Kiwanis Youth Camp - Dec 7-11 2013

Posting by Xian Jin

The Kiwanis Youth Camp is an annual camp organized by Kiwanis Club of Kuala Lumpur. This year it was a 5 day 4 night trip to the Earth Camp, Gopeng.

The day before it started, I had mixed feelings because I was afraid to do some activities I have never done before but I was curious as this was my first time.

We took a bus from a meeting point to the Earth Camp. In the bus, everyone was silent as we did not know each other. When I reached Earth Camp, I was amazed by the cleanliness of the dorms, the size of the place and the hospitality given by the staff there.

After a brief intro, we were divided into groups and had ice breaking sessions. We played many games like the tug-of-war and it was dinner time. The food was way beyond my expectation. I finished dinner with a very happy stomach and went on to wash up. After that we had a meeting and we slept.

The next day I woke up feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep. We first did water rescue which means you need to swim with the current and to swim against the current. Luckily I had swimming classes just before this camp! It was really fun and I participated in everything. After that we did flat-water rafting. I learned the correct technique to paddle. I also learned that we must work as a team in order to paddle forward.

The next day we did caving in Gua Tempurung which is a wet and natural limestone with an underground river passing through it.  I was excited as I have been here before. On this particular day I stepped up as a leader to lead my group. Each team were given a quest called Magic Fire. It was a race to see which team completes the quest first. On the way, there were many challenges and activities. We all enjoyed ourselves. When we were inside the cave, we helped each other to move on in the dark. Our team never gave up and soon we finished the race. Luckily we brought waterproof torches. But the best was yet to come.

The next day, I had a really fun time. First, my team did white water rafting, which was the first time I did it. At first I was scared I would fall out of the boat and drown, but we had a professional swimmer who guided us. We had a really good time together.

After lunch and went to Mountain School. Mountain School is a place where you have activities such as the flying fox and the leap of faith. I was reluctant to do all these but I thought: ”I would have to overcome my fear of heights someday, so why not give it a try?” I managed to participate in all the activities and I realised it was not that scary.

At night, we had a huge campfire. We did performances and dances. Everyone was sad as this was their last night. We only just realised how much we needed one another. The last activity of the night was the circle of appreciation. Everyone in a group has to tell his/her teammates of how they appreciated one another. When it was over, many were in tears.

I achieved many milestones in this camp and the happy moments will always remain in my heart. No doubt I would want to come back again.