Tuesday, August 18, 2015

At The Beginning - Amazing Journey of Evergreen Village CISV China (Part 1)

In 2013, I didn’t finished my stories about my very 1st CISV experience in The US for Step Up program. It was one hell of life changing experience. Since then, I promised myself that it was not my last program in CISV. So here I am now, five days after finishing my 2nd program (as a leader) in China and yes, it’s Village.

Two years ago, I met this US Delegation who were attractive, knows CISV well and very outspoken who told me that, “Village is magical for me, it’s wonderful life changing experience”. I was thinking, how come a 14 years-old kid understand some part of their life has been changed when they were 11? That’s how I encourage myself to be village leader. So, in January 2015 – a week after I finished staffing on Youth Meeting in Jakarta- I joined the selection to be leader in Summer 2015. I was submitting to be village leader. And in February (or March, I forgot) I got announcement from chapter leader coordinator that I was selected as village leader and appointed to go to China. Woohoo!

Even tough I have around 4-5 months preparation, the challenge wasn’t become easier. 1st of all, I have to manage to get leave from my office. Apparently, the camp will held on Eid holiday but I still need 21 days in total so I took 17 days unpaid leave. 2nd, to prepare the visa, dance and all knick-knacks for open day etc was not so easy while involving four pairs of parents. As time goes by, I managed all the preparation between my working schedule and personal life. It reminds me, two years ago the US visa really got on my nerves and I almost gave up. Thank God, this year way much easier :D
3rd, We sent 5 village delegation this year but we still missed out delegates to complete the rest. So my delegation was the last to formed and none of them ever joined CISV pre-camp. My work getting harder because we only had one pre-camp and one delegation time. Also, not to mention Razzaa quite busy with his football club so he sometimes has to skip dance rehearsal and meet other delegates.

As the last delegation to depart from our 
chapter, I had a chance to gain story and inputs from my seniors. How to handle 11-sometimes-spoiled-brats-kids, when the best time to have national night and day off, how to deal with staffies, and other adult groups. Even though I myself had CISV experiences, it was still new to me.

Finally, the D-Day is coming! And yes, our departure day was on the exact same day on Eid celebration. It means, most of us had to skip the prayer and miss the chance to meet our big family. Fortunately, it wasn’t a biggie for the parents. We took Garuda Indonesia from Jakarta to Guangzhou for 5,5 hours straight and I don’t have to worry about transit or missing 1-2 kid during travel time. Right after we arrived, there’s bunch of kiddos try to call us and shout “CISV..CISV?” I wasn’t ready for any conversation that ti


me, but then I realized they might be delegations to the same camp. It was Italian and Germany delegations who arrived at almost the same time like us. Saw some friendly faces and my delegates started to be curious. After that, gotta to say bye to them because their host family ready to picked them and we will meet in three days. The boys, Jantara & Razzaa, went to same hostfamily while Marsya & Andari went to the other one. Apparently, leaders duty already started as we landed. We took most of delegates luggage to the bus and go to the campsite in Cang’an, two hours ride by bus.

After we had dinner, take a look at our campsite, Cang’an Center Kindergarden, we meet (almost everyone) of leaders, JC and some staffies and had some rest. The next day, Carlos, our beloved camp-director started the training and getting to know each other. We sit in couple, and we have to draw about our pair’s family, their daily activity, dreams and fears. As I remember I have to draw about Chore’s (Mexican leader) activity as computer programmer. Maddy’s (The US JC) family, Ilja (Germany leader) and WInson (local staff) future dream. We had quite fun training
and know each other then we wrapped up the first 3 days with dinner feast in Parkway Hotel as welcoming dinner from CISV China.

So, the beginning of our Evergreen Camp went pretty well, as we also passed the Evergreen Street which the inspiration of the camp theme itself. I will continue the complete story of the journey, the ups and down, the la

ughter and tears..

See you in the next posting!