breaking boundaries;

Helloo world!

Sorry for the MIA ness. I've been swallowed up by the amount of work that we have, coming back from the holidays. However, I must say that it was all worth it.

The GIN conference. Honestly, I don't think that I would ever do it justice to explain what an awesome experience it was because sometimes you just have to be there to know what it was like. But, I definitely must try. :)

Upon arrival at the hotel of course. :)

We reached Bangkok, exhausted from the waiting and the very long ride to the hotel. Excited about meeting the other students, nervous about our workshop and a little curious on how everything is gonna be like. Our first day was basically spent settling in a little. We visited a nearby temple, and walked back to the hotel under the freaking hot sun, some of them carrying 6L water jugs each. What to do, we like water. I think we got a little insight on all those people we talk about in developing nations which have to do that multiple times, daily. Heh. Anyways, after that we jumped in the pool for a while, cause it was really really hottt. Then we were on our way down to the Mercy Centre of Bangkok. One part of the facility is a kindergarden for children living in the slums of Bangkok, whose parents can't afford to send them to school. They were really sweet children, though we couldn't spend much time with them. Besides that, the other half is for patients suffering from HIV/AIDS but the families cannot afford to look after them. The work that they do at the Mercy Centre was really selfless and totally inspiring. Anyone looking to take some time off, should consider volunteering there for a couple of months. :)

That night, we were all in for a little treat, Ms Christie and Mr Woodcock brought us to the Suan Lum Night Bazaar. We had some dinner then Aqil, Aida and I set off down the rows of shops looking our for the best bargain. We tried really hard and ended up walking away alot of times. But until we realised we only had an hour left, we rushed through, bargaining and buying as we ran through the shops. It was really funnyyy, haha, watching us "rush bargain". I was pretty satisfied with my buys, I'm sure my parents were happy I barely spent much.

The very next day was Day 1 of the conference. We got up bright and early, excited, nervous yet tired from our parading around the room the night before showing off our new stuff. :D Hopped on the busses with the gabajillion other participants and off we were to ISB. Everyone was practicing for their workshops, going over parts and gazing out the window with amazement. I can't say the same for myself though, because five minutes after leaving the hotel, I was fast asleep until our arrival at ISB. Once we arrived, all of our jaws must have dropped simultaneously. All the kids were muttering under their breaths, "I wish my parents worked here" and the teachers "I'm applying here next year!" We shuffled into the registration room, got our t-shirts and stuff and continued to the Global Issues Fair. I whole lot of NGO's were there with booths where we could just wander around, ask questions and stuff. It was pretty cool. Then our team huddled in a corner finishing off the last minute touches for our presentation. We then all were hearded into the Auditorium for the Opening Ceremony. It was pretty cool, the choir adorable and the speeches (ya knowww). Inspiring nontheless. Then we dove right into the first key note speaker Mr John Liu. The work he does, amazing. (I would go into details, but you guys would probably just hit the x in that top right corner)

With Ryan Hreljac. :)

After lunch we got into our global village groups where we were all mixed up with the other kids and basically had discussions. I was in Global Village 5. :D Yes, thats a piece of useless information for ya! Workshops were the next thing on the agenda, so Aqil and I being lost little wanderers that we are ended up in the ISB's Education for All workshop. It was interesting andI must say, the kind of community work they do is awesome. Of course they have more resources compared, but it does show us how much MORE we can do. The minute the workshop was done, we rushed off to the classroom where our workshop was being held. When we got there thankfully the tables were arranged, then I realised that I stupidly forgot to fill the envelopes for the first activity. So rushing to get that done we realised that we forgot the map. Freaking out, trying to find maps, then realising that we can't possibly poke holes in their freakishly expensive maps, trying to figure out where we left the map (in the hotel room) and figuring out how to use their smart board for the activity instead. Yess, it took a toll on my heart. Haha. All in all though, despite our slight mess ups, the workshop went really well, and we were all very pleased with ourselves.

Some random cool art.

Again, in a rush, Mr Woodcock freaked us out (again) saying that Ryan's keynote had already begun, so we ran like mad back to the auditorium only to see that of course, it hadn't started yet. We got seats righttt up front :D and settled in. First things first, was our video. Funny funny, we should get it posted on youtube. :) Then was Ryan's keynote. Veryy inspiring. The thing about him is, when he talks. he's basically telling us a story. And that he was really normal, only that he had this thing on the side, raising money to build wells. He's apparently a recovering WOW player. We were all in awe, because he really was, just one of us. :) After his keynote, it was dinner time and the sanuk activity after that. Sanuk was super fun cause we were able to just go crazy in the gym, jump, dance, sing, scream and act crazy. After the long day it was just what we needed.

Now, Day 2. Heh heh heh. Gosh this is a long post. :) Anyways, on the second day I can definitely say that we were much more relaxed because we didn't have to worry about workshops or videos. Haha. Yet still super excited for the workshops and keynotes that day. We started off with the breathtaking performance by the Jeremiah Singers from Ruamrudee International School who sang the Circle of Life. Triple thumbs up, and if I can get the video, I would post it here. Then, was a keynote by Natascha Yogachandra who is only 15/16 and has already travelled all over Asia and Africe to promote education through building libraries, kindergardens and well as promote womens and childrens rights. I find it mindboggling how for them it all started with the niativity of thinking, why can't I help? And so, they did. Following Natascha was Bangkok's very own "Condom Man", Dr Mechai Viravaidya. Through his efforts, he had actually contributed greatly to preventing the explosion of the AIDS epidemic in Thailand. If you ever go to Bangkok, do visit his restaurant, Cabbages and Condoms cause all the proceeds go to charity! Also he has his own hotel in Pattaya called the Birds and the Bees. Profits from that go towards his school that he built within a communite. Amazing work that the school does, really. :) :) Dr Mechai was hilariously funny toooo.

That afternoon we went to two NGO workshops. Aida, Amy, Edmund and I were at Dr Mechai's workshop first. I really liked his ideas on not just donating for a communities short term gain and instead helping them to become self sufficient, developing their own business and living off that instead. :) Then of course we went on down to Ryan's workshop. Though it was pretty basic, still interesting and cool. Wish we had more time to check out the other workshops too cause i'm sure that they were pretty awesome. The next keynote that was up was by Khun Sangduen "Lek" Chailert, founder of the Elephant Nature Foundation in Thailand. This was probably the most emotional key note of all. While all of us had puppies or cats as pets, she had an elephant. And due to her connection with elephants, and her love for them, she has dedicated her life to protecting them. She showed us this video, which I have been trying to find online with little success, about how elephants are abused by people for commercial uses like elephant rides, elephant paintings, etc. So really, unless its a sanctuary, the elephants are probably there out of force, not for protection or whatever they claim. Most of us were in tears at the end.

That night, all of the participants were on a bus to go for a cruise down the famous Chao Phraya River. On the way down, we saw two elephants on the streets of Bangkok, for rides and to feed. Sheesh, not cool when you're trying to get 300 kids, who just heard about the abuse that they go through, to pay to feed your elephant. Needless to say we were disgusted. Its just something about elephants eyes, that are so humanlike, you can see the sadness in their eyes. Once all of us were on the boats, we cruised up and down the river to the restaurant. Most of us crammed up at the front, talking to other participants enjoying the breeze and the wind. :) The dinner that night was really yumm too, except that we didn't really have much space to sit. We had actually planned to split up a little to 'mingle', unfortunately no one else had decided to do that, so we were wandering around looking for places to sit. I'm sure we looked weird. :P

Day 3. We were terribly sad to be leaving Bangkok because we had loved it so much that far. But we were still all packed up and had to bring our luggage with us to ISB. There was a video keynote from Jean Francois Rischard and Tony Banbury from the World Food Program. Then it was out lastt Global Village Group. :( Just when we were warming up to each other. So we took pictures of course, exchanged contacts and then had lunch together. It was really sad, that we had to leave halfway cause we couldn't see half the people we met to say bye. Yet we were still thankful of course that we got to go on the trip. It was absolutely amazing. And it truly inspired us that each person does make a difference. Just listening to teenagers like Ryan and Natascha, the things that they had accomplised thus far and that above all, they are just like you and me. Now that is something to be proud of. I especially loved meeting people from all over and how they are passionate about similar things as us and that we are more than just six, more than just 40, we are more than just 400.

My Global Village Group :)

Needless to say, I'm super thankful for the chance to experience the conference. And this post took me over a week to write in between all the work and exhaustion, but I've gotten through it. So peace out. :)

WE CAN. WE WILL.