The Journey 7

Christmas Party
The Christmas party was magical!

Imagine creating a Christmas party up in the mountains with no Christmas tree, no Santa Claus, no carols and a bunch of kids who've never even heard of a celebration called 'Christmas'.

The Christmas committee had to work really hard to pull this off!

Bright and much earlier than usual, we began our trek down the mountain. Skipping and hopping as fast as we could, we made it to the school in just about an hour!

The Team quickly broke into groups - the boys lugged benches down to the playground, blew balloons and hung Christmas decorations high-up where the kids would not be able to pull them down.

The girls opened boxes and packages and sorted out new school bags, sweaters, gloves, exercise books, stationery and foodstuffs for all the kids.

Running to and fro, we raced against the clock, as the children would arrive at ten and we wanted everything ready before they arrived.

As soon as children arrived, they were put into different teams. The teams set in alloted places on the school benches, kids and youths and adults all jumbled up together. New faces came as the kids from a local private school also joined in the fun and goodies.

Since we were restless, my group started... "Group 3 bomb! Group 3 bomb! Group 3 bomb to Group 1 bomb!" It was a treat to see the Kolakham kids join in with gusto!

At 10a.m., our MC's for the day, Nina and Nuraini, welcomed everyone to the Christmas Party.

First, were the speeches. The Headmaster gave a speech to explain about Christmas to the kids. Then Serene had a chance to say thank you to the school for allowing us to come in and join them for the wonderful two weeks.


Then, games, of course! Our first game was passing the parcel Our young translators, students from the private school, helped to explain the game to the kids. As soon as the music started, the kids picked up the idea quickly and were soon grabbing and throwing and giggling like mad!

When the music stopped (always at a Kolakham kid's turn!), the kids had to go in front and perform a penalty for everyone. The children were shy, but they were sporting anyway, and got a prize for their bravery!


When the game ended, the boys had a turn to shine with a hip-hop OMG dance! Why is it called OMG dance? Probably because when you watch it, you'll definitely say 'oh-my-gawd!!'


Christmas tree decorating time! But there's no Christmas tree....? So we drew them instead! Three huge vanguard sheets of paper were pasted on the wall and the three groups were given a mish-mash of tinsel, wrapping paper, balloons, straws... 1-2-3... and DECORATE!!


Wow, the kids are creative!


The girls prepared a Malay dance, complete with selendang, for their item. Nuraini had drilled them over and over again in hours of patient practise... and it paid off! The dance was beautiful!


And the teachers and Headmaster of the school had their 'star' moment too! With a Nepali dance that the adult volunteers joined in!

Time was running fast, so we brought out appreciation boards that the adult volunteers had prepared to distribute to the headmaster, teachers, our guide, and all who had supported us up in the lodge.

And for every child... a card with their photo in it decorated on the outside with their name by one of the Team members. How the children's faces lit up!


So, what is Christmas without gifts? The children lined up, and we gave out the bags with all the presents inside. The children were so excited, running to the side of the playground as soon as they received their schoolbags filled to the brim with presents and dug through their bags.

The little ones pulled out the chocolate and biscuits, tore off the wrappings and started chewing right away... Older kids pulled out the gloves and socks and stared at them and tried them on. It was pure magic!


We gave them some time to go through the things, and then taught the children...

CampVision dance! "Everybody needs...a little something" warbled Vanessa Amorosi and the dust flew all over the playground as the children followed our shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, hop! shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, hop! through the familiar steps!


And one more time - "Waka waka! It's time for A-fri-ka!" ... this time, the KIDS leading, and our youths following their steps!


Lunch was extra-special, as the lodge we stayed at generously donated lunch for free. Supplemented with the food cooked by the teachers, it was a real treat for the children, even though their mouths were still sticky with chocolate and snacks!

Then... a surprise for us! Chairs were laid out and benches and we were invited to sit on them. Hmmm....??

The Headmaster gave a speech to say thank you to us and to say that he hoped we would come back to the school one day. Then he gave a word of instruction and...

The children opened their bags, dug into their pockets, and took out beautiful garlands of flowers that they had prepared for us. All the children came forward like floodwaters and went to the adults and the youths and hung the garlands over our necks.

The tears flowed from the eyes of almost all the Team members, as the simple loving gesture of the children of Kolakham village, and the realisation that we had touched their hearts too, and that it was now time to say goodbye, overwhelmed us.

Serene gave a farewell speech (through her tears! :>) and then it was time for everyone to give final goodbye hugs.


The youths and adults each sought children whom they had bonded so close with over the two weeks... giving hugs and receiving hugs and high-fives from the tinies (who had no idea what was going on!)...

But what surprised us was when the children, too, started to cry. The children clung to the youths and did not want to let go as they hugged them goodbye...

It took quite a long, long time, and even then, it was with wet faces, before youths and children could separate to give farewell waves goodbye as the children slowly left the school.

We had a last-minute clowning-around session, as all of us stood in a row and lustily bawled out, "Mari kita rakyat Singapura sama-sama menuju..."

We took a photo with the new school extension - all ready after two weeks! - and then started on our trek home.

More children than ever escorted us as we began our trek up the mountain back to our lodge for our final night before leaving Kolakham Village.

The Journey 6

We had special days too! Sports Day, a Christmas party, and an outing to the nearby town of Lava!

Outing to Lava
Initially, we planned to trek all the way to Lava. In fact, this would be the same route that the children of Kolakham Village would have to take if they choose to continue their education after Year 4.

Then we found out - the trek would take AT LEAST 3 hours one way!

Uhrm... Not much of a holiday for the youths!

So the volunteers discussed, and some of the volunteers felt so sorry for the youths, they offered to put up the cost of hiring jeeps just so the youths would not have to make a 6 hour trek on their supposedly-day off!

Luckily we had enough INR left over that the volunteers didn't have to cough up from their own pockets!

So come the day of the outing, the youths and adult volunteers piled into jeeps and began .... a slow, winding, very, very TURBULENT ride up the mountains... to Lava village!


Along the way, we passed the forests where we were told the red panda and barking deer lived. But we were warned not to venture in alone as big, black, fierce and hungry bears also lived in the forests!

The temperature dropped even further as we slowly climbed to the very peak of the mountain.


Our first stop was a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. The view was breathtaking, as the monastery overlooked the mountain peaks in the distance.


We went inside, and the youths hammed it up with the statues and took lots and lots of pictures :>.


And.... LOST OUR EA BANNER!!!

[Blame for the loss was eventually narrowed down to the B&T Law Firm, and is pending investigation of all video and photographic evidence.... The case is still ongoing at press time...]

An elderly man came into the monastery and showed us a delicious snack - honeycomb covered with sesame seeds - for just 5 rupees. One taste, and he was surrounded by team members clamouring for more!


We walked further into town where the youths were shown the weekly bazaar, and after being told precisely the time of lunch and where to meet, the youths (and adults!) were set loose to shop, shop, shop!

The weekly bazaar was filled with people haggling over clothes, shoes, bags, vegetables, fish, meat... anything you could want to buy at very cheap prices! The area where the bazaar was held was so tightly packed, it was hard to move in groups... most of the time we had to squeeze sideways through packed alleyways with market sellers' tarps spread on the ground on our left and right... the din of busy shoppers and sellers calling us to buy from them filling our ears.


Some of the adults were busy finding gloves, socks and foodstuffs for the children of Kolakham Village. The youths were busy finding bargains!

The boys came back with headgear that had cost them about SGD$1!

But Nina was eventually crowned Queen of Bargains when she came back and proudly displayed bags full of her wares... shoes that she had bargained down from SGD$15 to for SGD$10, for example!

Until, that is, Bhaskar, our guide, casually picked up the shoes and pointed out the actual price on the price tag... which was about 60 rupees cheaper... :>

We had a lunch of noodles and dumplings, but the youths declared the food at the chalet much more yummy-licious than the food at the restaurant up in Lava and we had to have a competition to finish up the dumplings.


After lunch everyone quickly bought snacks like chocolate and biscuits from the restaurant's counter and then climbed back into the jeep. Tired and happy, most of us dozed off on the ride back... it had been a wonderful day!