Get ready??? Let’s get started!

Melting baking chocolate

Manual mixer but the results were good. =p

Walnut, walnut, I like walnut… Add more! Add more (=

The hot and fresh BROWNIES!

It’s only $1.50, with ice cream toppings. Yummy~

During dinner time in dining hall

And we had door-to-door service too

go to Cambodia with us!

Hey there! Are you interested in joining us?

Look out for our presentation during Formal Hall Dinner this coming Thursday, 3 Sept 2009 (and cheer loudly at the end of it, haha!)

We’ll be sending a recruitment email to all KE7 residents’ NUSmail accounts soon, so keep your eyes peeled (:

1) What’s OCIP?

Overseas (in this case, CAMBODIA ) Community Involvement Project

2) How many CCA points?

Around 10-12, credited to your community project account

3) How much do I have to pay?

No worries there; the cost is heavily discounted by our various fund-raising activities and the kind subsidy by hall ^^ for the 2009 trip, our estimated budget per person was $1000 but after all the subsidies, we only paid (max) $300, excluding personal expenses like shopping and food during R&R

4) How many people are in the team?

Around 11-15 people, depending on response

5) When will it be held?

Most probably May or June 2010, during our long holiday (:

6) How long is the trip?

It lasted 17 days for the 2009 trip, and shorter the year before last; the upcoming trip’s duration is to be confirmed but will be around the same as the previous years’

7) Where will we go?

In the 2009 trip, we went to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. The upcoming trip may or may not be the same, depending on the team’s consensus

8 ) What can I expect if I join?

- Everyone in the team has to be committed to the project since the planning process will take place starting from Semester One (meetings once a month), to Semester Two (fundraising activities, meetings once or twice a month), to after the finals (wrap up plans and preparations)

- Everyone will be an In-Charge, thus you will have (at least) one responsibility, ranging from Logistics I/C (1 person), Breakfast I/C (2 people), Duties I/C (1 person), Navigator (2 people), Official Photographer (1 person), Ice-breaking I/C (1 person), Farewell I/C (2 people), Programmes I/C (1 person), First Aider (1 person), etc.

- Other than that, everybody will be fully involved in the lessons: from the planning phase all the way to the execution

- You have to be open to new experiences, and dare to try new things! (: this involves playing with children, becoming a teacher for a day, sleeping under mosquito nets, eating fried insects, trying out Khmer (Cambodian) food, experiencing communication difficulties, wandering around a local market, carrying a 10+ kg backpack, having flooded toilets, seeing spiders and other insects in close proximity, not looking a beggar/seller in the eye and not buying their goods (because they are part of a syndicate), learning to work with different kinds of people, experiencing the Cambodian way of life, their culture and their thinking, etc etc. Oh man, I can go on forever! But all in all, EXPECT A WONDERFULLY AMAZING AND UNIQUE EXPERIENCE ((:

9) Can you tell me more about what we’ll be doing there?

- I can’t tell you what exactly WE will be going to do as there will still be a lot of discussion among the new team before we come to a final decision (but I can tell you what we have been doing so far!)

- Past 2 years

• Boys’ Brigade Learning Centre in Puok Village, Siem Reap
• Age group: teens
• English standard: primary school to lower secondary level

- 2008

• 1^st ever trip by our hall’s OCIP team!
• Learning the English language through various means – playing Monopoly, using newspaper cut-outs, letter writing between the students and our team members, etc.

- 2009

• Learning soft skills (teamwork, self-esteem, communication, problem-solving, decision-making, etc.) via games
• Reading Programme: revamping their library by spring cleaning, bringing in more books from Singapore, sorting and labelling the books into various categories, coming up with a Reading Review and reward system

- New initiative in 2009

• Visited a learning centre in Phnom Penh to play with the children for 2 days
• These children could not go to school, are much younger and have minimal grasp of English
• Didn’t really teach much
• Had a slideshow to tell them more about Singapore (requested by the centre’s manager)
• More of playing, doing art and craft, and going through the alphabet

- Do you have any ideas? Feel free to voice them out; we’re open to any new suggestions!

10) Do we get any R&R (Rest & Relax)?

- Of course!

- Angkor Wat (one of the Eight Wonders of the World!) and other temples in its vicinity

- Exploring and having nice meals in Siem Reap Town

- Shopping at markets

- Slums and dumps in Phnom Penh (to view the poor living conditions there)

- Killing Fields, Genocide Museum, etc. (to learn more about Cambodia’s history during the Khmer Rouge)

- Any other requests you may have! (:

11) How’s the food there?

- Similar to Chinese food

- More vegetables than meat

- Soupy

- Quite healthy :p

- Very fresh fruits!

12) Is it safe?

- Yes

- Our contacts in Cambodia were giving by Master himself; they are Singaporeans who have been living there for a few years and know the culture and how to get the best deals and go to the best places

- Preparations will be as meticulous as possible to minimise the risk of anything going wrong

- Cambodia is generally a safe and simple country where her people put more emphasis on the social aspect, e.g.: forming good relationships and always being happy

- Since it is rapidly developing, and her people are trying their best to keep up with the times and progress by making an honest living

- Being in a group with an average age of 20+, you’ll never be alone and everyone looks out for each other

- It’s a good way to be independent in a foreign land and live life to the fullest!

13) How do I find out more?

- Feel free to approach Carmen when you see her in hall, find her at G303, call/sms her at 8201 6346, or email her at ke7ocip@gmail.com haha XD

- Get a better idea by viewing photos in Facebook – try photo albums by Carmen, Hazel, Pak Kin, Shu Ling, etc.

Hope to see you in the next KEVII OCIP team!

Carmen (:
KE7 OCIP 2010, Leader

For photos, feel free to view those on Facebook (: go to the photo albums of Carmen, Hazelina, Pak Kin and Shuling to see all the amazing snipets of our memories in Cambodia