A token we left behind

Overall trip diary 2

Internationalism 4

Democracy 5

Environment 6

Action/Adventure 7

Leadership 8

Service 9

More photos 10

12IR trip to BORNEO 2011

Inside this issue:

RISS IDEALS week in BORNEO!!

CAMP BORNEO BONGKUD

This year the Year 12s went to Borneo as a

part of out IDEALS trip. Our trip had to

incorporate Internationalism, Democracy,

Environment, Action, Leadership and Ser-

vice. We stayed at a camp near Mt Kinaba-

lu called Camp Borneo Bongkud. This trip

was an opportunity for us to give back to a

community and at the same time to come

closer as a group. This trip made sure that

we stepped outside our comfort zones and

experienced new and various activities. For

example, we walked through a jungle, 50

meters in the air! And we had to do chores,

which includes washing our own clothes

(most of us had no clue how to do so). For

the first time, in quite a long time our class

was not separated/split into cliques, we

mixed with everyone and made sure that

everyone had an enjoyable time. We also

had the opportunity to mix with the local

community. A few of us were instant hits.

The experience was FUN and ENJOYA-

BLE, the farewell night was very emotion-

al for all. This was an experience that we

will carry with us forever.

-Yasmin

TRIP DIARY by Tae Joo & Julia

Day Three

We started to work on the community center project. It was a long term project that is planned to finish in 5

years. We are just a part of long project, but as we are helping people in the village, we were full of enthu-

siasm! The weather there was very hot and we found it challenging. During the lunch time, the lunch was

so delicious and we ate a lot. In the afternoon, we learned to cook the traditional food which was fried ba-

nana. As there is similar Vietnamese food, we could share our cultures with them too. At night time, we

taught the kids from the village English. From that time, we all understood that "teacher is not an easy job."

It was a big job to prepare for the lessons. But it was a very good experience. Tired but fun.

Day one

In the early Sunday morning, people in my class met together in the airport waiting for the very early flight

from Saigon to Brunei. We were very excited and could not wait for the meaningful trip com-

ing. Everything was good until we arrived at the Brunei airport. There was no one waiting for us in the air-

port. When Mr. Ian phoned the tour company, the man in the phone did not know anything about us. The

misunderstanding made us wait in a KFC for about one hour and finally a guide came to pick us up with

apologies. However, the food was great and the weather was beautiful in Brunei. We visited several famous

places including water village and palace, but due to the time issue, we did not visit those places in detail.

Later on we went to the airport head to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

Day Two

After having a good sleep in the hostel with friendly backpackers, we were ready for the long journey from

Kota Kinabalu to our camp. It took us about two hours to reach there, so everyone slept on the bus because

we had nothing to do. Finally, we arrived at the camp. The first impression of the camp from everyone was

OH MY GOD. We could not believe that we were going to sleep in the tent for five nights and there was no

beach which was what we been told and made us so excited. In addition, there was no hot water for show-

ering. In the afternoon, we had local cultural lessons which included singing lesson, dancing lessons and

language learning lessons. There was a welcome ceremony from the village people. Kids in primary school

danced the traditional "bird dance" with traditional clothes on which was very nice. It was great night.

Day Six

It was time to leave the camp. Today we went shopping in Kota Kinabalu downtown. We had Starbucks

and McDonald which we haven't have for a long time as those don’t exist in Vietnam unfortunately. We had

a good time shopping and felt relaxed. Goods in Kota Kinabalu were easily found in Vietnam. However,

we shopped because goods in KK were more updated and cheaper than Vietnam. Shopping in KK was very

pleasant. In the evening we flew back to Brunei. When we arrived to hotel, we were all surprised because

of the quality of hotel. It was 4 star hotel! We finally can live in a hotel!!!

Day Four

Today we were separated into three groups: teaching group, painting group and construction group. It was

cooler than yesterday. The weather made us a bit more comfortable while working. We started to find out

that although we were tired but we learned a lot. During the night time, we had camp fire in the camp and

all of us sitting in front of the fire and share our feelings together.

Day Five

It rained heavily in the morning, so we could not follow the plan which was to paint the kindergarten to-

gether. So the manager of the camp, Ms. Eve, Camp manager, taught us how to made bracelet by the tree

seeds and beads. We made some for our friend and family to share. After the painting work in the after-

noon, we climbed the mountain near our camp. We were exhausted when we finally reached the top of the

mountain. Due to the weather issue, we did not have the chance to see the beautiful sunset but it was a nice

exercise. We had a goodbye party in the evening with the village people. We performed the bird dance and

the song which we learned on the first day. It was a touching night and we all got a little gift from the

INTERNATIONALISM by Young Jee

Year 12 students went to Borneo, Malaysia. Because it was Malaysia and we were not able to communicate

with Malay, English was the only language we could communicate with local people. Thankfully, local

people could speak quite a bit of English although it was not fluent.

A few of us also learnt a few words in Malay. We could count up to three and ask how are you (Apa Kha-

bar?) We also had the opportunity to a Malay song, which we had to perform on the last night of our trip.

Also this was an opportunity to try different food, experience different culture. The most fun thing was

learning local instruments and local dance. We separated into two groups and we took turns to learn instru-

ments and dance. The dance is called ‘the bird dance’. It was our first time to learn such dance which is

very different to what we are used to seeing.

DEMOCRACY by David

When we arrived in Brunei, we talked about splitting into groups so there should be at least 3 people as a

group . Anywhere we go we should inform the teachers and let them know where are we were going, what

time we would return and where we were supposed to meet. We also decided to vote for certain specific

activities during that day. I also think it’s the best solution to choose the activity that most of us want to do.

This means that not all people can do whatever they want, so in different circumstances and different situa-

tions we had to talk through our options and debate the decision in a persuasive way.

We lived in a camp where we’ll have to do most of the things for ourselves such as washing our clothes,

doing the dishes, drinks etc… except meals such as breakfast, lunch and dinner. We also chose 3 different

people each day (that includes the teachers) to wash all the dishes after the meals.. Some teenagers might

think its not fun to do all of that stuff which they find boring and irritating. But why is it so bad when you

are doing it with your friends? And that can totally make the difference. Because you got others helping

you as you’re helping them. It makes things easy and fast, that’s why none of us complained about it in

Brunei and Malaysia because we got each other’s back and that’s what it matters.

ENVIRONMENT by Cindy

Brunei: when we arrived in Brunei, the first thing I realized was the similar tropical weather as Vietnam’s

weather, especially Ho Chi Minh’s: it is hot for the whole day! After leaving the airport, we had the chance

to visit its royal and natural museums. In there, we saw a variety of living species and their habitats. Some

samples of animals that I had never seen before were very weird, but interesting. Everything in there made

me feel like I was staying in a rain forest that has a wonderful biodiversity. This great nature does not only

appear in the museums but it also happens everywhere in the city: we saw many kinds of catfish in the riv-

ers and some wild animals on the sides of the roads. However, the environment in Brunei’s water village is

not really good. It is quite polluted due to people’s waste. Furthermore, although the atmosphere is very

fresh, the toilets or some public buildings are quite low quality.

Borneo, Malaysia: the weather of Malaysia in general is also similar to that of Brunei, but when we went

up Kota Kinabalu (a very high mountain), the weather changed a lot: it is cooler and fresher. In Borneo, it

is hot during the day (but not as hot as under the mountain), but it is very cold at night. Surrounding our

camps are a lot of trees and some nice animals (they are not wild animals), and behind the camps is a river,

but that river is contaminated due to copper mining. One thing that I like in this place is that local people

plant many kinds of vegetables and flowers, which will become their foods or decorating things.

The nice and fresh environment in Borneo made me feel relax and very convenient. I love that place.

ADVENTURE/ACTION by Jasmine

Learning local dance and playing local instruments – This is the most interesting activity during the trip

I think. We get to know more about the local residents’ culture, and realized that the children are all very

talented and friendly (of course not only the children). All of us were being asked to learn their dance and

perform in front of them on the last day. I was absolutely shocked when I heard that because the dancers

had to dance like birds and imitate bird screams when changing the routine. It wasn’t as easy as we all

thought, the dance made my legs hurt. But it was fun after all, and due to some unknown factors, the bird

sound became boys’ job.

Climb an extremely high hill – It is a tall hill, a very tall hill. Before we had been told to climb the hill,

we were actually enjoying the beautiful view of the hill from where we lived, it is very pretty and majestic.

It wasn’t so tough at the beginning when we started, but the routes were getting steeper and more slippery

on the way up to the hill. On the half way, nobody had extra energy to enjoy the beautiful landscape but

focusing on how to walk one more step without wasting too much power. Even though its hard and seems

impossible to reach the end, we all made it at last. One of my classmates even ran down halfway and back

again for a bet. You all know who I’m talking about!

We also did jungle trekking on one of the last days during our trip. No one had any problem with going

through a jungle/forest, the problem was we also had to walk through the jungle using a rope bridge that

was really high up. We had to split up in groups of six. Most of us were really nervous and to add on, a few

of the boys starting shaking the bridge. The problem was that one of us had a huge problem with heights! A

few of us had to comfort this person, and luckily the bridges weren't that long. Thank goodness, our next

stop was the hot spring. It wasn't much of a spring but more of swimming pools, but it was still fun!

LEADERSHIP by Young Jee

2011 year 12 Malaysia trip to Borneo was meaningful. Every student learned their benefit in their own way

this time. To focus on leadership, there was many chances for students to show their leadership. There were

also some shy and introverted students, but we could see many students stepping forward.

When teachers were not able to take care of students every single time, one or two students led the others to

their duties. As we had to work on community project, we could see some students asking others to spread

the duties out to make the work more efficient. We had to organize ourselves with what teaching materials

we wanted and needed (one of our activities was to teach the local children English)

On the second last day, we had a small concert and before that, we all learnt a Malaysian song. Because we

all wanted to show something to local kids, we prepared a small concert with instruments provided. In the

process of preparing concert, Lincon was the one who had the spotlight. His enthusiasm and interest and

effort to make this concert successfully led to a great time on the concert night. We all could see Lincon

allocating small instruments and teaching students how to play and sing and also, organizing the program

and being MC.

SERVICE by Jasmine & Yasmin

Community project – We first cleaned up the land by cutting the grasses and plants for the project later on.

It was totally exhausting. Even though it doesn’t look as hard, when we actually started to use the hoes,

gardening scissors, machetes and wheel barrows, we learnt how difficult it is to be a farmer, and what I

know for sure is that none of us has the potential to be a farmer, perhaps except for Mr. Ian. We also paint-

ed a small kindergarten. It was quite hard because most of us were short.

I am not really sure if doing our chores is considered as service but still. We took turns washing all the

dishes and we helped bring out the food and clean up the general area as much as possible. One thing that

everyone was surprised with was the fact that they needed to wash their own clothes. Most of us have never

done it before but it was definitely a nice experience.

Besides that, we also taught the local children some basic English. Lincon, Julia and Lavender taught them

a song about colors, Everyone had fun watching them. My (Jasmine) group taught a slightly older group, it

was quite hard because most of them were not really fluent in English so Yasmin had to constantly trans-

late it.

MORE PHOTOS!!!