"Woah, can see Singapore from up here!", I exclaimed out loud. Where was I? Halfway up a coconut tree in Tanjung Piai on the southern tip of Peninsula Malaysia. What was I doing? Taking part in the Basic Officers Training Course Residential Weekend. Climbing up a coconut tree (btw thats someone else, not me climbing in the picture) was one of the activities lined up. It feels kind of like a high elements obstacle but unlike the man-made ones that we are used to, this is au naturel and 100% organic.
When I was done gawking at the sight of home, I looked down at the people who were supporting me. There was 1 belayer, 1 anchor man, 1 backup belayer, 1 rope manager and a couple other people providing vocal support. 6 people working hard just to get 1 person to the top safely.
There and then I found a parallel between this experience and that of a typical journey in Primers. The officers and student leadership of the club play a supporting role for each Primer so that they can achieve over and above what they were ever able to do on their own. And like those of us climbing the coconut tree in Malaysia, each Primer can decide how high they would like to climb. A quarter way? Half way? Or even all the way up. We cannot haul each other up the tree but we can continue to be both challenging and supportive at the same time. Each member of the Primers family is there to help one another achieve their goals and dreams no matter how big or small.
Thats how Primers will continue to be, so that everyone of us can climb high and get to the coconuts at the top.
Ben Lee
