PSLTC 2005
PSLTC stands for Peer Support Leadership Training Camp, for those who do not know.
Straight after our posting results (with a short break for lunch), a hundred or so of Sec 2’s were separated from the rest, called from their ‘high’ state or depression to a 3 day-2 night camp for a crash course on leadership. I had no idea what to expect, and was glad to see many familliar faces around as I assembled outside the LT (next to the Hall), where attendance and registration took place.
When I finally got through the queue, I received my PSLTC booklet and the camp schedule, which I looked at later, but before looking at its contents, I plucked up my courage and walked into the theatre…
There I was greeted by the sound of blasting music and colourful decorations hung around the LT, and the excited chatter of boys who were already seated. Truly shocked, I made my way down to the first row (as I was in the first group), and sat down, looking around, still feeling nervous but pleasantly surprised.
It was then that I looked into the green PSLTC booklet, and I found relevant camp information such as the three PSF committees, headed by the "Holy Trinity", comprising of Mr Malcolm Wong, heading the Programmes Committee; Mr Alvin Chua, heading the Spirits Committee; and Mr Dominic Ang, heading the Logistics Committee. The next few pages was a list of the twelve different groupings and their memebers and leaders; and the thing I liked the most was that all the group names meant the same thing in different languages. For illustration;
Brotherhood number:
- Bruder (German)
- Frere (French)
- Hermano (Spanish)
- Fratello (Italian)
- Annan (Tamil)
- Xiong Di (Mandarin)
- Abang (Malay)
- Veli (Finnish)
- Kaka (Swahili)
- Ani (Japanese)
- Frater (Latin)
- Kaikua’ana (Hawaiin)
By now, maybe you can guess that all the group names mean "brother" in twelve different languages (excluding English). Since they have a common meaning, it was only fit for them to list us as "brotherhoods" instead of "groups" (i.e. Brotherhood One = Bruder, not Group One; Brotherhood Two = Frere, not Group Two, etc.)
The rest of the booklet was basically just a detailed explanation of every activity in all sessions of the camp, and even though not all of them were carried out, there was a reference library served to us on a silver platter in case we were to run or organize a camp in the future, and that was pointed out to us by one of the Holy Trinity as well. At the very end, there were questions for self-reflection that we were encouraged to do, but I somehow never managed to do all four pages fo reflection.
OK, from comments, I know my blog posts have been quite long and factual… So taking a suggestion form Mark Goh, I shall summarise (which I failed at btw), and open my feelings to the world… (Yeah right, as if I would do that…)
PSLTC 2005 was officially declared open by the principal, after he gave his opening speech, which was quite inspirational, if you paid attention… Anyway, after that, we had another talk (this one hilariously presented by Bro Mike) which I can’t remember was about… But we were definitely tickled by Bro Mike and his linguistic skills, especially in Indonesian Malay =P…
Anyway, after that we settled into our classrooms, and Bruder got 331, my future classroom! Anyway, we had session one in there, which was basically icerbreakers, and making up stuff like Brotherhood Rules and our Brotherhood Cheer…
We had a few sessions that day, other than getting to know our "Bruders" better, bonding as a group, faster than I ever thought possible (made so maybe through our higher level of maturity) =P …
The one thing I liked was the reflection in the late night, when the whole group sat around a tiny flame in the middle of the parade square, sharing their thoughts about PSLTC and their experience so far… What struck me was, although the Legionaries were the first to share, every single brotherhood member did so in the end, including the PSFs… And that struck me because if it were any ordianary group, that would definitely have not been possible.
The next day, we had "morning games" (in the morning of course), which was actually PT in disguise… Not a very good disguise, but I didn’t mind seeing as I had a convenient excuse at my hands (well, it was my foot actually…). I managed to escape PT, watching my poor brotherhood members sweating it out. How sadistic =P …
That day, we had something different called a Peer Support (PS) session, in which we were taught how to deal with the Sec 1’s, and how we were to conduct ourselves in front of them. When we were first exposed to the main objective of being there in orientation camp, it seemed to me as we were spies, going undercover to try and worm out any possible suicide or depression cases, and that the school was using us to discover any potentially problematic kids to pluck out and deal with. That was my initial feeling, and there was a certain amount of uncertainty and unrest that I could feel around me in the rest as well. However, I mulled over it, and it sort of sunk in that we were needed as PEER SUPPORT, to first and foremost, support our peers, and this is one of the easiest ways to do so. Another thing that struck me during this session is that even if a Sec 1 were to confide in us a potential depression or suicidal case, we were to alert the teachers immediately, even if it went against the student’s will. Many considered it disloyal and unheard of to betray that trust, even being for his own good. I agreed.
However, some things cannot be changed, and for the greater good, it has to be accepted. The choice to apply and carry out will come later on.
Before lunch, we were surprised with the challenge of preparing a skit to be ready by that night. Given a short time of two hours and whatever other time we could find, our skit had to revolve around the theme of ‘peers’, had to include a dance or a song, and had to include every brotherhood member in it.
The preparation after lunch was barely enough time to come up with a plot, let along rehearse the skit… We had afternoon games after the two hour slot, and that was EXTERMELY and EXTRAORDINARILY FUN. I shall briefly describe a few scenes of the "afternoon games", a ‘continuation’ (more like’mockery’) of the "morning games"…
Anyway, first, I distinctly remember two of my friends blindfolded with their shirts, holding two ends of a plank of wood (well actually, it was two pieces of ropes tied to each end of the plank, but nevermind), trying to remove a bucket of water from the center of a ring which nobody could enter, and anyway, they managed to co-operate well enough to get it out before Ashwin could lasso it with his redundant blindfold, since he could see under it… The past is the past, and since we won, I shall not dwell upon it…
The next memorable game was one where everyone had a disability of some sort, like they could not use their arms, or legs, or speech, or sight, or hearing… However, there would be one perfect person who would be the one to organise everyone… And they chose me! How appropriate, right? (Rhetorical). So anyway, I had to carry this guy who had nothing, across the space which we had to cross, and since he had no arms or legs, I had to fireman lift him around the abdomen, instead of down the torso and around one leg (the standard one). His stomach hurt after that… A scene particuarly memorable was one in which Thiaghu (no legs or arms) had to carry Andy (no legs), and both of them were blind… So here we have Andy, slipping off Thiaghu, with no support to stay on except his arms, and Thiaghu blindly leading the blind, with no sense of direction, almost crashed into the glass entrance of the PAC, when I realized that they needed help and shouted directions… Andy’s chest was red after that…
Another memorable game was one in which we were to hold hands in one long chain and make our way through an obstacle course of upturned tables and chairs, without moving the obstacles or breaking the link in the chain. This proved quite difficult as the front few men had no means of communicating with the last few, and this caused a speed differential, also affecting our progress as a team even though the chain remained unbroken.
There was also the cliched water balloon game, in which they used shirts to catch the water balloon (serving as a volleyball), throwing it over the net to try and score if the opposing team lets it burst. I did not participate as the other team had was one player short, so I took the opportunity to sit at the sidelines as a spectator.
There was also captain’s ball, in which I COULD not participate, and seeing as my group was already at an advantage (numerically), I decided not to rick further injury with about twenty five boys chaarging for one ball…
There was an interesting challenge course, in which we had to carry a group member for a hundred metres, using the "interlocking four-arm throne" taught to us in ACE Camp, and then wheelbarrowing someone (lifting his feet while he used his hands to walk) for forty metres, then walking with a spoon in your mouth carrying a ping pong ball for another stretch of the track, then using toothpicks to pass a rubber band to the next friend in a chain of people, then lighting a candle and walking a hundred metres against the wind, without letting it go out. Cheating was prominent and evident, as well as vital in winning in this competition, but since our brotherhood was so honest, we lost in the end. However, this was a really fun game in which we were taught how to cheat by our PSF!!! Haha, they were like "Just go, never mnind if it drops." How helpful =P …
There was another cliched game, that was an obstacle course of upturned tables and chairs, but this one was done in pairs, with one instructor and one blindfolded, called the "trust walk", and this one was not that great, coz the course was not cluttered enough. However, with Benson’s approval, I made it impossible to get through without help from the instructor, and a constant stream of warnings and cautions… Muahahaha, I’m evil!
I remember one particularly "interesting" game, in which there was a grid through which we had to find our way, with no clues where to walk, but we had one leader to guide us through the maze of undetectable mines… There were no indications whatsoever of where there was a mine or where to step next. Pure chance and luck got us through as a chain of people following the unclucky leader who had to listen to so many people’s instructions at once, not nessecarily making the right decisions all the time. However, the meaning ‘behind the game was totally different from the spectacularity in its stupidity. Leaders in life sometimes make difficult choices, having to please everyone, and may not nessecarily make the right decision. However, we have to listen and back them up, and continue following them till the end. There was another interpretation of the game, saying "unpredicatbility is something we have to take into account of the future, we must understand that failure is one step closer to success, and each time we stray down the wrong path, we must pick ourselves up, backtrack, and keep to the right path all the way to the end". I felt that although this was probably the "most interesting" game, it was the most meaningful.
That was the bulk of the games, I ommitted some due to space constraints, and also because I cannot remember the rest =P … We finalised our skit and rehearsed it while waiting for our turn to bathe, and we were satisfied with what we had come up with. That night, when Showtime finally arrived, he began calling brotherhoods randomly up to perform, and when half of the brotherhoods had performed their skits, we could see that we would easily outshine most other brotherhoods in comedy, performing skills and dance/song section of the skit. This made us somewhat more confident and we were encouraged by the fact that no one seemed shy to perform each role, no matter how small or embarrassing they may be… Then came a skit in which Melvin Loh came out as Britney Peers, dressed in a very revaling top, which was actually a scrunged up shirt, and wearing a towel for a dress… My first reaction was pure shock, and according to Britney, Mr Ang’s face was frozen in shock, his hand half in the air, his face petrified, mouth slightly open. I was raving with laughter, and clapped thunderously (and most know how loud I can clap)… That in my opinion was the best skit, even though the skit itself was not as good as the characters, nor the dance, in which they had an original dance to Crazy Frog, performed quite well too…
However, I must say that our skit was one of the best, as recognized by several other people. Not to boast, but I did nothing much to contribute to the success of our laughter-provoking play, the characters acting very well, with suitable names to go along, like George and Bush, or Tony and Blair, or even Osama and Laden… If you really want to know what I did, I was the sound effects guy, making the sounds behind the skit, also singing the Mr Bean song while they danced to it, the Bean Dance! It was great fun to do, and even greater fun to see the faces of the LT light up with laughter at the skit that we came up with entirely by ourselves.
The next morning was madness, since Catholics had to wake up at five plus, for mass at seven, at Risen Christ Church (I think…). There was not much we could protest about, and I was one of the first to wake up, because I was shifting my position as Michael strolled in to wake us up. So I was put in charge of getting them all down to the canteen, and then we were off… Several people slept through the homily, said by Father Ambrose Vase, or one of the Vase priests… That journey was quite nice, since we were a horde of boys crowding the church, and walking from place to place, filling up buses to their brim…
That day, there was another PS Session, making me feel even more like a spy, but helping me to realize my job as a PSL, and helping me to accept what I had to, in order to become a proper PSL, which we would officially at the end of the camp. After PS Session II, we had Session 3, and had a clean-up with the leftover time, packing our bags with reluctancy to part, refusal to accept that such a great camp could come to an end.
The closing ceremony was the greatest, and most spectacular. Each brotherhood was called up, the green PSL shirts were put on them by the PSFs, and the brotherhood members were called up individually to receive their certificates, officially certifying us as PSLs, and qualified to lead a group of Sec 1’s in the upcoming Orientation Camp. Nostalgic music played in the background, such as "Graduation" by Vitamin C, and "A Moment Like This" by Kelly Clarkson. Two of my favourite songs, playing at such a memorable time, creating memories that would last.
Back in the classrooms, we gathered our last few things, said our last goodbyes, had a group hug, and dispersed. That was a very sad moment for all of us, especially the ones who enjoyed the camp most, somewhat like me.
However, I had something to look forward to, something happening the very next day…
