Batam Trip Day 2

It is Day 2 for us here in Batam. 

Today we will be returning back to the orphanage to do some activities with the orphans there. We have definitely planned some interesting activities, games to entertain them and we are going to teach them to read. Some of us will be involved with building a library for the orphanage too. But before we proceed, it's time to fill up our tummies with breakfast first.

Once we were ready, we packed the things that we bought as donations for the orphans. Below are the pictures of the food items and groceries that we donated to the orphanage.

The journey from Golden View Hotel to the orphanage took us 30 mins to travel. Once we arrived, we were greeted by the happy faces of the orphans whom are glad and happy that we came back to meet them. 

We started to get organised into our various groups to carry out our assigned tasks as discussed during the training sessions in Singapore. Our first activity was to read together with the orphans, led by Mdm Hamimah. The orphans were very responsive and we felt happy that they participated in the activities that we planned.

After completing the reading activities, we proceeeded with some colouring activities with the orphans. We provided our self-made colouring book for them to colour. We also assisted the younger children that need help in colouring. 

Meanwhile, at the other end of the room, our "carpenters", led by Mr Zakir and Mr Khair, started fixing the shelves that we brought along for the library. At the same time, Miss Janaki and a couple  of girls were organising the books according to the level of diificulties to be arranged on the shelves.

After setting up the library and completing the colouring activities, we played more games and even had a sing-a-long session with them. We performed the Singapore song entitled "Home" just like we practiced. The orphans also came up with a performance of their own, singing a vibrant song titled, "Laskar Pelangi". It was then followed by more games and interactions before we finally bid farewell to them.

Mdm Hamimah presented a token to the lady who is in-charge of the orphanage. We then shook each other hands, some of us exchanging contacts and Facebook to remain in touch with the orphans there. We had a mini photo-taking session before we departed for lunch. 

Batam Trip Day 1

The Day is Finally Here!!!

The long awaited day is finally here. 20 Riverlites and 4 teachers are embarking on our Service Learning Trip to Batam. Excitement and joy filled our hearts, although we had to leave our loved ones for a while.Hope the trip will be meaningful for us!

We assembled at 7.30 am and was briefed by the teachers and Mr Mah before setting off for Harbourfront Ferry Terminal. We received Hong Baos from Mr Mah as a blessing for a safe trip to Batam. And soon, off we go!

Despite the heavy traffic in the KPE and ECP, we still managed to arrive at Harbourfront Ferry Terminal earlier than scheduled. We brought 7 bags, filled with books, clothes and plush toys for the orphans in Batam, and also two sets of shelves, to be build at the orphanage. Though the bags were heavy, we managed to bring it over with the true spirit of TEAMWORK!!!

Departed Singapore at : 1050 am

Arrived in Batam at : 11.50 am

The ferry right was quite a challenge for some of us, feeling giddy after just 10 minutes travelling, that most of us fell asleep, including the teachers. Hehe.....

After loading the bags up onto the bus, we were brought to our first stop... LUNCH at Vista Hotel.

Lunch was served at Hotel Vista. It was Chinese food. We helped ourselves to the delicious yet nutritious food catered for us. Meanwhile, the teachers were busy trying to get 3g connection to enable Whatsapp to relay messages to our parents.

After lunch, we headed down to the orphanage to meet up with our new friends. At first, we were shy and were cautious when communicating with them as this was the first time we had to converse in Bahasa Indonesia. However, once we started talking and interviewing them, situation got better and we started getting to know the orphans there.

Not long after that, we started playing games with each other. They introduced us to their version of Five Stones and we taught them the Singapore version of playing Five Stones. It was an eye opener as we never thought that there was another way of playing Five Stones.

The boys were more eager to try out the other games, Chapteh and Old Maid card games. They even went out to the pathway outside the orphanage to have a mini competition. The girls just stick to indoor games such as Pick-up Sticks and other games. 

Finally we left the orphanage at 4 pm.    

We then got back to Golden Vista Hotel, our accommodation for two nights. Dinner was next on the itinerary, and it was BUFFET DINNER!!! 

After dinner, we head to Merpati Room, to rehearse for our performance the next day. Mdm Hamimah will be reading to the orphans, with the assisstance from Dhaniah and Syari. The rest of us will be performing a song titled "Home", which we have been rehearsing prior to this trip.

                         
After rehearsing for 45 minutes, it was time to call it a day. Mr Zakir and Mdm Hamimah briefed us on the itinerary for the next day. We also had time to reflect on the wonderful experience we had during our first day in Batam. We are definitely looking forward to seeing the orphans again.

With that, good night to everyone in Singapore. 

25th June 4th Training Session!

25th June 2013 

4th Training Session

Parents' Briefing                                                          

             Today is the 4th training session for us. to finalise There is not much things to do but to finalise certain details before we depart for Batam next week.

 We started off with practicing on our performance items. We will be performing 3 items altogether, dancing to the songs HOME, Chan Mali Chan and Count on me. 

The session was followed by a briefing together with our parents in the PAL ROOM. The tour guide is here to brief us more about the Batam Trip, basically the administration for our trip, the logistics and the safety measures for the teachers and pupils. Our parents were well assured of our well-being that will be taken care by the guide.

3rd Training Session

                                                    20th Jun 2013 : 3rd Training Session!

On the third training session,we settle in the PAL ROOM and we are so surprised that Mr Zakir was not there.We thought that there is no training today but minutes later, Ms Janaki arrived and told us to wait for Mr Zakir. When Mr Zakir arrived,he took our attendance and we were told to sit down according to our group.

The reading group chose some books that are easy to understand. After that, they followed Ms Janaki to have their reading recorded. Meanwhile, the donation team sort out the new stacks and piles of the donated items accordingly. At the same time, the games and performance group decided on the formation for the performance item. 

                   

                  Hilman, Ilyasa and Khalyf were told to go to the gym to take some of the donated items to be brought up to the PAL ROOM. Gosh, they are very heavy. After all that we hada break and we started training on the performance. After that, Mr Zakir briefed and reminded us on the attitude and behaviour while at there. 

2nd Training Session

2nd Training Session

     Today we started off with a briefing by Mr Zakir. He briefed us on the schedule for our learning trip. Mr Zakir also thought us how to speak Bahasa Indonesia. It was sure a challenge for some of us, but our Malay members were definitely of great help, assisting the non-Malay members.

           After that, we were separated into our individual groups. We continued with our group discussions. The donation team started to sort out the donation items contributed by the pupils. We are very glad that most of the pupils had took this time to contribute in this donation drive. All the donations will be given to the orphanage in Batam. While we were sorting out the donated items, the other groups were also busy doing their own group discussions. After sorting out the items, we labelled the bags according to their respective categories. 

               Lastly, we gathered together and Mr Zakir told us what to bring and what the activities will be for the next training session.We hope to collect more donation items contributed by our Riverlites to help the poverty! We look forward to the next training session !

Batam trip training

1st day of Training Session

         We started our Batam training sessions on the 11th of June. You may be asking why we started preparing so early. The reason was because we had lots of things to cover, just like busy bees. We were very excited and we could not wait to have a glimpse of what we are going to be doing and what we shall experience there. 

              Mr Zakir and Mrs Lee, the teachers in-charge of this program, briefed us on their expectations on our behavior during the trip. We are required to be at our best behaviours and to be courteous at all times, to make Rivervale proud. 

             However, we were very confused when we were given some exercises to convert Singapore Dollars to Indonesian Rupiah. It was very interesting to know that a small amount of Singapore dollars can be exchange for a big amount of money in Indonesian Rupiah. However, Mrs Lee still advised us that although the amount that we get is a lot, we still need to be mindful of our expenditures and not to be spendthrift.

  

                    We also learnt about servant-leadership and how it should be demonstrated. As we approach the end of training for the day, we all got into our respective groups assigned to us and started planning on how we should do the different duties assigned to our own groups. Our group is in charge of the donation and communication. 

We will be going to go to an orphanage called, Betesda. Last year, some students went to the same orphanage and helped them to paint their walls to make the place more colourful but this year, we will be trying something new.We will be conducting a Donation Drive for people to donate items that can still be used.  We are going to help the orphans learn how to read English book!

All of us were eager for our next training session which will be on Thursday, 13 June. On that day, we are going to be separated into four groups to discuss further on our roles and responsibilites.