(Rescheduled post)

Today is our second visit to the Guides of Edgefield Secondary School. Of course, all of us went with great excitement and joy as we had a memorable experience the previous time.

In the beginning, we revised lashes with the guides as some of them had forgotten how to tie them. The lashes that we revised with them were square lash, diagonal lash and the tripod lash. We were glad that many of them were fast-learners, and they were very eager to learn from us too! What was really commendable was their willingness to learn and to clarify their doubts. :)

After that, we had an activity titled "Creative Gadgets". Basically, the Guides are required to use their knowledge on the lashes and build a simple gadget. It could be a simple structure such as a chair or a table. As this was the first time they are trying out this activity, we guided them and helped them to brainstorm for ideas.

When they have decided on their gadget to build, we advised them to allocate their manpower efficiently as they only had approximately 50 minutes to tie their gadget. Some of us helped them with the lashes along the way if they happened to forget any steps in the process as well.


The final activity was a lecture on how to plan activities. Chai Ning conducted the lecture while the guides diligently took down notes. They were taught on what to look out while planning activities, such as location, duration, logistics and safety precautions. We hope that with these skills and knowledge, they would be able to plan activities for their company and carry out themselves in the near future. Meanwhile, we will continue guiding them and give them adequate support!


Overall, it was a fruitful morning spent with the Edgefield Guides. Up to this point, we have gotten to know the Guides much better after interacting with them and find them a great joy to be with. We await for our next session soon! :)

Labels: EFS activity

Hello everyone! We had tie-dye last Wednesday (13th) as part of our initiatives. :)

In a nutshell (with the help of our friend Wikipedia), tie-dye is a process of tying and dyeing a piece of fabric or cloth which is made from knit or woven fabric, usually cotton; typically using bright colors.

Poh Kah and Zephania selected a few tutorial videos for us to learn some basic designs from before we embarked on our (slightly) (messy) journey to tying our piece of shirt or cloth with rubber bands and dyeing them with the available colours!


We had black, orange, red, green (the fake purple/ navy), pistachio green (the fake green/yellow). :) [On a side note: Basically what happened was that the packet of green dye appeared purple when we opened it but ended up fulfilling its promise in dyeing our shirts green nonetheless. And the pistachio green was too light that it turned out almost like a shade of yellow hahaha]



After dyeing our shirts and canvas bags and pieces of cloth, we left them to dry and let the colours sink in for about an hour (should’ve been longer though!) before we brought them home to rinse with water.

Some things to note would be that the material of the cloth should preferably be cotton so that the dyes can be absorbed, and that the rubber bands have to be tied tightly enough to make sure the patterns emerge at the end. And even though the tying of rubber bands part could be seemingly easy, it is an extremely crucial step to achieve a nice end-product! Lastly, apply the lighter colours first as well or else it will end up as a mess if the darker shades are dyed wrongly and it will be hard to cover up :)

I must say it was a fun experience, even despite the fact that the results weren't as expected (we did follow the tutorials!). But I guess it was precisely this that made it even more interesting. :) Our designs may turn out unexpected in the end, but who knows~ some of us might even like the 'new designs' better instead. :) And the fact that we dyed our own shirts, we 'created' something ourselves!

Labels: Initiatives

(Rescheduled post)

This activity marked the very first time the Y5 YAs attended an activity planned for the Edgefield Secondary Guides :)

It started off rather awkward as the Guides there seemed quiet and we did not know how to engage them well, but gladly, the atmosphere improved towards the end. :)

Firstly, we split them into groups and taught them lashes, namely Square Lash, Diagonal Lash and Tripod Lash.

The experience turned out to be slightly embarrassing and a little comical along the way, as we had to be mindful not to use terms (especially Chinese) with them. Since all of us were so used to the terms we've learnt, it took a while (and many reminders) to change the way we spoke. The Guides also slowly warmed up to us as we got to know them better. It was interesting to make new friends, and hearing their different stories as a EFS Guide.

We took a while for us to finish teaching them and for them to fully understand the multiple steps. Although these lashes may seem very easy and simple to us, it definitely was rather complicated for them because everything was still foreign to them.

Secondly, we translated these skills into building of a proper structure. One of the groups tied a baggage rack and the other tied a shoe rack. I was in the former group and we firstly demonstrated the first step of a baggage rack which was the A-'jia'. The EFS guides continued tying the subsequent steps as we slowly guided them.

After a while, both groups were done and we could introduce both structures to all of them. Since the guides do not often tie structures, I could tell that they were rather amazed at what they could tie with the simple lashes. :)


Overall, the first experience at EFS was quite an eye-opening experience for us. We were able to first-hand experience the guides culture in another school, which was definitely very different from what we were used to. The kind of interaction we had with the guides also was not what we usually have in dhscoy either :) Thus, it made the experience very refreshing.

We also found it very meaningful to pass on these skills to guides from other schools so that they can benefit as well. Hopefully, if we do continue with this project at EFS, we would be able to leave a lasting impact on the development of the EFS Guides Company! :)

Labels: EFS activity

Hi all! The YAs had our Annual General Meeting was held last weekend at the HQ, on the 23rd of Feb, together with the induction ceremony for our new YAs as well. :)

Besides the mandatory introduction to the YA programme, we had sharing sessions by our fellow YAs regarding their valuable experiences from their trips to other parts of the world, and we also got to know what the few different chapters had participated in during our first year in this new programme.

Here’s a little introduction about us:

Dunman High Chapter is mainly made up of girls once from Dunman High Company, who are currently studying in the Senior High (JC) section of our IP curriculum. We also have a few seniors who join us for activities occasionally. :) Compared to 2012, we have evolved from a team of 8, to a much larger team of 19 YAs this year!







More posts about the activities we've had so far in the year or even last year (2012) will be coming up!

Labels: AGM