Izzah's Reflection

For the many of us who have held on for the entire journey of TOOP 2009/10, we have been enriched and had our perspectives broadened. With the Tanjung Balai Trip last Saturday as the last event of the many events that we have had in place of our Yunnan Trip, we finally had a chance to experience what we have been preparing for all this while; interacting with kids, residents, taking shots that would make up our photo essay but more importantly, to learn.

The experience that I would have gained from Yunnan would of course be so much different from what I have experienced in Balai. With the language table turned in my favour, I was able to interact with the people there conveniently. This made my experience more ‘wholesome’ if I could say as I was able to interact with the kids, which was the main thing that I was eager about. Though I am not sure what it would have been like going for a longer trip, I would have appreciated more interaction time with the kids and the villagers because the hour or two spent in the village was rather short and I could only get a little taste of what it is like to teach the kids there something. Nevertheless, I have learnt some things from the little ones as well as the other villagers.

On our photo-taking round, I noticed that the villagers were unquestioning and open-hearted. They didn’t question who we were, what we were doing there or where we came from (im not sure if they knew beforehand or if they were expecting us but we roamed quite far off and they did seem enlightened when we introduced ourselves.) but welcomed us when we asked questions and seek permission to see them pluck coconuts! One of the children’s mother even let us into her house welcomingly and was humble but at the same time contented with what she had in that little house that roofs her 4 children, husband and herself.

It was quite amazing to observe such behaviour because comparatively, Singaporeans would be more apprehensive and wouldn’t trust foreigners that easily to open up to them about their lives. It was nice to experience such a change; to sort of turn back time to when life was simple and people’s wants were simple. The villagers seemed contented as long as they could provide for themselves and be with their family, like how the mother was contented with staying at home all day waiting for her children and husband to return from school and fishing respectively. Comparing ourselves to them, we have so much material wealth but find it difficult to be contented because we always want more.

The children’s eagerness to get their heads into whatever we have lined up for them is also inspiring. I think it wouldn’t have mattered if we had explained the games to them in a different language because they would still say they understand the game; there were just that eager to play and see what’s in store for them. We should learn from these kids sometimes and be eager to get our heads into whatever’s in store for us and dare to try. It is only through daring to try that we can achieve big things; just like how we have achieved and gained from daring to plan and go ahead with this trip despite the many setbacks we faced along the way.