Session 1 - Fantastic!

firstly, i would like to thank all volunteers for a job well done and also a big thank you to the dumplings for setting such a high bar for the rest of us! you guys did a fantastic job on sat, well done!!

just an observation; when the skit started, i noticed the kiddies weren't paying much attention when it was just the first scene where the four friends were talking amongst themselves. but when macho and roti came in and macho started pushing and shoving ah teh, my word, silence descended amongst the kiddies and they were all suddenly glued to what was happening in front! i can only conclude that it was a scene that they could all relate to, and hence the attention!

anyway, a few announcements:

1. dates of all sessions are as follows (please note):
session date group-in-charge teachers accompanying
2 apr 4 cupcakes macrina, sharon
3 apr 11 chaiwallah cherilyn, james
4 jun ?? sweet & sensible cherilyn, james (this date is not confirmed)
5 jun 27 mcbuddies adeline, christine
6 jul 4 gen bus sekolah adeline, christine
7 jul 25 dumplings macrina, sharon
8 aug 1 cupcakes macrina, sharon
9 aug 8 all (celebration) all

2. lesson plans
we hope to get the lesson plan for each session earlier so that we know what's happening. training sessions will be held on the tuesday of the week of the session (ie. next training session for cupcakes, all actors, and all group leaders will be on mar 31, 3 pm)

3. sharing
for many of us, the session on sat was a real eye-opener and i am sure that we were all touched in one way or another by the kiddies that we met. i would like to invite each of you to share your experiences with others by writing your thoughts down and email them to me. i will them post them up on this blog. please do contribute, and this will also serve as s 'journal' of sorts for us and for you to look back on. my email is christinechin25@gmail.com (please see next posting for two 'articles' from two volunteers) i have omitted the name of the child.

4. in confidence
gin kye has requested that if any one of the kids shared a story with you about bullying, please write it down, identify the kid and email it to me, and i will email it to gin kye. this will NOT be shared with others but only myself and gin kye will know who the kid is. the purpose is so that at the end of the program, if he knows specifically how a particular kid was/is affected by bullying then he can develope a 'custom-made' program to help this child. for example, farah had a fantastic story to share, and the name of child will only be known to the two of us.

5. please do not mention the fact that munited lost the match!!

have a good week guys