About

We are a group of Young Adults (YAs) in Singapore who have graduated from the Dunman High Girl Guides Company. We are now embarking on starting up a new chapter in the school to explore the possibilities in the empowerment of girls. :)

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Contact

For enquires, do feel free to contact us at dhsyachapter@gmail.com

Chairperson: Louisa (lee.jiemin1@dhs.sg)
Secretary: Chloe (ng.lien.chloe@dhs.sg)

YA Annual Camp

After such a long break from major YA activities, it was finally time for the 3rd batch of DHS YAs to get together, do fun activities and bond! Such moments when we can get together for YA activities are rare, especially given how most of the YAs in our batch only take up YAs as a second CCA and are unable to make it for most of the weekly activities. This only makes us treasure the time we can get to spend together much more :) This 2D1N YA Annual Camp which took place from 23-24 January 2015 was planned by the 3rd batch of EXCO members and was indeed a great one for everyone.

Day 1 (Friday, 23 Jan)
After school, we gathered to begin our first activity of the camp - Outdoor Cooking! We first moved tables and collected all our ingredients before starting the preparation of the food. This time, the food was also mainly cooked using portable gas stoves, although we did make use of the BBQ pit as well. Having already experienced this earlier in August 2014, we were now much better and faster at using these equipment and cooking our dinner all by ourselves :)


Ingredients :)

Excited YAs before cooking!

Menu of the day:
Fried Rice
Chicken Stew
Cabbage with Mushrooms
Pizza Bread
S'mores

First, we started preparing the ingredients for the chicken stew, which required a longer time to cook. We then started on the fried rice, which was a rather simple dish since it is so common! Besides, a few of us have cooked fried rice ourselves at home before, and this gave us an opportunity to share tips and ideas with one another. Following that, we cooked the other dishes concurrently. Our progress was rather slow at times due to the portable gas stoves which were not functioning very well. However, we managed to work as efficiently as possible despite the limitations we faced and managed to finish cooking our dinner before the sky turned completely dark. 


Yeok Min coating the chicken pieces in flour

Rhonda setting up the BBQ pit

Jaynell cooking the fried rice





"Outdoor cooking was the first activity to kickstart our camp on Friday evening, where we had to cook our dinner with portable gas stoves and bbq pit in the open. We did not start out smooth due to a last minute change in location but everything went pretty well after that :)


Our first dish was chicken stew, which took us the longest time to prepare and cook. Due to a faulty gas stove, we took almost twice the time but we were glad that the dish turned out well though not as what we have expected. It was more like chicken soup than stew, but it went just nice with our delicious fried rice! Our fried rice was pretty simple with ingredients like small onions, frozen vegetables, eggs, soy sauce and sesame oil. Despite the limited ingredients, it turned out pretty well and our guiders complimented us for its aromatic smell that could be sensed from afar. It does not lack in visual too and we are proud of it :D The other dishes include cabbage with white button mushrooms in oyster sauce, Hawaiian bread pizzas, and roasted marshmallows. Though all are simple dishes, they required our combined efforts in preparation and cooking. I'm sure I couldn't have done everything alone in an "open kitchen" with limited resources. The guiders were also a great help to us and we were glad that they enjoyed the food we have prepared <3 it was really satisfying to see everyone enjoying the food, especially those who we offered our food to as they were still studying in school. We ended off our meal with fresh fruits that hopefully aid our digestion :) really thankful for this rare chance and hope to do it again soon, and definitely a better one then <3" -Yin Ci, Outdoor Cooking I/C

Here are the some of the recipes we used: 

Chicken Stew
Ingredients
900g chicken pieces
6 tablespoon corn flour
3 big onion, sliced thinly
3 carrots, diced
6 potato, diced
1800ml water
12 tablespoon cooking oil
pinch of salt
pepper to taste
3 teaspoon of basil leaves
 Instructions
·         Cut chicken into smaller pieces and coat in flour and basil leave mixture and leave aside.
·         Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry onion until fragrant.
·         Add in the chicken pieces and fry until chicken is light brown.
·         Add in the carrot and potato.
·         Pour in water and bring to boil. Simmer until vegetables and chicken are cooked.
·         Season with pepper and salt.

·         Serve hot.

Bread Pizzas
Ingredients
1 loaf of bread
1 bottle of pasta sauce
3-4 pieces of ham, sliced into small thin pieces
1 can of pineapple, chopped into small pieces
1 packet of shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
·         Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce on each slice of bread.
·         Add a few pieces of ham and pineapples on top of the sauce.
·         Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top, making sure it forms a thin cover over the ingredients.
·         Wrap the pieces of pizza in aluminum foil and heat them over open fire for 10 minutes.
·         Open a few to check if the cheese melts. Once they melt, the pizza is ready to eat.

We then chatted with one another and with the guiders over dinner while enjoying our delicious self-cooked dinner! :) It was a great bonding session for us as we finally got the opportunity to catch up with one another properly after a tiring first few weeks of school. After a satisfying dinner, we cleared up and went to bathe. There was a surprise activity planned by the EXCO for the other YAs after that. The classroom was locked with a note attached to get them to look for us. When they finally found us, they were given 5 minutes to mass change into their YA uniform. This activity not only serves as a reminder to always be prepared, but also brought back certain bittersweet and memorable memories as it has been a really long time since we last did mass change together. At night, we watched Step Up 2 and other music videos together, and chatted more till 4am when we finally crashed.

"It was really a great time to slack around at night in the midst of busy Senior High life. We watched Step Up 2; it was pretty interesting as we watched the cool kids dancing around and going all out to achieve their goals. We were totally immersed in the movie as we all snugged around together in our sleeping bags till late at night to early in the wee hours. We really had a great time then, as we also went on to watch our favourite Youtube videos (and singing wildly to the grooves of the tunes with some screaming in joy upon viewing the Music Videos). After having our dose of midnight entertainment, we also stayed up lying in a circle chatting and catching up with one another. I guessed at one point I was too tired that I dozed off halfway HAHA. It was a memorable night!! And I'm so grateful for the EXCO for planning such a bonding session. :)" -Elizabeth

Day 2 (Saturday, 24 Jan)
The next day, we woke up at 7am to wash up and have breakfast. We then proceeded to our next activity - sock toy craft! We learnt to make our own mini toys using socks. The toys we handmade not only serve as a memento for our very own YA camp, but also teaches us the importance of upcycling and proves how it is not difficult to transform seemingly old and unwanted items into useful ones. 


Getting ready to sew and stuff our toys!! :D


Cheryl, Xi Ying and Yeok Min with their toys
Steps: (Source: http://www.rawrcreatures.com/2012/02/how-to-make-sock-teddy-bear.html)
1. Flip the sock inside out and draw the head, legs, arms.

2. Cut out the head shape and trim a small portion off the end of the toe. 

3. Next cut out your legs and arms. There are now 4 cut out parts in total.

4. Keeping your sock inside out, sew around the ears, legs and arms. Leave the ends open on the arms so you can stuff before attaching to the body.

5. Flip everything right side out and begin stuffing the head, body, and arms.

6. Hand stitch the head closed and then do the same to the neck of the body.

7. Now hand stitch to attach the head to the neck of the body.

8. Cut out a piece from the other sock to create the little muzzle. Cut out an oval shape, pin it in place.

 9. Hand sew the edge of the muzzle to the face of your bear. Stitch all across the top, down one side and halfway along the bottom before starting to insert stuffing. 

10. Attach the eyes, nose and arms.

 "For me, I learnt a lot while brainstorming and surfing the net to look for upcycling craft ideas for the batch to carry out together. It was very interesting to see how normal items could be converted to other functional or display items easily, and I hoped that my batchmates would be able to try out new things and have fun at the same time during this activity. We started slow as it was rather confusing for some of us, not knowing which parts of the sock to cut out or sew together, but helped one another out to the best of our ability.  Although we did not have sufficient time as we had to rush for our next activity, I thought it was very heartwarming seeing my batchmates sitting in complete silence together in a circle and trying with great determination to finish sewing and stuffing our toys. Everyone did a really great job and I hope that this toy will always be something that my batchmates will treasure, and that they will instantly think of one another and the memorable times shared together whenever they see this toy :) <3" -Jaynell, Sock Toy Craft I/C

"And the anticipated craft activity is here! We were told to bring scissors and thread and we were all very excited to find out what we will be doing for the activity. And when we saw the fluffy pink socks from Daiso, we were all so happy (and someone even wore the socks cause she was too happy) - We are making sock toy craft!! :) This consists of cutting up the socks and sewing the ends together, before stuffing them up with cotton stuffings. We had so much fun doing the craft, and the room was filled with cotton fluff everywhere, which was an amusing sight. I really enjoyed this craft activity and it shows that other than doing physical activities, we can actually do handicrafts too! Seeing everyone persevere on and trying to sew as fast as they can (because we were running out of time) really made me very touched to be a part of this bunch of hardworking girls who never fail to put in their best efforts in anything they do. And the most satisfying part was - the sock soft toy is just so adorable!!!! I'm sure this cute toy will accompany us on many of our bed sides for quite some time :)" -Xi Ying

"The sock toy craft was a very fun and meaningful activity as we recycled and sewed toys together as a batch. Using socks, we cut out and sewed a stuffed soft toy bear up according to our creativity. It is a very enjoyable past time and it was useful to learn a new skill that we might need to use in future. Overall, it was the experience of making a craft together with the people I love that made it fun, instead of doing such things alone. I am also very glad that we could make and keep something that could serve as a momentum for this very special YAs camp as a batch :)" -Tiffany

At 10am, we left for Singapore Sports Hub for our next activity. Having our school being located walking distance from our country's newest sports facility definitely has much advantages, so why not enjoy them? :) 


Off to the sports hub with our guiders <3



There, alongside another family, we learnt to play a game called Kin Ball. It was a new and unfamiliar game for us, but we soon picked up the game and had lots of fun playing! This game is really interesting as it is simple in nature yet requires a lot of teamwork and inclusion. Having been through so much together during camps and normal guides activities over the years, we certainly developed much chemistry with one another and knew how to work well with one another so the game was not a big challenge for us! We all enjoyed the game with the company of the guiders and it felt good to move around and enjoy some physical activity :)



Group Photos! Cr: Singapore Kin-Ball

"We learnt a new game at sports hub during the camp. It was a refreshing experience as we learnt and played this game, not only with our fellow YAs but also with the members of the public. Kin ball is a team game which requires a lot of team work, chemistry and understanding between the team members. This activity not only exposed us to new sports and skills, but also bonded us as a batch even more while we interacted with the public, showing them our sisterhood and togetherness. One of the trainers even came up to us and told us that "you girls are good." I feel really proud because of the recognition from the public and we are able to portray a positive image on behalf of our chapter and our school." -Yeok Min

"Playing kin ball was really fun! It involved team work yet it wasn't super physically depending. It was tough to get used to the game as it was something we've never played before. What made this game really unique was the fact that it cannot be played by one person since the ball has to be caught by everyone from the team. Though we did not win, I truly had a lot of fun and I look forward to trying other sports with my cuties!" -Cheryl

We had lunch at Kallang Wave Mall before heading back to school for the last activity of the camp - pioneering! For pioneering, we built the structure that we drew on our batch tee when we were Y1 guides. It was always our dream to build this structure and recreate the scene portrayed on our tee, so we were all very excited! 





Along the way, we encountered several problems and had to think out of the box to make our structure as stable as possible. When we were finally done, we all felt a sense of accomplishment and stood staring at our structure in awe. 


Our beautiful structure :)

Us and our beautiful guiders <3





"When I volunteered to plan pioneering for the camp, I knew, clear in my mind, what I wanted to build. I don't know why the need to build the heart is so inherent in me, but I wanted it. Maybe it's because during the anchoring session last year, I realised that it was possible, and that pioneering is really just an assembly of spars and rope, that anything can happen if you really put your mind to it. Building it was another issue, because I decided to change my proposal last minute, because I realised, on hindsight, that what I had in mind wasn't really possible. And collectively, as a batch, we brainstormed the possible ways to make the top of the heart stay in place, despite it's weight, we thought about how tall we wanted our heart to be. I prefer it this way, the discussion and the brainstorming. It made the structure feel more like a collective effort and more of a symbol of what our batch is. Everyone contributed their two cents into the building of the structure, and I'm proud to say that we did it - we built a structure we can call ours, both physically and emotionally. 世世是姐妹,四十四届mates, these girls will forever be my sisters from another mister." -Rhonda, Pioneering I/C

"We finally did pioneering in the afternoon! It was the mid noon sun and hence it was indeed very hot but we braved through it and build a structure that we had all wanted to construct when we were in Year 2 but thought it was only possible on pen and paper. 4 years later, we decided to try it out and even though it was a simple structure, we managed to accomplish this dream together as one batch! When we could see the heart shape forming we all couldn't contain our excitement and started clapping :) This pioneering experience was definitely very enriching for me because it was the first time I am tying lashes again after close to three years and as it wasn't like the typical guides activity where I have to rush to complete the lash. Instead, I could take some time to explore and to understand, seeing things in a different light especially after I have not been in contact with the activity for so long! It was indeed the highlight of the entire YA Camp :) " -Shi Hui


"I actually dreaded pioneering since I have not done it in a long time, plus it was really hot that day. It turned out to be so much better than i expected, and despite facing many obstacles when trying to get the structure up, we all came together and thought of solutions in order to make the structure on the back of our 届 tee, which we once thought impossible, come alive. Even though the structure looks relatively simple, i am so proud that we managed to build it at the end of the day. I was also very happy to see that after 4 years in guides, even though some of us have not pioneered in a long time, we have not lost our roots and still managed to tie strong and tight lashes." -Ying Jie

This YA Camp was really a great chance for us to bond and have fun together, and at the same time revisit some old skills like pioneering. Although we do not really have the opportunity to carry out activities like this together very often now, the skills we once learnt will not be forgotten and the strong ties we forged, as well as the lovely memories we created together will always be etched in our minds. I am sure we all enjoyed the camp thoroughly and I hope we will always stay close :)


Happy YAs after YA camp!

Lastly, we would like to show our deepest gratitude to our guiders, for overseeing the planning and execution of this camp, for carrying out activities during the camp together with us, for taking very good care of us by providing us with advice, food and so much more, and for just being there for us like always! This camp was also a great opportunity for us to bond with the guiders and spend more time together with them :) Looking forward to more of such amazing activities in the future!

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Updates!

Hello everyone! Due to the end-of-year examinations and school holidays after, it has been a really long time since we last had any YA activity in school. Before I move on to post about the first major activity of the year, here are some minor updates on other things we did together during our long break!

During the school holidays, some of us signed up to help out during the PGA Ceremony at the Istana on 10 December 2014. It was the first time stepping into the Istana for most of us, and such a memorable experience was truly an honour for us :)

From left to right: 
(First row) Rhonda, Tiffany, Cheryl, Jaynell, Shi Hui
(Second row) Ying Jie, Yin Ci, Poh Kah, Yeok Min

When school reopened in January, we were mainly involved in supervising the Girl Guides in our school during their preparation for the various activities (pioneering, gadgets, outdoor cooking, performance, gateway, mini games, deco) for the Y1 CCA Orientation, which took place on 17 January 2015. 

Moving on, a much-anticipated event for the 3rd batch of YAs - YA Annual Camp!! :)

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