Hello guides,



Today was the first day for our duty as Asian Youth Day volunteers. There were a total of 9 of us in Operations and Special Squad. We started out at a slow pace in the morning, but when afternoon came, business in the Ops room was buzzing with activity and we had to learn to blend into the situation fast enough since we did not have any practice beforehand earlier in the day. After today, I have learnt that courage to learn and courage to adapt to the situation is essential for all of us to have, especially when this courage is the one that is needed to sustain a much bigger and more important organization.

To all guides involved in AYG, please remember to wear the AYG shirt and if you are feeling unwell please contacted Mdm Tan.

加油 for the following batch of volunteers :D
Happy Holidays :D

Love Guides :)

Hello Guides,

After the Skills Training Camp, please also remember to study for our End of Years Exams so make full use of the block weeks to catch up with school work and finish homework too. However, for those who are involved in AYG will still have to report during the block weeks.

Happy Holidays!

Last Thursday, we had our Skills Training Camp (STC). The Year 3s had Camp Development, Outdoor Cooking, OJ, and KYEB (Know Yourself Even Better), a form of Physical Training. Before the start of everything, we had to assemble in our full guides uniform. We then had our mass change to change into our Coy tee and shorts to begin for Camp Development.

For Camp Development, we built a kitchen tent, kitchen dresser and a fire altar to prepare us for our next activity, outdoor cooking. For outdoor cooking, it was different from our usual ones as this was the first time we cooked on such a large scale, with one Main Course, one Meat Dish, one Vegetable Dish, one Fruit Dish, and one Free Choice Dish. It was a fun and exciting experience and we thoroughly enjoyed the end results of our hours of cooking!

After outdoor cooking, we had our second part of Camp Development, for which we had to build a clothesline, a basha, as well as a patrol flag. Immediately after Camp Development, we proceeded on to Obstacle Journey (OJ). In OJ, there were a total of three stations –Fireman’s ladder, Roman chariot and Fireman’s Chair. The last activity of the day was KYEB, done as an entire year 3 batch, which also included strike camp.

Although it was a tiring day, STC bonded the year 3s even more. The year 3s became more prepared to take on new challenges, and grew in spirit after this memorable experience.

Love Guides :)

Hi Guides,

Last Thursday, we had our Skills Training Day Camp which was held in school. For the first part of the activity, Coy 1 did the pitching of tents first while Coy 2 did the basha and xiao dui qi. For Coy 2, the Year 1s and 2s were taught in our own patrols how to make a basha and xiao dui qi. After the Year 4s demonstrated to us, we were given time limits to make a few bashas and one xiao dui qi. Later, we switched over with Coy 1 and learnt how to pitch a dome tent and an 8 men tent. Likewise, we were given time limits to pitch the respective tents. Throughout, the Year 2s were also given opportunities to lead, in preparation for leading in Year 3.

After a nice lunch, we continued with skills training, this time learning how to chop firewood, saw bamboo poles and firelighting. It was an interesting experience to personally use an axe and a saw for the first time. For firelighting, we had to start a fire with the kindlings we picked and use mass tins to boil water over the fire.

Afterwards, we had barang PT in our 届s. For the Year 2s, we had to run up levels in the junior-high block to get to our stations. Our first station was kallang-wave pumping. We had to form up in one line, and consecutively do one pumping each, continuously. After awhile, our 届 separated into two groups to do the kallang-wave pumping, which meant that each person would have to do more because there was less people. Next, we ran up to our next destination, where we had to do 30 sit ups and 30 jumping jacks. After completing ours in sets of 15 each, we proceeded to our last station. Over there, we had to ding in boy's style pumping position while taking turns to comando crawl underneath. Afterwards, we all ran down to jihe and had patrol corner.

Overall for this activity, I feel that we have learnt a good deal of useful skills which would come in handy be it for the Year 2s upcoming pioneering test or this year's ATC. Let us all continue to brush up on our skills and physical fitness together, 加油!

Love Guides :D

OUTREACH

On Saturday, 30th May 2009, Guides and Scouts worked together to organize the outreach for brownies and cub scouts from different schools. We split them into 16 patrols and each patrol has 2 PLs and some girl guides and Scouts from our school to help to look after the primary school pupils. We had planned many interesting activities for the brownies and cub scouts.

The first activity was ice-breakers. They were supposed to play whacko and blow-wind-blow. However, because some schools arrived a little late, not all patrols had time to play the ice-breaker games.

After that, the patrols proceeded on to the various stations that they were supposed to be. The first station was the mini-OJ segment, where the children had to cross electric fences, play gladiator against their opponents and get a chance to play bow and arrows. The electric fences are made by tying raffia strings across one another and they the students had to cross it without touching the strings. For the students had to balance on planks and try to push their opponent off. The second station the patrols went to was the Captains Ball station. Patrols had to play against another opponent patrol and win by throwing balls through the hoops to score points. The third station was for the patrols to visit the open house booth to let the brownies and cub scouts to get an opportunity to gain a deeper insight of guiding and scouting. The fourth station was ye li xing jun where they had to be blindfolded and cross obstacles. The last station was when every patrol got together and had a sing-along session in the auditorium.

After the sing-along session, we went to had lunch and BBQ at the same time. Due to space constraints, the patrols could not really sit down together to barbeque. Nevertheless, the brownies and cub scouts had enjoyed eating the marshmallows and sausages.

After the lunch, the brownies and cub scouts were given a school tour by their PLs. After their interesting school tour, prize giving ceremony was held at the auditorium. Those prizes were given for the winning patrols for the various stations they went previously. However, as we feel that all the patrols had done very well; all the patrols were given a prize.

The outreach had ended on a very happy tone. The brownies and cub scouts had a very fun time that Saturday and they had said that they gained a lot of knowledge and insights about guiding and scouting. The guides and the scouts also had a great time playing with the primary school kids.




OPEN HOUSE

Last Saturday was outreach cum open house. We are involved in open house. This is the first event planned by us and it was an enriching experience and we learn a lot.
Before the open house, we were give some time to plan and were suppose to communicate with the scouts on what are we combining. After a discussion and much consideration and changes made to our initial proposal, a final proposal is made and accepted.

Last Friday, we were given time to prepare and all the structures such as baggage rack, shoe rack, tents, table etc. However, due to some miscommunications, there were some hiccups and with some give and take, the problem was soon solved.
At the start of open house, we realize that very few people came to our booth so with a short discussion, we decided to sent a few representative to step out of our booth to pull ‘customers’. Soon more and more people started going to our booth.
In the afternoon, it was drizzling. However, it did not affect our mood. Everyone was still as enthusiastic. We shifted our structures and photo indoor and continued to introduce guides activities to the public. Most of them were surprise to see the variety of activities guides has.

During the open house, we met many different types of people. Some were old guides and is there to see how Dunman High guides is now, some are interested in guides while some just want to know more about Dunman High education system.

There was also a woman who came back from United States who we remembered vividly. She came to our booth excitedly and told us that she was from Dunman High Guides. Hearing this, we immediately show her our old photo album and she started flipping through them and started pointing to us where she is in the pictures as well as the names of the people in the photo. After that, she left her contact number with us.

Overall it is a fun experience and we learn that it is important to have good communication skills.

Love Guides :D