leadership camp

i went to HELP's leadership camp over the weekend. it was really fun and i learned a lot of things. one of those things are communication related.

firstly, i was grouped with nine other people of which seven i didnt know. so we had to get to know each other fast as we had to work with each other for the next three days. im happy to say that i think my group worked pretty well with each other. we all listened to each other's opinions and gave our own, and communication between all of us was smooth. my group leader was very attentive to other member's needs, and made sure each of us had a chance to voice our opinions.

the first night there we had an activity called 'solo drop' where we were left in the jungle alone for some time. actually it's not really alone, everyone else is just a distance away but in the darkness, one cannot see. so anyway, before going into the jungle our camp facilitator briefed us one certain things. one of the issue he highlighted was the presence of natives because the jungle trail we were gonna go on borders the natives territory and they come out at night to hunt, so some of us might encounter them.

the facilitator thus told us that if that happens, they may smile at us. he asked us then what we should do. most of us answered smile back, because that was courtesy. but however, he told us never never to smile back because we don't know what a smile means to them. we may think it's courtesy, but they may think otherwise. so this experience taught me that what comes naturally to us, i.e smiling at those who smile at us may not apply to all territories and that we should becareful when threading unfamilar ground.

none of us came across natives though....

Post written by
Tham Sue Fern