The week began with a state
of “no government”. The proprietor, Mdm Sangay and her husband were off to Hong
Kong for business engagement. Mr Tshering will be going on a month long
leadership course in Brisbane, Australia.
Mr Tshering plays a pivotal
role in getting things moving in the school, so inevitably, I felt a sense of
loss. But I knew Mr Tshering should go for the course so that RHSS will benefit
from his leadership after he comes back. No one should be indispensable in any
organization. A great leader must always ensure that the organization run
smoothly even in the absence of his presence.
I was pleasantly surprised
when I learnt that Dr Wang will be the acting principal. I suddenly found
myself a substitute for Dr Wang’s lunch partner in the absence of Mr Tshering.
It’s a blessing to have Dr Wang around.
Dr Wang started the week by
calling an impromptu staff meeting and get the month’s events in order. It was
the first staff meeting I attended since I came to the school. It was useful
because it clarified the events that will be happening in May.
The staff welcomed Dr Wang’s
initiative of renovating the toilets of the staffroom and the proprietor office.
He explained the importance of having a “presentable” toilet for the staff. The
condition of toilet usually reflects an organization’s image and how it values
the staff welfare. It doesn’t speak well of the leaders or the organization if
the basic needs was not even adequately looked into. Well-said and an element
of truth in it. Right at the bottom of my heart, I also knew that Dr Wang is
going to bear the cost of the renovation again. He has a generous heart and he
is always giving.
I brought up the coming
events of the scout camp and the last PD session on 31 May. It was a selfish
thought of mine when I secretly hoped that the PD session will be cancelled so
that I can go on my weekend trek.
“The school was always busy
with many school events that I could never have the full attendance of the
staff”. As I made this comment to the staff, I suddenly realized that the
negativity began to seep in without me realizing it.
The staff did have a legitimate
reason for not being present in the PD session because many of them have
official duties elsewhere. Dr Wang supported the last PD session because it was
Mr Tshering’s initiative and I will be doing the 7 effective habits of Steven
Covey.
The kids had unit test on
5-7 May. I availed myself to help in the invigilation. The system was quite
different compared to Singapore.
Students were not allowed to go to the toilet during the unit test and
the teachers were only relieved 5 minutes per session during their invigilation
duty. Singapore teachers are so fortunate.
I set my mind on the
planning of the scout camp on 9-11 May. As the students have unit test till 7
May, I could only call the scouts to a meeting on 7 May. Calling the scouts to
a meeting was another challenge because we do not have morning assembly during
Tuesdays and Thursdays. I finally managed to get the message across to all the
scouts with the help of the Dzongkha HOD, Lop Ugyen.
Tandin and Ugyen assisted in
the buying of the camp food, together with the 2 students. It was an arduous task
because we were catering food for about 60 students and staff. It was little
wonder that the 2 teachers said it will be the first and the last time they
will be buying the food for the camp again.
A little hiccup emerged when
I realized that there was no gas cylinder for the camp. Mr Bishnu presumed Lop
Passang has spare gas cylinder and Lop Passang has none. The issue was resolved
when the office staff, Pasang, went to the gas company to top up the gas
cylinder and delivered to me in school at about 7 pm in the evening. I was very
touched by many helpful people like Lop Passang and Pasang (the office staff). All
logistics and rooms were settled at about 8 pm, just before the school closed.
The camp started with a
setting of the tone for the camp. I had to wear different hat during the camp.
Scouts must understand the importance of punctuality in the camp and I sought
the common consensus with the teachers. If we want the scouts to be
disciplined, we need to model our talk.
Handing up consent form is
another issue. It reflects the accountability towards self and school. One
student had to go home to take his consent form as he forgot to bring it to the
camp.
We were blessed to have 2 YHSS
scout leaders, Sonam Dorjie and Dorji Gyeltshen to help us in the camp. They
were a great help. I had always felt handicapped with my inability to speak
Dzongkha and not being able to inject Bhutanese flavor of scouting into RHSS
scouts. Together with the 4 teachers, Sonam and Gyeltshen boosted the unit with
their zest and enthusiasm.
Dr Wang came to visit us
during the camp when he dropped by the school to “supervise” the toilet
renovation.
Karma and Kelzang were in
charge of the meals. I realized to my dismay that they took upon the
responsibility to cook instead of getting the students to cook. It was never my
intention to ask them to “slog” for the scouts and I told them that it was
important to get the students to learn how to cook. In the end, the 2 male
teachers took over the cooking. This time they were “smarter”, the students cooked
and they supervised. I had to tell the teachers not to focus too much on the
cooking as the teachers need to observe the running of the activities and
support the camp program as well.
The camp was packed with
activities. The teachers were thankful that they did not go to Pha Sho Ding
instead. They could not imagine how they were going to bring their blankets and
the food up the 2 hours trek to the camp venue. It will be a horrendous task!!
I have to make a lot of
adjustment to the program because the activity did not go on as scheduled. We
managed to complete most of the activities though.
Most of the scouts and staff
did not have a good night sleep for the first night and it was expected. The
camp activities included an urban hike, a campfire as well as a night adventure
race. From their faces, I could see that the scouts had fun.
One event happened during
the camp that made me realized that I had not handled the incident well. As it
was important for me to see that there was proper food disposal area and
cleaning area, the ”dominant” trait in me suddenly prompted me to tell the
teachers and the troop leader what to do.
There was miscommunication
as I could not understand some of their pronunciation and explanation and
before I realized, I found myself raising my tone towards Kelzang and Tandin
raising his voice towards me as well.
I took time off to cool down
and did not take my dinner. The scouts thought that they made me angry and all
of them came to me to appeal to me to take the dinner. They will not eat if I
do not eat. I suddenly felt very bad for “showing my temper”. I met with the 4
teachers and explained my stand. It was never my intention to raise my voice
and I did not realize I raised my tone at that time in front of the teachers or
students during dinner time. It was a sheer misunderstanding, be it in terms of
culture / pronunciation. I do face problem understanding the pronunciation of
the words at times and I need them to spell out the words if I cannot get the
message right.
Due to the difference in
culture, I have to keep the students focus whenever they have free time. Their
usual free time activity is “basketball”.
I told them that they have
to make full use of the time to get their advancement test completed in between
activities.
It was quite ambitious to
complete most of the tests within such a short span of time, but it was
comforting to see that most of the students were self-motivated. They had been
warned to take good care of their “scout book” as well as the advancement test
sheet. They will have to redo everything if they lost either one of them.
During the campfire, we
encouraged the scouts to share their takeaways in the camp. One new scout
shared his excitement of attending the campfire as it was his first and should
not be his last.
I used the opportunity to
share with the scouts the true value of the scout laws. It is important that we
internalize the value of every component of the scout law instead of just
memorizing it. The values of “self-discipline”, “loyalty”, “kind and
considerate”, “cheerful under all difficulties” etc will bring them far in
life. As they enjoyed the activity and have fun, they should internalize the values
they learnt in the activities. The 2 extra laws which were implemented in
Bhutan scouting and not in Singapore are : “thrifty”, “love nature and kind to
animals”. These 2 values were very good and I saw the traits exhibited in some
of the scouts during the camp. It was good to see that the scouts and staff
exhibited thriftiness during the meals, and love of nature during the hike.
The 3 days 2 nights camp
ended with a positive note. The spirit of the scouts was high and we danced and
sang before the closing ceremony. As it may be the last time we meet as a scout
group, I exhorted them to continue to keep the scouting spirit burning in their
heart. “Once a scout, always a scout”.
Just like the reef knot in
the world scout logo, it will continue to bind the scouts from all over the
world together in 1 spirit.
