Annual Camp 2013 Part I

Sungai Congkak. Our location for this year's annual camp. Never heard of that place before, but was equally excited as anybody else. Bought minimal clothes: Four t-shirts and one pants. Sleeping bag, torchlight, and other equipments one must have in order to have that camping spirit. I went camping with one main objective: to go there without any gadgets, which meant my phones, camera, earphones and laptop were left safely in my room.

We arrived the campsite late in the afternoon, and after setting up camp, we were told that we had to take wudhu at the river. Well, there are these rumours that this particular river had been reported of kencing tikus. However, we had no other options at that time. We were also given assurance that plenty of people living there had been using the river without any news of kencing tikus. I felt privileged that I can once again feel the serenity of the river since

The queue for the toilet was long, if you're late. Lucky for the guys, they had no proper toilet. Instead, they made the river as their toilet, bathtub, and playground. Poor river.

Dinner was particularly nice (or maybe it was the fact that I was so hungry?) On the first night, BSMM and Kadet Police were separated, leaving both to do their own activities. BSMM had class for balutan and CPR. Not to brag but, since I had been a member of the Malaysian Red Crescent for almost 7 years, all of these classes was nothing new and I took it as a revision (seriously, there were some that slipped from my memory). And because of my countless experiences, I had long been in love with BSMM.

The very next day, I woke up shivering, my teeth rattling. I didn't see that coming because the previous night had some kind of heat wave. I guess I should've known that temperature drops quite drastically in the woods. At eight, we had a stroll outside the campsite. The sergeant intended to make it a kawad but initially, that didn't work out. "Yang laki2 cakap kiri, yang wanita cakap kanan" he said. And off we went. It didn't take as much as one minute that the kiri kanan kiri went too fast. Due to that, we had to stop every few metres. However, we seem to improve by every step that we take, and finally, we were synchronised. A rhythm of "kiri kanan kiri" "hek keh hek" "left right left" and other sounds that I am not sure of filled the air. "The boys sound like frogs," one girl said XD

This is not how our tent looked like

When we were only a few metres to the destination, the Sungai Congkak waterfall, the sergeant commanded us to stop and sprint, row by row. It was to show us that we should speed up upon reaching our goal. I, and I guess the others too, were enthusiastic to go in. Frankly, I felt cheated when the sergeant told us that that wasn't part of the plan. Boohoo. :(

More class for BSMM members. Operasi menyelamat. Now this is something that I've been waiting for because I've never experienced a real simulation of a disaster. So we were divided into four. Five if you count the "mangsa" and "pengacau". Wait, is that six? Who cares. First, we were in four groups and the units needed were Unit Peninjau, Unit Penyelamat, Unit Perubatan Kecemasan, and Unit Kebajikan. By default, my team would be made unit kebajikan but Tuan Shah said only three were needed. So, I backed off because I wanted to play penyelamat so badly.

After the afternoon break, the mangsa team went off while the others remained in the hall for more practical on usungan. Without warning, Rasyid barged in, panicking and saying stuff like, "Tolong. Kampung diserang kepala air". At that moment, we knew it was time. Syahir and Dalila were in position as the Head and the Secretary of the bilik gerakan. Unit peninjau went off first. By ten minutes, they finally reported the situation and the details of injuries. Unit penyelamat were then sent.

I felt a rush of excitement as I ran for the "village", hoping to save at least one life. Upon arrival, I scanned the area and found a girl with a vertical cut on her palm. I took my posisi perawat and began aiding her hand. It would've went well if it weren't for those overly-emotional villagers. They were like, "Cik! Tengok anak saya nie cik! Dia dah sakit! Macam ini kah cik buat kerja?". I really felt like yelling at them to shut up, but I knew patience is vital in these situations. So I kept my voice calm and told them everything's gonna be alright.

In a matter of what seemed like 20 minutes, all the injured (or should I say all but one who sadly became a corpse) were bought back to the green zone. They were treated and simulation was over. I could feel sweat trickling down my cheeks. It felt good. The facilitators commented on our job, saying that all was great, except for the fact that we were not efficient enough. They gave us a 75. Outstanding, I must say. This simulation made me more determined, that one day I shall be involved in these kinds of stuff, saving people's lives and giving a helping hand during crucial moments. InsyaAllah.

Part II