by YAP MING HUI;
"TEAMWORK CONQUERS ALL"
On the 17th of April 2015, the Police Cadets of SMKBSD1 organized its first ever Police Cadet Camp with the theme ‘Teamwork Conquers All’, lasting from 17th April to 19th April. The objective of this camp is to provide exposure on the activities of the Police Cadets through concepts such as patriotism, independence, loyalty, cooperation and team commitment.
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| FIGURE 5.01 ALL THE CAMPERS SETTLED AND EXCITED FOR CAMP TO START |
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| FIGURE 5.02 MY WONDERFUL TEAM FRANCE |
After the night walk, it was well into the night and all of us were dead tired. Sleep came quickly and we awoke to the next day. The first order of business was a session of exercises. After a quick breakfast, we had marching practice, where the committee taught us the basics. Moving on to what could be called the main event of the camp; the station games. There were five games and a scoresheet, which was ticked off whether win or lose by the committee members. The games involved treasure hunting, an eating competition, and make-the-most-disgusting-potato-chip-then-eat-it competition.
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| FIGURE 5.03 BLOWING A PINGPONG BALL THROUGH FOUR CUPS FULL OF FLOUR |
After the station games came lunch, and to our misfortune, it rained heavily during our obstacle course activity after it. For safety, it was cut short and all the campers were sent to the showers. I felt sad at the time because we didn't get our turn at the obstacle course, and it seemed like the campfire that night was about to be canceled as well since the firewood was soaked. Miraculously, the rain stopped after half an hour and we were all called out to proceed onto the next activity, which was water balloons. Enough said. It was a bit of a hassle for those who had already showered and changed, but the promise of a good old water balloon fight was enough to ward away the moans and groans.
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| FIGURE 5.04 WATER BALLOONS! |
Originally, our committee had planned to make this a little different. We were supposed to play football using the water balloons to propel a ball forward into goals, but naturally, none of us paid any heed and just went for one another when the go was given. It was an all-out battle as we strived to dump brightly colored globes of water onto other campers’ heads. More interestingly, the committee came prepared with flour packets to hurl at us. At the end of the water fight, we were all soaked and covered with patches of flour. Due to the rain earlier, it was absolutely freezing but we all had a lot of fun.
That night, we had a campfire which we all huddled around and talked. Did I ever mention how beautiful the stars were at night when viewed from the school? It was peaceful and serene. Our committee had attempted to start a chain story, but when it kept straying to R-18, they called it off and just decided to sing some songs. As an extra treat, they had some people come in with a grill and some delicious sausages and burgers for supper. Before that however, we had a ‘blind tour’ where we were blindfolded and then led out to the assembly area. The committee had made ghost noises and attempted to scare us. Suffice to say, some people were awfully shaken after that activity and there was some screaming.
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| FIGURE 5.05 THE ROARING CAMPFIRE |
A few hours of sleep passed quickly and we awoke to our last day of camp. It was time for the closing ceremony. At 10.30am, the VIP guests arrived and took their places as we commenced the singing of the national anthem and the state anthem. After that, there was a short prayer reading by Cadet Ashraf Hakim followed by a speech from the President of the Police Cadet Core, Cadet Ng Yee Yang. Following that was an official closing speech by the YB Chief of the Damansara Damai Police Department, who also gave out the prizes to the team leaders and the best male and female camper. The overall winning team was Team France, with the runner up Team Portugal and the third place by Team Spain.
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| FIGURE 5.06 ALL THE CADETS DECKED OUT IN THEIR OFFICIAL CAMP T-SHIRTS |
As the final event of the ceremony, we sang the song ‘Polis Sedia Berkhidmat’ which we had practiced the night before with our best voice. After that, we had lunch preceded by a short photography session with the VIP guests. After that, we had a group cleaning up session to make sure the school grounds were spotless before we left the school.
I felt very happy that I had joined this camp and it should have lasted longer than those measly three days. Even if I did get really sick after the camp, I nevertheless had a lot of fun and I wish the camp can be held annually. I also would like to give thanks to the teachers and committee members who worked hard to make this camp amazing. Thank you all so much for organizing this camp and I wish to be part of this again next year.
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| FIGURE 5.07 THE HARDWORKING COMMITTEE; UNFORTUNATELY WITHOUT THE PRESIDENT OF THE POLICE CADETS |
