I spent the whole of yesterday at Acid Camp, an annual camp brought together by the many project groups of the MINDS Youth Group (MYG). I was greatly humbled at the event, and am finally taking the first baby steps to the long-said volunteering resolution that I've made since last year.
Being my first time at a MYG event, they paired me up with a trainee who was relatively easy to manage. (He could feed himself and understood some questions that I asked.) I'm pretty in awe at his familiarity with cars -- he could tell me the brands of the cars at a distance, something that I totally couldn't. Being always smiley and friendly (especially with pretty girls), he's quite popular with the volunteers. It was really enjoyable spending 13 full hours with him at the camp, and I secretly hoped he thought so too.
Although I didn't stay overnight into the 2nd day, I could tell that the organisers were a professional lot. Their time management was impeccable, which was commendable for a special needs camp. The activities also managed to keep the trainees' interests up even after a long day, which wouldn't be possible without a well-thought out programme plan. There was really huge effort put in by the committee and the other volunteers.
By observing the trainees throughout the camp, I saw how happy they were in the 'parallel world' that they're in. There were no attempts to hide their emotions nor facial expressions, and they're perhaps the most 'real' people I've interacted with. When their favourite music was played, some of them wouldn't think twice about standing up and dancing away. They're generally happy, and genuinely happy.
I can recount an instance when the emcee on the stage requested 10 trainees to volunteer to dance on stage. So many hands were in the air! My trainee, W, looked at me, as if trying to ask for permission.
Me: "Do you want to go up and dance?"
W nodded slowly.
Me: "Ok, go! Go up to dance!"
W happily stood up and joined the many others on stage to dance. In their dictionary, there's nothing about being paiseh, nor being overly self-conscious about how others may see/judge them, regardless of their dancing skills.
At that point, I had one thought: Are we, the so-called 'normal people', the ones who are actually behaving abnormally?
人生是黑白的.
7:29 PM <3
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