Training CS princesses to be tough

SMK Convent Sentul girls are quite genteel, orderly and feminine. These qualities  are great assets especially in  areas like toilets and general maintenance so I rate our our school toilets the best toilets among the the previous 5 schools I have taught in.Thank God!


However our gentle girls are not very accustomed to tough adventurous settings. The recent CS trip of 40 girls and 5 teachers to Broga Outbac in Lenggeng, Negeri Sembilan  was a awesome challenge and training in toughness and adventure to all of us, me included! On arrival at Outbac, we were awed by the steep ladder climb to the flying fox launch. Then we watched open mouthed as student after student came down on the flying fox, flying from on high to cross a shallow lake and landing. Could CS girls do this? Could I or the teachers do it? 

Coming down the flying fox across a pond

Teachers Pn Pamela, me and Pn Pamela all decked out in helmet and harness for our flying fox!

I am pleased to report that about 40+ teachers and girls completed the awesome flying fox challenge, including 3 teachers - Pn Anna, me and Pn Pamela. Of course we were terrified and like the girls said " "Freaking awesomely frightening, teacher, especially when we climbed up the stairs and see how high we are. Worse when we stand up there and waiting to take off! Aiyoh! But when we are flying already, it is so cool! Teacher, can we do this again?"


For all of us, completing the flying fox was a real challenge! We learned to conquer our fears, yes we felt the fears very clearly since we are not robots as you know quite well. But we did not let our inner  fears daunt us and stop us from achieving our goals. Syabas CS! Congratulations for conquering your fears!

Another event that had us in stitches and a lot of laughter was the water obstacles race. We were broken into 4 groups. Each person had to enter the shallow pond through 5 choices; ladder walk, log walk, tyres, drum boat or rope. You met a kind of drum in the middle and then cross over the drum to choose another form of exit. You could not exit the pond by the same way you came in. We were afraid to get wet and dirty at first! But all of us fell into the shallow pond at some point and created lots of laughter for the viewers. This was a very happy fun event!

Durga exits by the tyre route

CS girl enters by the log. Someone fell into the drum while making her exit.

Durga on rope just before she fell into the water! Some one exits the log

Next morning, we got up at 4.30 am and were ready for briefing at 5.30 am. We started our walk in pitch darkness towards Broga Hill. Our torches were so very necessary then! The walk was quite challenging but the trail up the hill was really crowded.

Victorious Veronica! Thumbs up for a mighty victory!

I am pleased to again report that 37 girls and teachers out of 45 made it to the top at peak 1 Broga Hill before 7.10 am. I am especially proud of Veronica Shalini who despite an injury made it to the top in good time! We gave a rousing Mighty Convent School Cheer right at the top and had everybody wondered who we were! Our Convent cheer goes like this!.

We are Convent, mighty mighty convent!

Everywhere we go, people want to know

Who we are?

So we tell them, we are Convent,

Mighty Mighty Convent!

Oh yeah!!!

That inspired the other schools to give their school cheer too! We also sang our school song gustily at the top at about 7.35 am!

We are really thankful for this wonderful opportunity to toughen up the princesses of SMK Convent Sentul. I am really struck by some lines ( highlighted ) in our school song through this event.

"Oh Hark now hear our joyful cries of pride in our school

Stedfast are we in our duty, simple in virtue.

We pledge to you our loyalty and hardship we endure,

We will strive to make you proud, the school that we adore,

Oh Lord, we pray for guidance and blessings on our way

Help us to accept success and failure in work and play

Oh Hark, now hear our joyful cries of pride in our school

Stedfast are in our duty, simple in virtue

Singing our school song and giving the Mighty Convent cheer  on top of Broga Hill were the joyful cries of pride  in our school! I was proud of the girls who endured the hardships in this camp. In all things, we need to pray for guidance and blessings on our way. God answered our prayers for blessings! We were blessed by wonderful weather when we went up! Only after we had come down and reached camp safely, there was a downpour of rain for about 40 minutes. For those of us who did not make it up the hill, we embrace success and failure! And Broga Outbac Camp was work and play!

I want to express my thanks to the teachers  who worked very hard to make this wonderful trip possible. They are Datin Cheam, Ms Anne, Pn Anna. Pn Pamela. I am also very touched by the wonderful students who planned many details and showed great leadership skills and discipline. They are Diana, Veronica and many others who worked very hard! I also thank those Yvone who generously donated  towards this camp! Thank you!

The love of ex students and others for Convent Sentul

Old mural in the center of the school with the original school badge.

I wrote a short email to Dr Cheah Yin Mee and several others entitled "One square meal for poor CS girls" last Wednesday night. The email went something like this.

Budimas which sponsors our food program for 80 girls in  Convent Sentul has just given notice that they will stop the Budimas food program for all 9 secondary schools effective 21 July.  I am quite worried for the many poor girls who have now grown dependent on the food provided for at a price of RM 1.50 per school day per child. There are many girls who need to have a square meal. Is there any one who wants to sponsor a square meal for them?"

Dr Cheah Yin Mee and others asked a few sensible questions. "How much would it cost to pay the meals of one student up to the end of the school year?" "Can we have some details of the students involved in the Budimas food program?" Once I had given the pertinent information required, I witnessed and experienced the onslaught of the deep  affection of the ex-students for their alma mater.

A flurry of emails flew in,  by so many ex Convent Sentul girls ( already more than 60 girls on Thursday emails ), all with positive responses coordinated by Yin Mee who happened to be in Kuala Lumpur that weekend. God's timing that weekend? I think so. But very clearly I saw the willingness of Yin Mee to sacrifice her designated holiday and family weekend to help the needy girls of Convent Sentul. She took time to search out contacts and to thank each and every donor on behalf of the school.  Thank you Yin Mee!

One of the first to respond was Chris Low who pledged to cover the expenses of 10 girls. Chris wrote she understood the hard times experienced by our girls. By Sunday night, Yin Mee wrote she had 42 sponsors. At the school assembly on Monday morning, I was struck by one phrase in the school song. " We pledge to you our loyalty" as I realize that the loyalty and affection was what spurred the ex-students to pledge so quickly and so freely. So I spoke at assembly to the school about how I was moved by the deep loyalty ex-Convent students had for their alma mater. I challenged our present students to always maintain that affection and loyalty and to do the same things and emulate their seniors when they were financially able to bless back the school.

Sometime later that morning while I was teaching a student  in my office ( the student had been absent for some time and needed to do some catching up on the Physics lessons I taught ), the school office staff said someone had come to the school and wanted to see me. When I went out, she introduced herself as Swee Peng and she had heard about the Budimas food program.  I brought her into my office and showed her some files while giving some work to my student who was still in the office. Swee Peng gave me the money on behalf of her and her friend. Her visit and gift impacted the student who witnessed first hand  the reality of the deep affection for Convent Sentul.

Kim Ng coordinated the KL responses when Yin Mee returned to Singapore. Thank you Kim Ng. By Monday night, Yin Mee wrote to say she had 56 sponsors. Tuesday noon, my friend Katherine Leong smsed me to say the directors of her company "D' One" pledged to sponsor 10 girls. By Tuesday night ie now, I wished to report we now already have enough for all the girls with a little to spare for some extra good meals and not just the basic square meal I asked for. We here at SMK Convent Sentul are overwhelmed and bowled over by your love. Through this call for help, I have been introduced to the bigger family of Convent Sentul and I am so happy to note that we have a big caring family out there. There are many of you I do not know and may not have the privilege to meet but nevertheless I know your love and support for Convent Sentul.

Some words from the play "Oliver Twist" which I happened to watch last Friday night in Wesley Methodist Musical  - "Food, glorious food" and the infamous "Please sir, can I have some more?" ring a very strong bell especially last Friday. But we in SMK Convent Sentul are quite unlike OliverTwist because we are much blessed with more food and food served with love. Thank you on behalf of the girls!

affe

Mak Salleh guy playing sepak takraw.

We had a delightful time  when 15 delegates ( parents, teachers and students) from the Overnewton Anglican College located near Melbourne, Australia visited SMK Convent Sentul on 4th July 2012. Amongst  the things that gave us great delight and surprise was the fact that they studied  Bahasa Indonesia,  taught by teachers Ms Katy Harris and Ms Veronica Chew. We also found out they actually had lessons each afternoon while on holiday here in Malaysia. Hey girls, life is not all play and holiday as you think it to be.I will touch on some highlights of their visit.

Divyerutha, Yen Nee and Farah aided by Hou Jo Ee, Jasvin and Nurin did a fun Chemistry lesson for them involving the change of colours in plants unique to Convent Sentul. The Overnewton delegation felt the students in Malaysia learnt much more compared to them. We welcomed them into school with the Malaysian kompang and bunga mangga, a 1Malaysian dance. It was fun to watch them play our traditional games .

Maksalleh guy playing sepak takraw with the girls of  Convent Sentul.

Overnewton students playing batu seremban with our girls.

When we toured the school, we broke the group up. Prefects took care of the students while teachers took care of the adults. There was plenty of interaction between both countries in both the students school tour and the adult school tour.

I was very impressed when Sharyn and Jim ( the parents on the trip) mentioned that each parent in Overnewton had to put in 18 hours of community service with the school each term. They did all sorts of service - teaching assistants, transportation, maintenance, chaperones etc. If this could be implemented in Malaysia, this would be a real boon and encouragement to the teachers

Overnewton students singing their school song.

 We were very surprised when they started counting " Satu, dua, tiga, empat" before starting to sing their school song. I did not catch all the words but some part of the lyrics went like this.


May the Lord bless you today,
And may God keep you in His care,
Giving His peace to your soul,
Even when times are hard
Knowing His hand will be there
When you call upon His name
May God always shine on you

We also had fun introducing them to a wonderful meal cooked by our diligent students and dedicated teachers. We had delicious mee soto, keropok, roti jalur, pulasan, rambutan, etc . We had a very fun gift exchange where students from both countries delighted one another with their specially prepared gifts.The Overnewton delegation was very impressed when we presented them with a framed official photograph below about two hours after their arrival.

Yesterday, one week after their visit,  I just found  my girls are inspired by the Overnewton students to work towards an overseas school trip. The girls mentioned the Overnewton students worked and saved money for their trip to Malaysia. In comparison, many of my girls have never worked outside home before and they -the typical Malaysian are far more sheltered compared to our younger Australian counterpart.

Overnewton Anglican College, Thank you for that fun visit that opened eyes and hearts and minds both ways. God bless you and stay in the light.