Volunteer's camp 2000
Written by Damon Wong

        Photos by Michael Goh

        Published by SPH

Before...

...and after! The effects of seawater on appearance!

In the beginning

      Volunteers’ Camp, or V Camp, as it is more commonly known, is one of the traditions of RSPID, promising lots of fun and sun, and so it was at this year’s V Camp. We met at Tampines MRT station in the wee hours of the morning (9am is early, considering it’s the holidays!) and marched off to the SAF Changi Chalets, our home for the next few days.

Hercules and Xenas ???

Day 1

      After a short jaunt to Changi Village for lunch, the day’s activities began with icebreakers, where we got to know more about each other, including tidbits of startling trivia, right, Carean? Throes of laughter were the rule of the afternoon.

      Alas, the sky opened up with showers of blessings soon and we retreated to the sanctuary of our chalet. Ever tried playing Street Fighter with a Dance Dance Revolution mat? That’s what we did then, and boy was it tiring!

      Evening brought with it the next event of our itinerary - Candle Fight, where we played hard to save our friends captured in prisons of twine! Next was the confidence walk, which called for blind faith, as, blindfolded, we overcame various obstacles in the still of the night. That ended our activities for the first day.

Day 2

      Station games were the first activity for the day two, and by the time we were done, we were dripping wet with seawater and caked with flour. Beach games were next, and we all had fun in the sun, sand and sea. The afternoon’s activities ended off with a massive water bomb free for all!

Getting closer to Mother Nature?

      Hungry and tired as we were, it was time for the barbeque, as the rest of our volunteers joined up with the campers. There was food aplenty and we all had our fill of the feast.

6 ladies and a lamb

A Konica moment!

As one said, where will we be 10 years from now?

      The barbeque was capped off with a mini “campfire”, which included performances by all of the camp groups and a special dance performance by all the group leaders and the organizers. The most poignant moment of that night was when Lifeng performed for us a very special song, and it touched many of us, sending our thoughts back to the friendships we have in RSPID, and the many special moments we have had together in the past months.

Dui Ni Shuo Yi Sheng Wo Ai Ni, Xu Yao Duo Shao Yong Qi
(How much courage does it take, to say I love you?)

Day 3

What really happened at the National Peanuts Growers' Congress

      Day three marked the end of the camp, as we drowsily (for many of us had not slept!Evidence above) had our breakfast and packed up. We bid each other farewell, and dragged our feet home to catch up on lost sleep.

      Looking back, it was a successful camp where we got to know each other better, and more importantly, had loads of fun!

With lots of memories from the camp

Volunteers' Camp 2000/2001 was organized by: Carean, Don, Michael and Xiaoqi.