On Friday 25th August Shawn (our Team manager for Project Pakistan) wrote this
Hi Guys, Greetings from Pakistan, sorry but I wasn't able to get access to email past 2 days. The situation here in Balakot is not good at all, just traveling to the school was a TORTURE due to the badly damaged roads. Unfortunately the school is located right beside a large river which is swollen from the rain. More than 100 people have been injured and thousands have been made homeless in this place. It is not safe for the students to be here because more rain is expected until October, traveling in vehicles could be dangerous due to the landslides. The road I have been here a few days considering whether you should come but I have to make the call to either postpone or cancel this trip. It is really not worth the risk at this moment. I'm coming back to Singapore tomorrow.
regards, Shawn
When I first read this msg, my heart sank. Already the 1st thing on my mind was to manage the expectations of the Primers. How would they feel if this trip was cancelled? What if we take the risk and go for the trip? What might happen?
So many question so little time to think thru’
On Sunday 27th August, the final call was made to postpone the trip, if not cancelled it. So the hectic meet ups to discuss about other probable trips were made almost immediately. We looked everywhere, from BBHQ to SP to FCBC and thank God for Ps Roland, because he just came back from a feasibility trip to Cambodia. Almost immediately, phone calls were made to the local host, Ps Roland, Danny and Lionel. The team worked furiously at a really frightening pace to get everything up and going. The trip was set to go except for one element.
The students themselves have not been notified of the change as yet. Wednesday 30th august 2006, we released the news during our 1st training date with the students. And I though Bernard’s write up sums it up best
“Stormy clouds and heavy rain caused water to flood over the river banks and submerging hundreds of properties and lives. Large huge rocks might just tumble down or mud will just cover over when traveling on the mountainous road to our destination that we will call home for ten days." This probably is the situation expected in the beginning of our Pakistan trip. Family members, Primers family, friends and people concerned should be quite worried after reading the first paragraph.
The good news is we will be changing our flight plan from Pakistan to Cambodia. Therefore, the above scenario will probably not be faced on the trip to Cambodia. The change of destination was only broken out to 16 Singapore Polytechnic students and 3 Officers from Primers club on the first day of training for the oversea learning trip. Upon hearing this news, many have different feelings about it. Vimel, student from SP and Primers Club Treasurer, felt a sign of relief that the destination was changed because, the place that was intended to go earlier might not be convenient for everyone in terms of safety.
As for Lixuan who is also a student from SP and members of Primers Club felt surprised on learning the news. She was mentally prepared like everyone who is involved in the trip to Pakistan. The change just caught her and everyone by surprise. However, she felt that the change makes a slight impact on her because the team is still going to some other places to extend our love and care.
The change might have the most impact on the trip planners for this oversea learning trip. They had tried their best in getting the administration done in just 2 days which is very short for planning a 9 days trip for 20 people. For the record, a trip for such a large number usually takes weeks or months to prepare. This time, the officers had made a difference by preparing it with such a short time, together with Pastor Roland. It is them who made the trip possible again.
Basically, the training is to prepare us for the oversea learning trip. Therefore, it comprises team building games, talks about the destination and allocated tasks and sharing sessions with the team. This is roughly what we do on the first day of training. The first training ends with a bad and heavy rain at about 4 to 5 pm.
However, there is this saying, "there will always be sunshine after a bad raining day.”
Bernard
The responses from the parents were generally good also and seems like everyone is ready to GO GO GO!
Guys if you are going for this trip, you have to really appreciate the efforts of Danny, Lionel and Ps Roland , because without them all these would not have been possible. Thank God for making everything possible and really without Him this would not have been as smooth as it is.
So if you guys are interested to be involved in this up coming trip, there are 2 ways to contribute right now.
Number 1: you can find any of the students who are going to Cambodia to help sponsor part of his or her trip there. They will provide you with the necessary forms to fill up. People on this trip are Sheng Long, Vimel, Chun Yuan, Juli, Charmaine, Lixuan, Meijun, Bernard, Mark, Zhi Hao, Zhi Yuan, Jeff, Sunder, Edwin, Wei Qiang and Jun Jie!
Number 2: you can approach Hui Shan (Our Vice-President) to be involved in making a personalized gift to the 39 orphans that we are helping.
Hope to see you guys @ the SENDING OFF.
OC
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