YES Conference 6.0

I came back from the YES Conference 6.0 held by the one and only YES Alumni Malaysia in Taiping, Perak, It was a brilliant conference, even though it feels more of a camp sometimes. Still, it's worth it---meeting my YES ohana, meeting and making new friends, gaining and sharing experience. It was a 3 full days of awesomeness and memories.

Day 1, 21st August 2015

It was all a rush when my friend Munis, who was supposed to get both of us to Butterworth Sentral by 1.15pm. I was having my shower when he called and said : change of plan, his uncle will be picking us up in a pick-up van. We arrived at Butterwoth Sentral on time( there were schools on Friday, i forgot ) despite the traffic. We redeemed our tickets and waited for Ash, who was supposed to join us. He was late, the bus was supposed to leave at 1.35pm, and Munis had to plead the bus driver to wait. It appeared that Ash was delayed for 30 minutes by the ferry. 

We arrived at Kamunting Bus Station by 2.45pm, and waited for Joshua Peh, YES 13, to pick us up. i have no idea who he is, but we think that we would be able to tell which car is his since he might have the AFS sticker, or because all 3 of us were wearing YES Tshirts. We saw him in the end anyway, in grey tshirt. He brought us for McD and around Lake garden. It was pretty. 

We registered at SSL Traders Hotel after that. My room-mate was Kak Huda, YES 07 ( WOW..) She's really nice and funny. I also found out that Akmal Laili is also staying in a room "across a street" from me. She's also known as Beruang Hitam Putih ( because it's a FB name) .

YES 14 reunited !

It was time for Ice Breaking session. Of course we had the Blow Wind Blow game, it's tradition. Next we had to dance together with a friend with our feet on a piece of newspaper, which gets smaller and smaller every round. I was paired up with Kevin Hui, and Gosh, I was so nervous, not because of the fact that he's already"berpunya" , but because he's so big and sweaty and the heat was radiating from him within that enclosed place. It's like a workout after that session. Then, we wrapped up the session with Mafia games. 

After a rest, shower, and dinner. We attended a briefing session conducted by Lee Hui Ci , a representative from Project WHEE. It's really something to know about and you would probably want to try it. Check out the Project WHEE official Blog. 

Day 2. 22nd August 2015

At the Burmese Pool

We woke up early for a good breakfast and a briefing for today's community service. This year, we were assigned to spent a Day with the kids from Nurul Iman Orphanage in Kamunting. The first task was to spent some time with them at a waterfall called Burmese Pool in Taiping.
I paired up with 3 kids called Mior, Fikri and Sani. They were tiny little kids just in primary school. Together with Sylvia, Sophie and Ikmal , we guided them through station games, and it was pretty amazing to see how enthusiastic these kids were. In the end, we treated each of them with Ice-Cream cones.

At Taman Tasik Taiping

After that, we went to Taman Tasik Taiping for a picnic, it was a beautiful park, and the playground was full of the kids laughter when they played the slides.  They enjoyed it tremendously. Next, we brought all of them back to Nurul Iman Orphanage and let them prayed and shower, We saw their bunk beds and it was liked just a building full of beds, and a little hut next to the building for prayers and reading and eating. It's not hard to imagine what their daily routine would be. The hard part would be figuring out how do they get by everyday without whining.

With some of the Kids

Our next mission was to teach them Basic English through Games. I was teamed up with Joshua to guide a group of 4 kids. I got Mior and Sani back, with Nazrin and Razlan. They had to do some Sentence making, Translation, Expressing themselves in English. They were struggling a bit at first , but the games and the volunteers helped them a lot and they were soon enjoying themselves. When it was time to go back, they were peeping at us through their windows and some waving back to us at the door while grabbing their songkok. Our team then proceeded to have dinner at Taiping food court.

We had some debriefing and briefing about volunteering at night, but of all the things that I remember the most was this thing shared by Kak Huda

5 FACTS ABOUT LIFE. 

1)No matter how ugly you think you are;just remember that baboons and gorillas also attract tourists 

2)No matter how big and strong you are,you shall not carry yourself to the grave. 

3)No matter how tall you are,you can never see tomorrow. 

4)No matter how light skinned you are,you always need a light in the dark. 

5)No matter how rich and how many cars you have,you will always walk to the toilet.

Day 3.  23rd August 2015

For the Finale, we discussed about how to improve our Alumni through all sorts of aspects. Photo Sessions was inevitable of course. And then Luqman and Wai Min came up with a session like this. You write down 4 things you like/ posses, 4 people who are important to you, 4 significant places, 4 significant moments or memories, 4 goals. We called them 20 values, and you are asked to eliminate 6 values, 5 values, 4 values, and finally, 2 values. So you're left with 3 values. Here's mine

4 things :
Me, Family, Pictures, Personal Blog 

4 memories :
Slap on shoulder by dad, selected for YES program, Meeting Host Family, my brother leaving for college 

4 people :
Mom, Dad, Brother, Ex-Best Friend 

4 places:
KMP, My Home, St Paul MN, Malaysia 

4 goals
Helpful Dentist, more active in YES/AFS activity, Striving in university, Establish a good and loving family

In the end, after rounds of elimination, I was left with 3 values : Mom, Dad, and Family.

You will find that it is necessary to let things go;

simply for the reason that they are heavy. 

So, it was a great conference and great reunion. Looking forward to the next YES event.