As the rickety school bus maneuvered through the bumpy dirt
road, I had my doubts about what my fellow NPCC teacher officers
described
as a seaside holiday resort. I wondered what could lie ahead
beyond the thick vegetation surrounding us besides the possibility
of
eagerly-waiting mosquitoes. It was my first official overseas
trip since I joined NPCC earlier this year as an untrained teacher-in-charge.
To say that I had high hopes for this trip was an understatement.
In my mind, I was replaying thoughts of white sandy beaches
and
rustic seaside huts. “Will my prediction hold true?” I
wondered.
As the bus approached leveled plains, the final part of our journey,
I glanced out of the window and beheld LOOLA. She was so different
from what I had expected. I felt as if, we, the city dwellers of
Singapore, had unwittingly stumbled upon a pastoral countryside.
A friendly worker came forward to help us with our bags and show
us to our large bungalows built in local style above the water.
After settling down, we began our activities.
From the look of our cadets’ faces, I knew that they were
used to trips like this. They were duly geared in NPCC tee-shirts
and long pants and well-prepared for the training. We had Secondary
Three cadets spilt into 2 groups. The group I followed went straight
for the four storey high man-made rock wall. One by one, we scaled
the imposing barrier, trying our best to stick firmly to it like
spider man as much as possible. For those who were stuck on the
wall with little energy to move forward, we shouted our encouragements,
urging them to take another step. Then the difficult part came.
We had to jump off the wall for the flying fox activity. As I took
an impending step forward into airy ground, I can hear my cadets’ wolf
whistles and loud claps. At that point, I felt glad that I
had somehow won their approvals through my gustiness.
The day passed quickly. Soon, we had completed the low rope obstacles
and archery as well. All of us were bone-tired as we dragged our
feet back to our bungalows. When the sky grew darker, we gathered
beneath the huge canvas of the dining area, looking up at thousands
of light-bearing stars twinkling in the dark. I find my spirits
lifting through conversing with fellow teachers about funny stories
in NPCC and recent updates of ex-NPCC cadets they had taught. Although
I did not know any cadets they had mentioned, I could sense their
strong bond with these cadets through their endearing words, even
after they had left the school.
On day two of our trip, I woke up to a gorgeous sight of a fiery
red ball in the horizon. Soon, the whole place was abuzz with
activities. Mr Shamsul, my officer-in-charge woke almost everyone
up with his
loud giggling as he hobbled in the mud with our two cadet inspectors
during low tide. In kampong boys’ styles, they were walking
around, looking at hermit crabs and catching little fishes.
Later that day, our cadets sat in their bright yellow kayak
and started
to paddle to a drift net boat some distance off shore. As a
reward for their labour, they were treated to an activity called
boom-net
jump. It required them to jump from the top deck into sturdy
nets at the side of the boat while it was moving, definitely
a daunting
task not for the faint-hearted.
After that we went back to the mainland and prepared for the campfire
and barbeque dinner at night. Our cadets took turns to recite a
poem about NPCC in teams of four as part of their impromptu stage
performance. The less than creative poems fluttered our hearts
nonetheless with their descriptions of how they enjoyed their trip
at LOOLA and what they had learnt so far. I would definitely say
that the team building activities made it a good bonding experience
for TO, CI and cadets alike. I also made surprising discovery about
the outgoing nature of some cadets and sensed the blooming leadership
qualities in a significant number of them.
I began to understand why, despite the killer mosquitoes and getting
bruises and cuts from all the strenuous activities, it's all worth
it. NPCC is worth it. Thus, given time and opportunity, I would
definitely hope to step on LOOLA again together with my fellow
TOs, CIs and ZSS NPCC cadets.
