Hands For Change

On 27th May, St. Joseph's was proud to host the 3rd Regional La Sallian Convention. What is it? Is it a camp? Is it a seminar? Is it a school-sponsored event? Well, it's a little of everything, and in due time, you will know.

DISCLAIMER: This is a very, very, very, very long post. So grab a drink, some snacks, and enjoy reading!

The convention was held from 27th May to 30th May. We had about 48 delegates from all areas of the school student body, from Form 1, all the way up to Upper 6; Organizing Team(OT) not included. Altogether, we had about 80 or so people present during these 4 fun-filled days. Among those of our brotherhood present at the convention were Gerald Sim, Cavan Chai, and Mohd. Fahri. Other brothers present but in the OT were Jardian Tay, Agan Balangalibun, Noel Tay, Jeremy Bakri, Muhd. Afiq and Haziq Maslan, Mohd. Syafiq, and not forgetting myself. We also were honoured that OTs from La Salle Centre, Ipoh came all the way down to Kuching, Sarawak, to help out with the preparations. They were: Vinesh(everyone's favourite), Isaac, Jit-Vern, Ai Huey, and Cheryl. We had great fun planning the activities(for the OTs), as well as enjoying them(delegates and OTs alike). Let me break down the 4 days.

DAY 1

Registration at 1pm. We had delegates checking in until 2pm, and surprisingly, all 48 delegates turned up, aside from Alleem, the 49th, because he had to leave for KL on Monday. Then everyone proceeded to the Tan Sri William Auditorium, where the OTs gave the delegates a warm welcome. Then we had icebreaking. I can certainly say everyone had fun, especially during the game 'Crossing the Red Sea'. Later, Adam gave everyone the house rules after everyone calmed down. A tea-break followed afterwards. After that, Isaac asked everyone to submit in an expectation check, which is basically what asking the delegates what they expect to learn from this convention. Later, at 5 pm, the delegates were asked to participate in the 1st Games Session. Day 1's Games Session was focused on Station Games, which meant that each two groups will play one game in a set time limit before moving on to another. There were four games and 8 groups, so we all had about 1 hour's time to enjoy it. After that, the delegates were given the liberty to have a shower and relax before dinner at 7:15pm. At about 8, we had our first sing-a-long out of many, which understandably, the delegates were reluctant to sing with so many people around, followed by session 1, "School Realities", where delegates were asked to identify the problems in their school, as well as dilemma-based questions. After that, the delegates were taught on how to do reflections, which is to think back about their actions throughout the day, followed by supper, then bedtime at 11pm.

DAY 2

Day 2 started at 7:45am with a wake-up call, after which the delegates had about an hour to brush their teeth, take a shower, etc before breakfast. At 8:45am, we had our 2nd sing-a-long, and everyone was still warming up to singing along, followed by session 2, "Action Planning", which continued last night's session by asking the delegates to brainstorm a solution to one of the school problems identified the night before. A short tea-break at 10:30am, then session 3, "Spirituality". The delegates were introduced on the four main components of a human: Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual. One of the Ipoh OTs, Ai Huey, led the 3rd session by introducing the concept of spirituality to the delegates. At 12:30pm, the delegates had lunch, until 2pm, where their broke into two large groups to attend two Creative Workshops: Drama, and Sound. In Drama, the delegates learn to act out a scene spontaneously, play with props, and dance whereas in Sound, delegates were taught to use ordinary items to replicate sounds heard in everyday situations, such as a construction site. Later, after another break at 4.m, we had the 2nd Games Session, and this time, they were Relay Games, meaning to say, it was a race to see who would finish first. The delegates were split into 6 groups, and from the looks of it, everyone had a lot of fun, however tiring it was. Then everyone had the chance to freshen up with a bath at 6pm, then dinner at 7pm. At 8pm, we had our third sing-a-long, followed by session 4, which I believe was the centerpiece of the entire convention, as delegates were treated to a play about the La Sallian Heritage.

Now I will explain to you what the La Sallian Convention is about. The play is about a man, Jean Baptist de La Salle, a canon who lived in France. He was from a well-to-do family, but he was disturbed by the stratified society in France, where the rich stayed rich, and the poor stayed poor, and the poor had no education. He eventually realized his calling in life to provide education for the poor, but he faced a lot of hardships. La Salle, along with his friend Adrian Nyel, started a school for the poor, but no one was willing to teach the poor children. Desperate, they took drunkards to be teachers, and La Salle even let them live in his estate, to the dismay of his family. Eventually, his siblings gave him an ultimatum: either the drunkards leave, or they will. La Salle gave in and left the house with the drunkards. That was a blow to him, because he lost his family at that point. The drunkards later abandoned him because of his seemingly mad goal to provide education to the poor. He even gave away all of his material wealth to the poor in an effort to help them; so devoted was he to his dream. Eventually La Salle had schools in Paris itself, but that was not the end of his troubles, for the Parisian court, receiving complaints from headmasters of other schools due to the popularity of La Sallian schools, ordered all La Sallian schools to be closed down/disbanded. After facing hardship after hardship, La Salle finally sought aid from God, and(in my own opinion, the most touching part of the play) it came, in the form of people who devoted themselves to his cause, and they were known as the Brothers(no, not this brotherhood). They helped him re-start his dream of educating the poor, but La Salle left to live as a hermit in Parmony(I'll fix the spelling later), but after a few years, a visit from one of the brothers told him that his help was needed again to minister the schools, to which La Salle agreed, and he served the community by providing the poor with education until his death in 1719. However, his legacy lived on, and there are La Sallian schools all across the globe, in about 80 countries, and 16 La Sallian schools exist in Malaysia, which St. Joseph's, Kuching is proud to be one of the ONLY two schools in Sarawak that bear the La Sallian Heritage; the other school is Sacred Heart, Miri, but they did not attend this year's regional convention. So, are we proud to that St. Joseph's, Kuching bears the La Sallian Heritage, now that you know why?

After the play, the delegates continued Session 4, "La Salle and I", with a summary of the play, as well as to identify the key traits in La Salle, along with their comments on the play itself. Then we had another reflection period, supper, and bedtime at 11pm.

DAY 3

Wow, the days go by so quickly! Another wake-up call at 7:15am, followed by a reflection period, then breakfast at 8am. Then, at 8:45am, we had our 4th sing-a-long session, follewed by session 5, "Servant Leadership", where delegates learnt leadership by example, teamwork, and co-operation through games. Then we had a tea-break at 10:30am, followed by session 6, which continued on session 5. After lunch at 12:30am, the delegates were again split into 6 groups to prepare for the night's presentation at 2pm. After a short break at 3pm, Isaac led the delegates through a mega summary of the entire convention's activities thus far. Then, at 4:30pm, the delegates had free time to continue planning out their presentations for the night, followed by a shower, then dinner at 7pm. At 8pm, each group presented their short play on whatever they wished, preferably on what they learnt during the last two days. After the 6 groups were done, we were all treated to a special play by the OTs, led by the producers of 'Phizer King'(a presentation in the 1st Regional La Sallian Convention), Kevin Sia and Ambia Lim. They presented a very, very hilarious play, titled, "Brokeback La Salle". No, it isn't gay or anything, despite the numerous sexual puns and references. The gist of it was, La Salle, played by Agan, broke his back at the end of the play, hence the title, "Brokeback La Salle", after being thrown off a horse. Thumbs up to everyone who presented, especially the OTs who did a great job closing the presentations with a bang. Then, at 9pm, everyone was treated to the closing ceremony, where Mr. Pan himself came to attend and to give a short speech. Then everyone watched a montage of photos of the past days, and it was really touching indeed, but it wasn't all tears, because there were hilarious moments. Then we had a hand-printing session as a symbolic act on the La Sallian Banner(it travelled the whole of Malaysia, and Sarawak is proud to be the last stop for the banner); the theme of this year's convention fit perfectly into it: Hands for Change. After that, we had one last, huge, sing-a-long. We sang about 6 songs, and everyone was waving and holding hands etc. Talk about bonding! There wasn't any curfew that night, since it was the last night, so everyone was given the chance to stay up until 6am.

DAY 4

The Final Day. Everyone reluctantly woke up, because a lot of us slept at 4am, or even not at all. So, bleary-eyed, we had breakfast at 8:20am, then it was an evaluation of the entire convention, where delegates gave their comments on the entire convention. Then everyone collected and packed their stuff, and we began OCNS, or Operation: Clean N' Shine at 10am. Everyone chipped in, from the OTs to the delegates, to clean up the entire school. After that, at about 11am, the 3rd Regional La Sallian Convention was officially over, and everyone(actually, except the OTs, we had an evaluation meeting that I don't need to tell you) left with bittersweet feelings, mostly sad ones. At least we know the convention was good enough that everyone wished it lasted forever(until the clothes run out).

All in all, it was a blast, because everyone present became exposed to what being a La Sallian was: and that is, to serve the community, and to lead by example.

I won't post any pictures up, since I personally took 430 photos during the 4-day event, and there're about 1000+ pictures to sift through once I get the DVD copy of the convention after the holidays. I'll put up the closing ceremony video montage when I get the DVD, however, so be patient.

Now you all aren't just Josephians; You're La Sallians!!