Date: 24 October 2009
Time: 8:00AM - 5:00PM
Venue: CR 111

Iyn Yi's Reflections
Yesterday’s pre-trip session was certainly valuable. I managed to discover new interesting things I didn’t know about my Yunnan teammates, especially through the sharing of the item that represents us. I thought it was a really refreshing and effective way to get to know each other better. I also learnt to distinguish between service learning and CIP, which was something that I was never probed into thinking about. Having understood the true meaning of service-learning, I feel assured that the efforts put into working as a Yunnan team was worth it. It also led me to understand the differing emphasis people place on this whole service-learning journey. I chose to be in the S-L group because I personally believe that the amount of effort put into service will bring as much learning in return. However, after Miss Azyanti’s sharing, I was also convinced that our learning has indeed taken place before we really start to serve. For example, the pre-trip preparation helped me understand the rationale of fund-raising better, and also experience the process of planning an event. Communication and teamwork skills are also honed before the trip.
Also, I thought the game we played on the chairs with Miss Koh was really interesting. It seems like a simple game, yet extremely challenging for the team fulfill. Through this game, I could really feel the importance of true teamwork and coordination, and how communication that is not compromised may lead to the team’s breakdown.
All in all, I felt that the day was fruitful and would like to thank to teachers for the careful planning of the day’s activities.

Li Meng's Reflections
The service learning lesson was truly beneficial to me, it made me question myself why I wanted to go to this trip again and I am glad that the reason I wanted to was learn even more about myself. The lesson also allowed me to understand more about my fellow members as well and it made me realized we are all different in so many ways. However what mattered the most was that we all had one common goal which was to test ourselves mentally and physically and bring back something we can apply our lives.

Sau Yee's Reflections
SAME, SAME, BUT DIFFERENT

Today’s workshop got me thinking about my objectives for embarking on this trip again. Indeed, it would be exactly the same country, same province, perhaps even the same town, same village and same school – even the process of planning and the service-learning workshop at times seem like a déjà vu. Worse still, this time round, the novelty and excitement have more or less evaporated.

But, then again, a re-enactment of my 2008 Yunnan experience was not on my agenda when I joined the team this year. Allow me to quote Heraclites, a Greek philosopher (yes yes, KI has become part of me):

“No man ever steps in the same rive twice, for it is not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

In addition to a wonderful new team with a different modus operandi, I believe I have grown and matured in the past year. Admittedly, the SL debate sounds all too familiar (I still remember last year we launched into a heated argument); but with the new experiences and insights I’ve acquired, the lens and angles through which I explore and examine this conundrum lead me to renewed understanding and a different answer.

Until I’ve got a definitive answer in my heart, I will keep on searching. And it’s with this spirit that I want to venture to Yunnan again, with you, you, and you.


P.S. the frequent usage of the term “maximise” was really amusing..

Edwin's Reflections
The day started out with introducing yourself by using an item. It was quite interesting to see what everyone brought and how people view on objects. Through this activity, I learnt how there can be so many different perspectives of a particular object. Also, I got to know more about my team members, knowing what is important to them.
After lunch, it was a “musical chair” style game, which really tested on our group cohesiveness. There were many ideas raised by the team members, trying to cross the record time of 1 minute and 30seconds. Although we did not beat the record time in the end, I learnt about the importance of being calm during an emergency. It gets more chaotic when everyone panics and it will not be helpful to the situation at all.
For the SL activity, I chose Big L and a small S. This is the mindset I embarked off from this trip since I wrote the application form in March. I believe I started learning from the moment I applied because that is when I really think about why I wanted to got for the Yunnan trip. The learning process continued on with the meetings we have and all the fundraising projects. This half a year, I have benefitted a lot, learning and strengthening many soft skills such as perseverance and social skills. In addition, I believe that our service may not be as much as they expect from us, on our side we will try our best to maximize the service that we can offer to the people at Yunnan. Thus, a small S and a big L is most appropriate.I am clearer with the difference between SL and CIP. The 2 R's and the quotation was really insightful and meaningful. It has been an enriching day and I am looking forward to the next week.

Chin Hwee's Reflections
Today’s Service-Learning session has been an enriching and meaningful one for us, I believe. I enjoyed the chair game. It was fun, but there was also something which I have learnt out of the fun, that is to stay calm in all circumstances, do not get panicked when met with emergency, so as not to cause more unnecessary problems, as well as to really listen to instructions and follow them.

Nevertheless, the session sets us into thinking about our purpose in this project, and what service-learning is all about. Personally, I feel that there is no definite answer as to what s-l is, but instead it is very subjective to the individual. It all depends on how we see it, how we take it. Even though we know that there are some pointers to it (Meeting real needs, Sustainability, Structured Learning, Reflection, Reciprocity), we all see it and think of it in different perspectives, as seen in the ‘heated’ debate we had this afternoon. We may go through the same things, the same project, the same process, but what each one of us gains at the end of the day will be different from everyone else. It really depends on ourselves, how much each of us gives into serving, into learning as well. Furthermore, the learning process is never-ending- we learn as we grow; we grow as we learn:)

Han Le's Reflections

During the Service Learning Day camp on the 24^th of October, the TOOP Yunnan team got together to know more abot service learning and what it actually means.

It started off with an introductory session, where everyone was supposed to bring something that represents them and say why it represents them. Through this exercise, we managed to learn more about each other and what we believe in. This is important as during our trip to Yunnan, differences in what we believe in may cause us to do things in different ways, which may conflict with other people. By understanding what other people believe in, we will be able to see why they act the way they do. I think it is a good exercise as we will not be able to know that much about each other, as compared to a “normal” introductory session,

We also had a brainstorming session to find out what really represents Singapore. It is very important to know these facts about Singapore as we are going to another country as representatives of Singapore. In Yunnan, we will know new people and these people wold want to know more about our country. If we do not know our country well, it would be quite embarrassing when we do not know how to answer their questions.

After that, we had a brainstorming session in our groups to find out what is really the difference between CIP and service learning. My group, Onion, finally came to a consensus as to what service learning really is. Service learning is when people learn through serving, and it differs from CIP in the way that it is more process orientated. Following the discussion on service learning, we had a mini “ debate” , where everyone was required to decide the ratio of service and learning. Many people had differing views on how much we could give and learn. People in the learn more than serve category felt that there was only so much we could do to serve, but the learning we get is determined by ourselves, therefore there is more learning than service. People in the serve more than learn category felt that since they were trying to help the people, they should serve as much as possible so as to help them more. I thought that learning and serving takes place at the same time, by serving , we learn. This exercise is important as it also determines the actions we take when we are in Yunnan. Because of what they expect to take or give from the trip, their actions may differ. Therefore we should take these into account during the trip.

I had a fruitful day today, and I think today’s session really let me learn a lot. I am sure the rest did too. (: