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Pulau Hantu (ODAC ORIENTATION CAMP)  

4th - 5th August 2001

 

By Anne Marie

Alex had approached me to share my views and thoughts on the ODAC ORIENTATION CAMP, which was held at Pulau Hantu from 4th to 5th August 2001. So here’s goes…

 

Our 2 days orientation camp on the beautiful Pulau Hantu had passed by like flowing waters. Although the trip was short, I am sure all of us had enjoyed our camp thoroughly. Togetherness was established and new ties forged through participation, cooperation and learning in the various games that were played.

Prior to setting up camp and pitching the tents, we had a demonstration from Alex and Jonathan, which helped a great deal, especially to those who had no prior tent-pitching experience. However, there was a "twist" to the actual process, as the tent has to be set up perfectly and at the same time, we had compete with the other groups to clock the fastest timing. Some of the group members had tried to get a head start by removing all the parts from the tent bags before the start of the ‘competition’ but Ha! They were caught red-handed. Perfection in pitching the tents and quick thinking was the aim of the competition and as the day went on, more competitions came our way.

 

After the tents were pitched, we proceeded on to play various icebreakers games which were in itself, a competition amongst the groups. Points were awarded based on speed and no. of goals and the group that accumulates the most points wins at the end of the day. Also, after each game, we were clues which were needed in finding our equipment and foodstuffs for our mini BBQ in the evening.

 

The first station that my group played had to do with a hula-hoop. It was a test of team coordination and cooperation as each of us had to guide the hula hoop down to the ground using our fingers, of which had to be in contact with the hula hoop at all times. Though it sounds easy at first, the actual act of doing it was a task in itself as a lot of coordination was needed among the group members to lower the hula-hoop together at the same time.

 

Our second station was "Trust Fall". It was scary yet interesting, but what was important was that I had to have confidence in trusting my fellow group mates to catch hold of me while I fall backwards from a height. Any mistake may probably have me ended up falling to the ground!

 

I also remembered the team spirit and camaraderie my group displayed while playing "Punch the alphabet". There was an intense desire to better our own and other groups’ timing and to complete the game with utmost perfection. Strategy and systematic coordination were needed to finish the game as a group, as quickly as possible without a single glitch; otherwise we had to restart the game all over again. Though unintentional mistakes were made during the game, partly because of nerves, no blames were put across; instead words of encouragement flowed freely and this had helped boosted the level of my team’s confidences and togetherness. 

 

One of my favorite games was the “Frisbee”. It had the same concept as Captain’s Ball except that the ball was replaced with a Frisbee. Scores were obtained as the Frisbee was passed among the teammates until it whizzed to our goalkeeper. Throughout the game, everybody aimed to out-run, out-jump, out-snatched ( well the girls got involved in a cat-fight while fighting for the Frisbee!)  and out-score the other group members, through collaboration, precise timing and passing. And through sheer desire to win, my group fought our way through to emerge the group with the most scores.

 

Come evening, we had to set up our individual BBQ pits, using the clues that we were given earlier. Again, everyone cooperated to look for our items at various spots on the island. It was easy as everyone was filled with enthusiasm (which was fueled by hunger and greediness) and we soon managed to obtain all the necessary stuffs. The skies opened just when all of us were preparing the pits and food and hence the BBQ was relocated to shelters found on the island instead of the beach. So each group “snuggled” up together in the shelters, which I personally enjoyed. Everybody pitched in to help with the cooking and BBQ-ing and to my amazement; I realized that there are many good chefs in ODAC. The atmosphere was electrifying, as the air was filled with the smells of sea, rain and food, the sizzling sound of patties of chicken and beef on grill, and the joyous chatter and laughter of all of us. 

 

After we had ate our fill and cleaned up the area, we congregated for a game much similar to the “Super Sunday” game show or charade. Actions implying the answer were conveyed down  one whole line of people. The last person had to guess what the action was implying and it’s no mean feat as the message got distorted along the way; the hilarious actions, coupled with our fertile imagination, drew laughter from all present.

 

After that, we tried to follow the dance steps in accordance to the Hantu Dance Song, which the seniors had choreographed a day before. The dance steps were great as it had a mixture of cool actions in it. For example, there was a bit of ‘Macarena’ and ‘Saturday Night Fever’ steps in the dance. Though it was rave party- not, we nevertheless enjoyed ourselves thoroughly dancing to the somewhat exotic and primitive beats of the Song.

 

We then went away in our groups to different parts of the island, to engage in some ‘bonding’ through chats, jokes, games and stories. This kept us awake for most of the night till most of us fell prey to the sleepy bug at about 5am and drop-dead to sleep for whatever was remaining of the ‘night’.

 

Dawn came before we knew it and soon it was time to break camp and pack up. All good things must come to an end and as I board the ferry with a heavy heart, no words could ever express the memorable times my group and I had on Pulau Hantu.

 

I guess the orientation camp will be in a special place in all ODACians’ hearts and it could not have had been so successful if not for the seniors’ efforts in organizing the camp program and of course, the enthusiasms and participations of the yr ones.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my group 1 members namely, Jean, Qi Jun, Eunice, Esther, Chi Kuan, Kenny, Ali, Richard and Annabel for being so “on”, and for making it one of the memorable camp for me.

 

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ODAC like to express heartfelt appreciation to members who helped make this camp possible especially to members of the advance party and of course Anne for helping me with this.

 

 

Regards,

Alex Tan 

VP ODAC

 

 

 

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Last modified: August 20, 2001