Love Export
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Introduction
After a three year hiatus, our only Youth Expedition Project (YEP), Love Export was reinitiated in 2008, following the philosophy of service learning. As the name suggests, members learn through meaningful service to meet real needs of the overseas community.
Love Export III
In 2010, Love Export entered its third year. Extending the efforts of previous year, the new team returned to Prey Kla Village, Cambodia and continued the educational endeavors by conducting daily English lessons and constructing a vegetable farm to be used as part of the children's science curriculum. Besides that, fulfilling Love Export III's family based objectives, the team also constructed toilets and wells which were shared among a few families. In addition, the team funded 300 water filter sets, which facilitated our host partner, Love Cambodia's aim of providing clean and safe water for all families within the village. Furthermore, to promote greater interaction and communication between the team and the villagers, recreational activities such as Sports Day, Cultural Exchange Day, Carnival, and Christmas Day Celebration were conducted and involved villagers from all ages, both adults and children. The team also repainted the playground in the school so as to allow the children to enjoy the facilities better.
Painting at work
Besides overseas community engagement, Love Export III also collaborated with Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) Supervised Homework Group (Redhill) as part of her local community projects. For the pre-expedition phase, an outing was carried out at Hort Park where children and their families were involved in station games played in an Amazing Race style. As a finale, the children were paired up and played three-legged soccer, which had generated much excitement and fun. For the post-expedition phase which coincided with Chinese New Year, the team conducted a mini workshop informing the children with the customs, traditions, and origins of the festival. The children were also introduced to the team's efforts in Cambodia and taught some Khmer words, which were later used in the card making competition in which children were encouraged to make cards for the Cambodian counterparts based on the theme 'home'.
Love Export, being a Youth Expedition Project (YEP), follows the philosophy of service-learning. Thus, apart from serving the local and overseas community, the members also learned along the journey and grew as individuals. Through interaction with the various communities, members got to understand a new culture, values, way of life, and see things from a new perspective. The learning process was facilitated by nightly facilitation and Life Journey, an exercise in which members took turns to share with the rest of a significant story in their lives. In addition, an overnight Home Stay was arranged for members so as to promote more interaction and a better understanding of the villagers' way of lives. Members were also tasked to develop a video based on their interaction with the villagers. Generally, most members gained a deeper understanding and insights to their own personal life at the end of the project.
Teaching the kids
Next, a distinct element of Love Export is the opportunity for team members to stay together under the same roof for 18 days in the village. The team was split into three groups which took turns to prepare the meals for the day. The communal living allowed team members to understand one another better, became more caring and understanding, with members tolerating each others' differences and taking care of one another. Through the journey, Love Export III members learnt the importance of teamwork, coped with sudden changes, and kept an open heart and mind. Personally, the journey had been life changing for me and many bonds were forged within the team, and among both the local and overseas communities.