Between 28th November till 1st December 2013, the Trinity Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in Malaysia, under the Board of Youth Work, organised a camp for members of The Boys' Brigade and Girls' Brigade for it's sponsored companies. The camp was called Camp Concordia, with the theme "Pleasant in Unity" which is based on Psalm 133:1 "How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!" (NIV).
A similar camp was organised last year for the Junior BB & GB members in Taman Wetlands, Putrajaya, but this time it was the Seniors turn, with a similar objective to provide a joint activity for the BB & GB companies in TRAC for fellowship purposes. Participating companies were 1st Petaling Jaya BB & GB, 1st Teluk Intan BB & GB, 1st Klang BB & GB, 12th KL BB, 2nd Penang GB, 1st Ipoh GB, 1st Seremban BB & GB, 1st Kampar GB and 2nd Kampar BB. There were 139 registered participants for this camp. Some pulled out, but I honestly don't know how many. So, it was a small cosy group.
The concept of the camp was more angled at making it a fun camp, rather than the traditional BB camp, which can almost be stereotyped as one chucked full with punishments, strict-discipline, drill and so on. More time was allocated for fellowship (aka free time) and preventing participants from rushing and treating it like a camp with a bunch of task to do.
The site chosen was the Nilam Ehsan NS campsite located in Bidor, Perak, due to its central location and capacity. It's facilities were also not bad compared to one other frequently used BB campsite in Selangor. This one was clean, spacious,proper toilets, had a big parade ground and good obstacle courses.
We didn't know what to expect. No joint BB-GB has been organised on this scale for a very long time, if ever at all in the past for the Seniors (and Pioneers). More often than not, it is sad to see that BB or GB missing out on each other's programs when some are organised. One of the hopes and side-effects of this camp is to encourage BB-GB companies on their local levels to have more joint programs. As a "national" camp, we hope to provide an avenue where both the BB and GB can have something together - rather than BB and GB being exclusive at their Pesta's and Fonomarae's.
There were 12 squads, given military names from Alpha to Zulu, with each squad about 10-11 persons (though one had only 7 as several so happen to pull out from camp from that very squad). The size of the squads were meant to be small to encourage better interaction. Although an adult/officer is assigned to each squad, they all had their own squad leaders which are the participants themselves. Some were surprised and only found out when they got to camp. Oh well, hope it made things more "exciting" for them. I was assigned (self-assigned actually) to Squad Zulu. Very nice bunch.
I rather use the pictures to tell the rest of the story.
BB-GB Guard of Honour and Parade
TRAC President, Dr. Jeyakumar, speaking on the second day of camp
Obstacle courses was one of the main attractions
Martin of 1st Seremban gliding on the flying fox
Station games. I was in-charge of the basketball one. Interest idea from Calvin of 1st PJ
Group photo in the yellow-lime green camp t-shirt
Mr. Nicholas Yeap, captain of 12th KL, was the camp commandant
Cyber Wellness session - turned out to be pretty good!
Souvenir badge for participants of the camp
Overall, it was a really run and relaxing camp. The last night, the squads did a talent time which was quite funny and good. We did give them ALOT of time to prepare, I'm we're pleasantly surprised of what came up. Some videos are actually on Youtube. I was so pleased when my Squad, Zulu, won the best squad. So proud! They did everything their own!
During the this camp, I underestimated how God would use this occasion to move in the lives of the members. I only expected fellowship and new friendships form. But instead, it went much further, with evidence that many participants feeling the calling to do more for their companies. Mr. Lawrence Tay spoke on the last day about their purpose in the BB-GB. I guess that message struck home. An "altar call" was done at the end of the message with many campers responding to the call to serve better in BB/GB. Praise the Lord! Looking forward to seeing them grow.
My special thanks to the committee comprising of Chang Choy Quin (TRAC, Board of Youth worker), Chew Lee Fuang (TRAC GB Rep), Tak Siong and Calvin Teh of 1st PJ for planning the obstacle course, GOH and talent time, Nicholas Yeap of 12th KL for being the camp commandant, Hzu Kim and Christel for the worship, all officers from BB and GB who were present - Mr. Lawrence Tay, Madam Lilian Lazar, Mrs. Lim Chong Ho, Sanjay, Ms. Tamilarasi and Shaun Choon. This camp was a success because of all these individuals and campers. Of course, glory to God for guiding us through and keeping the weather at check (it rained on 3rd day when we were indoors, good thing not on 2nd day was clear skies when we had outdoor activities - praise the Lord!).
The next Camp Concordia is scheduled for 2015. We would most likely be "trademarking" this camp name for future joint camps. Many of this year's participants already can't wait, setting up a GB group and even had a Christmas gathering. Hopefully more companies will join us for that one - might even open to non-TRAC churches, but we'll see.
Yours Truly (special thanks to Sanjay for the picture!)
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