. We went to the activity hall for registration and sorting of groups. Then, we were required to pitch the tents.
Now, here's the unlucky part starts. (Actually, the no-luck starts when Wei Han did not bring the second tent.) We asked this two guys from SMK Sri Permata (same district), Nicholas and Zhi Quan whether they were willing to share the tent I brought and give their two men tent to Sook May and Jia Shin. They agreed. We started to pitch the tent, but to our horror, the rods were disconnected, as the elastic string is flawed. We tried to ignore this flaw, but it failed. So, the two guys got back their tent, leaving SMJK Katholik representatives having NO TENT. So, the girls have to split and sleeping at different tents, and so were me and Wei Han. Initially, Wei Han moved into Nicholas and Zhi Quan's tent, and I have nowhere to go but temporarily leaving the bag outside their tent, and went to take a bath.
After dinner, we started the ice breaking event, which we carried out activities with the group sorted. First was sitting in lines and massage and pinch the person in front in two styles, the "Counselling Teacher Style" and the "Discipline Teacher Style". Then, we were sitting in circles discussing about the group's trademark (as in cheer etc.)
Then it was bed time, and Wei Han decided to move out because the two men tent was cramp. The teacher-in-charge of the Petaling Utama district have found two tents which had vacancy. Wei Han slept in a 10 men tent, whereas I slept with two Malay guys in a 4 men tent. The guys were friendly and welcomed me into their tent.
And just as I thought I could sleep in the open air without any tent (if that's the worst case scenario), the rain came, accompanied by strong winds. The tent I slept was stable during the strong wind, but we hardly could sleep because there were noises outside. Soon, after the rain and the wind, it became silent.
Eventually, I slept until the two guys woke up to get ready for solat Subuh. Roughly 3-4 hours of sleep. When the sun lighted the place, it was clearly seen that one tent in front of Wei Han's tent collapsed, and Wei Han's tent was not in good shape either.
There were calls to ring the siren to signal the arrival of the storm, but the Camp Commander said that it was just winds only. Then, we proceeded to listening talks after morning. The first talk was dozing, the second one however, let me made known to many people. After lunch, it was a workshop to create documentation of a club/society.
After that, it was outdoor activities, where groups were competing in various "sports" events, like coconut bowling and brick-leaping events. After that, we were released for dinner. When muslims went for their solat Maghrib, we went to attend a Morale Education session, which was interrupted by the intrusion of some wasps. Then, everyone attended a talk by a police officer in the same hall, which was interesting and quite engaging.
That night, it was cold, but no strong winds.
The following morning, I woke up late (probably because they did not play the reciting of al-Quran verses like the day before) and so were the two other guys. Fortunately, the assembly time was postponed from 7.00 a.m. to 7.40 a.m.. Then, the time before lunch was rocket-production (from plastic bottles), and after lunch was rocket launching competitions. Each group were required to make two: one for accuracy, the other which has parachute function, was tested on how long could it stay on air. The first one made my group quite proud, but the second one is just plainly pathetic (imagine the rocket fall on the sky helplessly).
Then, it was time to "clean up yourselves" and muslims went for solat Maghrib after dinner, whereas non-Muslims went to attend another Morale Education session by another teacher. After that, it was Cultural Night (directly translated from Malam Kebudayaan) and groups performed performances ranging from sketches to singing to dances to even alternative music from recycled materials. My group's theme was "P. Ramlee's time" and so we made a concentrated version of Bujang Lapuk. I am the father of the daughters (which were kidnapped and later saved by three men) and also the silat instructor.
Then, it was bedtime, and this time, no rain and no winds.
Next morning, we were required to clean up the venue, pack the tents and then change into uniforms for the closing ceremony, and thus ending the whole camp.
Although the camp's duration is the same length as the excursion to Kepala Batas, not much to describe. But still, I met many people over there, and kind of gained an experience. Although it's a pity of not getting a CD which contains the images during the camp, but hopefully memories could stay in my head for a long, long time.
Hereby, I thank those who have helped me during this camp, those who were in the same group with me and those who have shared moments with me. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Nicholas and Zhi Quan for helping to try to erect the tent although it is faulty, Rico and his partner from SMKTDH for allowing me to share the tent, Wei Han and many more. May the Lord above bless all of you and your journey in life ahead.
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