The iCare Network Camp was held at Aloha Changi Resorts on 12 and 13 August 2011. It was a camp organized by Office of Student Affairs (OSA) to bond members of the newly formed iCare committee together through the 2D1N retreat, and our student facilitators (SFs) are invited to join them for the camp! “iCare” stands for “International Connect And Relations Enthusiasts!”, and their passion is to help international friends from all over the world to settle down and have a great experience in NUS and in Singapore. Besides, the committee is formed by students who come from various parts of the world, so they will be helping their fellow international students too!
We met the members at the OSA conference room at 10am. We started off the camp by playing an energizer and icebreaker with the iCare members. We also played a game ‘trapped!” with them. After that, our “Mama OSA” Miss Lim and “Papa SF” Terence gave an opening address to the members. The members discussed with the 2 OSA staff on their personal expectations for the camp as well as that of the committee for the rest of the semester.
We travelled to Aloha Changi Resorts at around 1.30pm. After we had done the check-in, we organized a teambuilding challenge for the iCare members, whereby they had to step on rubber mats in sequence, and ensure that at least one person is stepping on it until the whole committee has passed through it. This was to help them improve on their teamwork spirit.
Next, we conducted an experiential challenge for them, whereby they were split into three groups and played a game “mass jigsaw”. Each group had their own puzzles and other groups’ puzzles mixed up in their bag, but had to try to finish the puzzle in the shortest time possible. The message to be brought home was to “think win-win”, to co-operate with one another and complete the task together.
After the games, we did a short debrief for the members and then guided the team to set their first ever ground rules. The iCare members then did a SWOT analysis at individual level, followed by discussing together as a group and consolidating their ideas together.
Our SFs helped to purchase dinner from Changi Village Food Centre. When we brought the food back to the chalet and lay out on the dining table, it looked sumptuous! There was all the local food that many of the international students have not tried before. It includes goreng pisang, barbecued stingray, Malay fried rice, Chinese stir fried beef noodles, mee goreng, otak, rojak, century egg with pickled ginger etc.
Dinner was not complete without the members trying out durian. Miss Lim kindly bought it for all of us, and she bought rambutan and pulasan too. Those who have not tried durian before felt somewhat reluctant initially due to the pungent smell, but after trying one, they said that it tasted good! After that, the members went back to the hostel to continue brainstorming for potential iCare projects in NUS.
On day 2, we started off with a teambuilding challenge for the iCare members- cooking breakfast. All of them have improved on their team bonding since yesterday as each member knew what roles to take and everything went smoothly. We had sausages with egg toasts, tomato beans and mustard rice, thanks to the great members!
We did a warm with the members by conducting 2 energizers for them. After the games, we reviewed the ground rules that they had previously set and helped them to further refine it.
Our finale challenge for the iCare members was to split them into 2 teams, and each team was to build the higher tower with items like marshmallows and spaghetti in less than ten minutes. One team’s tower looked good for the foundation, but as they tried to add on more items, it could not support the weight well. Time started to run out for them, and it seemed a bit too late to rectify their design by then. When the time was up, the winning team was announced, and we gathered the members back for Terence’s debrief. The main aim of the activity was not to see who has won, but more importantly, to constantly have in mind what a task would look like after it has been completed. It was inspiring and indeed true that “if we fail to plan, we plan to fail”.
We checked out of the chalet and returned back to NUS in the afternoon. Through this retreat, our SFs had made new friends, and further improved on their facilitation skills in the process!