Sharing my experience for the past session

This sem marks the first time that i am officially volunteering at rsp block E. So far, i had only attended a few sessions with the boys and i have yet to know them well. However, my experience at these few sessions had allowed me to take a peek at how life is like for them in the boys' home.

Last week session was held after the chinese new year week, and to be frank i was still in a holiday mood. As usual, i met up with the fellow rsp block E volunteers to make our way to the boys' home. We started off the session by playing some memory games, one of which is the pluck feather game. Ok.. even though we didn't get to pluck real feathers from the chicken, the game is quite fun, especially when the people that lost had to do forfeit. We got the boys to dance to the song "nobody", and to my surprise, they were very enthusiastic about it and they danced pretty well for a girly song!

Next game was charade. The boys and us were split into two teams and they had to pass down the actions so that the person at the last can guess the word or phrase. Apparently the boys got too excited about it and everything became a bit messy. But still, it's nice to see the boys enjoying themselves at the sessions, which is probably one of the few times when they can do so at their stay in the home.

Time always passes very fast when we are enjoying ourselves. Though I only had a few hours to interact with the boys each time, I hoped that i would be able to get to know them better, bit by bit. As such, I would be looking forward to the coming sessions for the rest of my stay as a volunteer at rsp block E.


jingguo:)

Sharing_xinli

Today's the 2nd session. I bumped into others in Jurong point, level 3 food court. Then we took bus together to go to boy's home.

We played 3 games, which lasted about 1.5 hours in all. The first one is "finish a sentence". The one starting a new sentence needs to say "hoji doji hoji doji" before he/she comes up with one word as the beginning of a sentence,and the next person continues with another word, and the next, etc. Sentences can end up with full stop or question mark. The only requirement for game players is the sentence must make sense. It sounds easy but when you're actually taking part in it, it can become very tricky. You really need to pay full attention to what others say before you. Otherwise Forfeit! The 2nd is Mona Lisa. Okay, here's the rule. A person can start with Mo, or Mona, then pointing to any other who should continue until Sa. Whoever is pointed at while Sa is spoken needs to post a gesture like the famous Mona Lisa, and don't forget the mysterious smile! Also the phrase can be "Captain", or "coconut tree", or "helicopter". Gestures differ according to which phrase is used and you cannot mix them up. This is quite fun and you can actually hear people saying Captain while posing as Mona Lisa. The last game is 终极密码. A number between 1 and 99 is fixed first and the aim is to guess what number it is by shortening the interval the number lies within. The boys are really good at this. For me it's almost impossible to get the correct answer but the boys can manage to guess the correct number in just couple of times. Amazing!

As one of the new volunteers, I learned from boys and other volunteers as well. We all had a wonderful time before the end of the day. I wish everyone good luck in the coming semester and do enjoy our coming sessions at boys' home!


Last but not least,here is a photo we took few weeks ago =)

the long awaited FIRST session!

Today marks the first session with the new volunteers! It was also a fresh start for the boys as most of them were unfamiliar faces.

In order to get to know each other better, Jennifer and Yuwen planned a series of icebreakers for today’s session. We also adopted the method of conducting the games session in two smaller groups. It proved to be effective as it promoted more interaction between the volunteers and the boys. We started the session with the famous washing milk game (modified from the Chinese version). It was a bit confusing for the boys and for us at first, but we soon got the hang of it. Next, the level of enthusiasm increased when we introduced the name and slap game. The person whose name was called, had to call another person's name while his/her thighs were being slapped by the two people sitting beside them. We did implement some safety precautions to ensure that the game went on smoothly. This game served as a quick and easy way to remember names for both the boys and the volunteers. Lastly, we ended off the session with an exciting game of charades. I really have to admit that some of the boys were really good at acting and they even used some of their sign languages which were easily comprehended by other boys.

Overall, there was good rapport between the boys and the volunteers. I hope this session will kick-start the rest of the sessions for the year 2011 and also enhance our volunteering experience in Block E with the new volunteers. I also hope that these sessions can serve as a learning tool for the boys as well as for us. Also wishing everyone a Happy 2011!:)

Reflections and Thoughts

As much as this term has been busy and hectic, I am very glad that many of us can still find time amidst our busy schedule every week to perform our services. Each Thursday is approached with eager anticipation and enthusiasm. One year ago, when I joined WSC youth, I came with a mentality that I was doing a favor for the society (or for the boys, at least) by doing voluntary welfare services. But little have I thought that that it is them who is doing me a favor and that I would be the one who would sooner or later, found out that I have yet to learn so many things in life. 

The Blk E members have been nothing but sweet, and kind. They have certainly added plenty of joy and happiness to my life on a foreign land. They welcomed me and treated me with much love, generosity and kindness that is way beyond what I would have hoped for.

I was particularly entertained by the Mona Lisa game that we played in tonight’s session. Many times have I played this game with different friends, but tonight, the game was played with a very different light. We laughed at matters that many would consider to be trivial. But it is these trivial matters, that when accumulated, will form parts of the memories of our life in NTU. 

It was only towards the end of the session that I learnt that one of the boys (for sake of good name, we shall protect his anonymity, and address him as D.) will be leaving soon. D. easily tops as one of the funniest person I’ve met in my life. Raw as he is, he treats us with respect and jokes with an open heart.  I was surprisingly disturbed by the fact that he will be leaving soon. Good-byes often seem so permanent. :( But as heavy as my heart is, as all our hearts are, I believe that every one of us is happy for him. I pray that God will bless him with strength and courage in all his future undertakings. 

Jennifer, I will master my skills on the rhythm game. Somehow, someday. Don’t laugh. :)

Zhiying, I hope you are feeling much better.

Sheeling

Sharing_Times in BLK E

Today was our 3rd session of the semester with the boys. As usual, we met in school to have dinner before proceeding over to the boy's home.

All the seniors were present today, except of course Aloysious who is at Ontario now. :) Upon reaching the home, the boys were still having their dinner and we (Jennifer, Sheeling and me) waited inside the meeting room. Of course, this was where the fun come. :) Jennifer taught us some new rhythm games and we had laughter and fun together. However, most importantly, we warmed up for the sessions later too. Haha.

For today's session, all of us became tuition teachers, attending to academic queries of the boys and guiding them along the way. The first session was held from 7 to 8pm, where the boys was spilt into 3 groups: 2 groups doing N level Math while another group doing O Level Math. Each of us was attending to about 3 boys. Jennifer, Sheeling and I taught Math, before we were joined by Yuwen, Janice and XinYi. They took over us at 8pm and taught their specialty subjects like Chemistry and English, while its our turn to slack around. Heehee. If you think English is hard to teach, then you gonna find XinYi !!! haha :) 

After today's session, I think we can all be qualified tuition centre teachers le. :) This platform to teach had also given us the opportunity to interact with the boys more and I guess this session had been pretty meaningful and fruitful, especially so for the boys who will be taking their National Exams in a couple of weeks. Most of them (or I shld say All of them) are pretty motivated to do well and I hope with their determination, they will achieve the success that they so deserved. :)

~Zhi Ying