LEAD

Hey gang

I'm so sorry for not blogging. Thank you for your messages and sms about your concerns. I'm okay just that don't have time to sit down and type.

Just came back from a programme called LEAD. Lasallian Expedition and Development Camp. This is not my first time going for this camp but it is my first time travelling down south to Melaka. I have been with the Northern team for the past .....forever and I thought a change of atmosphere and environment will do me some good. Overall I had fun minus the fact that I actually travelled for about more than 16 hours from Penang to Melaka and back again.

Oh ya before I forget, LEAD is a camp for kids for under privilege kids who do not have the luxury to go for camps. These includes those who are poor, those who don't do very well in class and also those with discipline problems. So it's actually those boys who never got to go for leadership camps like the prefects or motivational camps for the first class boys.

For this year LEAD there was a total of 24 boys with 10 OTs that were cooped up in these place called Pantai Kundur Brother's Bungalow. A creepy mansion on the hill. It's super creepy you know.

Hmm this camp was an eye opener for me this year. I got to meet boys from the Portugese settlement. As you know, the Portugese have been around Malaysia for almost 400 years and they are a very close knit committee. But one of the thing that shocked me was about their lifestyle. The kids of these communitites are not cared about. Their parents just leave them as they are. So these kids pick up many bad habits like smoking, drugs and even sex (heard that by 12 they are doing it). These kids are not afraid of you even when you scold them because they are so use to be doing bad habits that it is part of their system. Another shocking thing was these kids do not really work hard to pursue their dreams. Out of 20 boys only 1 will make it to university (shocking). Bro Mike (the teacher in charge) told me that the Portugese people do not think about the future. They just think about living life now.

During our nightly sharing, Isaac mentioned and asked are these the boys that we wanted them to come? I said, well the whole idea of LEAD is them. So I guess no matter how naughty and cheeky they were, these are the boys that we are targetting. These boys have the will power and the ability to do great thigns. They might not be engineers or doctors or super brains but I know that thses kids have so much potential in them if only they were given a chance. During the last nite of the camp, the kids put up a show. And most of their sketches depicts the many situations they face in school in realy life from being scolded and branded stupid by their peers and also by their friends. It's actually a sad thing.....that I almost weep for them. Is society so cruel?