30-Hour Famine 2008 Phase II

Alright Guys and Gurls! I’m back with Phase II~! After the opening ceremony was done, the “Shoeless Gimmick” was introduced! The participants, committees and volunteers are all required to remove their shoes and walk around, completing tasks and other things, BAREFOOTED, for about 6 hours. I think it was kind of creative, the purpose of this gimmick was so that we can experience what the children living in poverty experience while undergoing much pain, heat, coldness and injuries while walking around barefooted in their country. We were only experiencing a small portion of what they experienced. But… the marble floor was really cold, so cold till I skip-hopped the journey whenever I’m on the marble floor… *brrrr*

In case some of you may be wondering how are we going to go to the toilet. The answer is this:

About 6-8 pairs of these big orange-colored Megapower slippers were prepared in each of the toilets (for both genders) so that they can use it while going to the toilet. It was kinda cool lah! Cuz I was actually enjoying walking barefooted… mwahahaha XP

So, the Gimmick begins and the participants were then given 30 minutes to have a break, going to the toilets or just mingle around. I brought my members to the luggage room cuz they’ve got things to put into the bag, and also I gotta show them where are the water dispensers. After that, we (the English Campers) gathered back at the Theatrette for a session of “lectures” with Marcus and Rudy about poverty and many other things, and also a minor briefing about the First Famine Activity - Poverty.

Alright. If you people are wondering why on Mother-Gaia’s-Beloved-Planet (Earth) do I have multiple pictures of Marcus, I was actually just trying to capture his candid pictures and tease him in my blog. But it turns out that all the pictures were not “teasable”, so I gave up and promote him instead. He was really good, ya know~ all emotional and serious when he was talking about the children in the poor countries, how they live, and that $1 REALLY can make a difference in their lives. It could have made me cried, if I wasn’t so tired cuz I didn’t have enough sleep last night (and it wasn’t even my fault to begin with…). I didn’t take pictures of Rudy because he was the second speaker and I was too lazy to grab my handphone again and take pictures of him. I was BLOODY tired, I tell you. You can ask anyone, I wasn’t complaining about hunger, I kept complaining that I was tired…. XD

After they did the briefing, we group leaders received some of the essential items that we need to hand to our participants and command them to move out. Lemme explain a little bit on the Activity “Poverty” - The Game of Life. I split my group up into 2 sub-teams (5 members each), each representing a family. They are suppose to role play one of the 5 family members each (Father, Mother, Sister#1, Sister#2, Brother). The roles of each family have different background, qualifications and capabilities in earning money/spending money. For example, a father with only a form 5 qualification may be able to work as a janitor but maybe not a banker, etc. So what the participants have to do, is to break some codes that I have given to them, so that they know which stations they are suppose to go to.

The picture above shows an example of a station, if i’m not wrong, it is a supermarket. This is where the “mothers” have to figure out what to buy and how much to spend. The goal of the game, is to be able to earn more than the expenses, WHILE making sure you got all the essentials in your life, such as a shelter, foods, clothes, tools, transportation etc. In other words, it is a game of BUDGETING. It was fun looking at the participants running around looking for stations and also role-playing with great “commitment”. After the families are able to gather all the essentials and earn more than enough, we group leaders will present them an emergency, such as Sister#1 broke her leg, burned her skin or Sister#2 got into an accident. The family members, upon searching the medical cost of the emergency, will realize that they have not enough income to cover the expenses anymore, and do not have enough time/enough manpower to work for money/for more than 2 jobs at the same time. The game then ended after 45 minutes, followed by a debrief of the purpose of the game by a World Vision volunteer - Silvia.

An extra note: One of the families of my group was so cute! They got all the prices of the expenses and all, but I realize, they don’t have any income…. XD But they did make super efforts in playing lo! I salute all my group members! Group 2 RAWKS! =P

In short, the Game of Life, is for us to realize, how hard it is for the families living in poverty have to struggle each and everyday to make ends meet. They may be working 1 or 2 jobs at the same time, and the mother have to spend wisely on the essentials, and also the children, who may have to work occasionally to help the family. Once presented with an emergency, they will have to struggle more or in the other extreme, give up. We are lucky to have been born who we are, and not like those poor little children who have to suffer ever since they are born. It kinda makes me feel contented, that I have a family and I am born healthy.

After that, we sang the theme song for this year’s Famine, which is the same song for last year’s - “Tomorrow”, or in mandarin “明天孩有希望”.

On Stage are:

Elaine, Winnie, (dunno), Selena, Yee Ling (with camera) and Rudy~

Really sorry.. I can’t make out who that is cuz he/she was blocked by Selena~ =P

After the debriefing session, we have another break and we group leaders are suppose to get each of our group members 2 bottles of water. But, my group members were all so nice lah~ they all say dunnid cuz they got one bottle already, refill can already~ then it saved my energy to carry the bottles =P (actually they also lazy to carry so many bottles =P). During the whole break I was sitting near a water dispenser with Zhen Ning, both of us was exclaiming how tired it was. Hahaha~ but really it was an enjoyable experience =P I will get to that in later phases =P

The break ended in 30 minutes, and we were all back in Theatrette for Famine Activity 2 - “Aid”. However, due to the heavy downpour that don’t seem like it is going to stop in 5 minutes, we are unable to carry out the second famine activity. However, the Program Director - Wan Rou requested the participants to make shoes out of Cardboards and Rafia Strings (which was the first part of the original Famine Activity 2). However, the extra thing here is, they have to make the shoe, get a “model” to wear it, and catwalk (as if you are in a fashion show) with it!

We’ve got a lot of cute products from the activity! Such as the “glamarous” shoes which ties onto ur leg! (First picture) and he was like touching himself while catwalking/posing…. and we also have the cardboard face Joker! He was funny~ yeah, there are people who added “shirts”, “masks” and “tiaras” as extra accessories~! There was one who made a robot suit, one group which made a pair of shoes which comes with a shirt, and one group which made shoes inspired by “DoTA”’s Boots of Travel and Power Thread. Those who play DoTA will know what they are =P. My group made a pair of high-heel shoes for a guy to wear. *shrug* Hilarious la the whole “Fashion Show”! =P

The purpose for “Aid” was to allow us to know how hard it would be or it could be even if we try to help the poor people. But every effort counts The original activity for Aid, actually help us to understand that in the process of aiding those living in poverty, it is very hard to reach out to all of them, but with every effort we make, or even a slight awareness raise in the community, we CAN make a difference in their lives. Even though the full message isn’t able to be successfully portrayed, through shoe-making, it is also a form of aid not only to the others, but also to ourselves. In the process of helping others, we should not neglect ourselves as well. If we go down, nobody else is left to help them. This, is what I learned additionally, from the activity. In addition, it also build up alot of teamwork and interdependence among the group members. In terms of “AID”, it is important to work with each other, the more committed individuals, the stronger the group becomes. I see it when my group members and I were contributing ideas on how to make the shoe and also working on making the shoe. I was glad my group members were able to interact in harmony with each other! ^^

Moving on, I only get to enjoy half of the show, because I was so worried about my Choir Performance coming up on the same night, I had to pass my work of that night to Adeline, and have her take care of my group’s final briefing of the day (of where to sleep, what time to gather and where to meet and etc), and go with Elaine to find Shu Ling for practice while waiting for Hua Fu, Renjeeta, Leng Keat, Marcus and Puveshini to arrive! So, THANKS ADELINE! You totally saved my night. =P

And there you have it! This is Phase II~! So do enjoy the post, drop by my chatbox, comment on my entries and check on my archives~ while I prepare Phase III for you all! ^^

Till then, Adios! =D