Camp Motivation- October 30-31, 2012

Reflection:

Camp Motivation was held at Crocker Range, a wildlife park near Keningau.  The camp was for Class Glory (year 6) and Class Imanuel (ages 12-18).  The purpose was to motivate students for their future.  Because these students are undocumented, they have three choices.  First, they can choose to continue schooling at a non-government school.  Second, they can start working--some at just age 12.  Or lastly, they can return to their home country, Indonesia or the Philippines. 

I was so grateful to be there with them.  It was so nice to see them outside of school.  When we first arrived I was overwhelmed by the sudden shift from teacher to what seemed more like a counselor.  We all stayed in one large cabin, girls in one room that housed bunk beds for 16, boys in another.  We arrived and the students immediately started shifting furniture to make more room, cutting vegetables for dinner, cleaning fish and meat for meals, sweeping the floors and lining up shoes.  Every time I tried to help with something, "Let me, Teacher" was the response.  

After cleaning and prepping food, we broke into four teams for games and activities for the duration of the camp. Each team had 8 people, with one teacher in charge.  My team was one person short, so I was asked to participate in all the activities with my group.  Little did I know I was in for a lot of fun!  We played some really good games, did some group building and some drawing.  What stuck out most were two things: 

First, in the evening we blind-folded all of the students and took them outside.  All the students in my group held on to a rope, while I directed them by pulling on the rope.  We walked up and down hills, had to cross over some open drains, and crawl through some wooded areas.  Due to my limited language abilities, I also had an extra person with me to help in case of confusion.  Somehow the most panicky student was in the front and had a firm grip on my hand.  But-- I know that if I was in her shoes, I would have done the same.  Essentially, the point was the develop trust in each other, and trust in personal abilities.  Even though life gets scary, know that you can make it through.  Some students were taken from their group and led to an area to be by themselves.  I was so surprised to see them just sit there and not move.  I would have been yelling names at the top of my lungs or at least feeling around me to have an idea of my surroundings.  Eventually, I went to some of these students and said, "you can walk".  Some still chose to stay, maybe out of fear, or uncertainty 

Second, we had a time in the evening where the lights were lowered and a teacher started to pray in Maleyu.  I was overwhelmed by the students reaction to this prayer that I could not understand.  They whimpered and cried, sobbed and moaned.  All I wanted to do was go and hold them and tell them it would be okay, but I looked at all of the teacher's and they just looked on with somber faces.  So, I stayed put with an overwhelming feeling building inside of me.  What was happening?  What is going on in their lives?  What hurts and burdens do they carry at such a young age to bring such a response as this?