year 12 ideals challenge week to borneo. RISS - Renaissance International School Saigon. Offers from pre-school to secondary curriculum under the structure of the British system. Located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

1. 12IR trip to BORNEO
2011
RISS IDEALS week in BORNEO!!
This year the Year 12s went to Borneo as a
part of out IDEALS trip. Our trip had to
incorporate Internationalism, Democracy,
A token we left behind
Environment, Action, Leadership and Ser-
vice. We stayed at a camp near Mt Kinaba-
Inside this issue: lu called Camp Borneo Bongkud. This trip
Overall trip diary 2 was an opportunity for us to give back to a
community and at the same time to come
Internationalism 4
closer as a group. This trip made sure that
Democracy 5 we stepped outside our comfort zones and
experienced new and various activities. For
Environment 6
example, we walked through a jungle, 50
Action/Adventure 7
meters in the air! And we had to do chores,
Leadership 8 which includes washing our own clothes
(most of us had no clue how to do so). For
Service 9
the first time, in quite a long time our class
More photos 10 was not separated/split into cliques, we
mixed with everyone and made sure that
everyone had an enjoyable time. We also
had the opportunity to mix with the local
community. A few of us were instant hits.
The experience was FUN and ENJOYA-
BLE, the farewell night was very emotion-
al for all. This was an experience that we
will carry with us forever.
-Yasmin
CAMP BORNEO BONGKUD

2. TRIP DIARY by Tae Joo & Julia
Day one
In the early Sunday morning, people in my class met together in the airport waiting for the very early flight
from Saigon to Brunei. We were very excited and could not wait for the meaningful trip com-
ing. Everything was good until we arrived at the Brunei airport. There was no one waiting for us in the air-
port. When Mr. Ian phoned the tour company, the man in the phone did not know anything about us. The
misunderstanding made us wait in a KFC for about one hour and finally a guide came to pick us up with
apologies. However, the food was great and the weather was beautiful in Brunei. We visited several famous
places including water village and palace, but due to the time issue, we did not visit those places in detail.
Later on we went to the airport head to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
Day Two
After having a good sleep in the hostel with friendly backpackers, we were ready for the long journey from
Kota Kinabalu to our camp. It took us about two hours to reach there, so everyone slept on the bus because
we had nothing to do. Finally, we arrived at the camp. The first impression of the camp from everyone was
OH MY GOD. We could not believe that we were going to sleep in the tent for five nights and there was no
beach which was what we been told and made us so excited. In addition, there was no hot water for show-
ering. In the afternoon, we had local cultural lessons which included singing lesson, dancing lessons and
language learning lessons. There was a welcome ceremony from the village people. Kids in primary school
danced the traditional "bird dance" with traditional clothes on which was very nice. It was great night.
Day Three
We started to work on the community center project. It was a long term project that is planned to finish in 5
years. We are just a part of long project, but as we are helping people in the village, we were full of enthu-
siasm! The weather there was very hot and we found it challenging. During the lunch time, the lunch was
so delicious and we ate a lot. In the afternoon, we learned to cook the traditional food which was fried ba-
nana. As there is similar Vietnamese food, we could share our cultures with them too. At night time, we
taught the kids from the village English. From that time, we all understood that "teacher is not an easy job."
It was a big job to prepare for the lessons. But it was a very good experience. Tired but fun.

3. Day Four
Today we were separated into three groups: teaching group, painting group and construction group. It was
cooler than yesterday. The weather made us a bit more comfortable while working. We started to find out
that although we were tired but we learned a lot. During the night time, we had camp fire in the camp and
all of us sitting in front of the fire and share our feelings together.
Day Five
It rained heavily in the morning, so we could not follow the plan which was to paint the kindergarten to-
gether. So the manager of the camp, Ms. Eve, Camp manager, taught us how to made bracelet by the tree
seeds and beads. We made some for our friend and family to share. After the painting work in the after-
noon, we climbed the mountain near our camp. We were exhausted when we finally reached the top of the
mountain. Due to the weather issue, we did not have the chance to see the beautiful sunset but it was a nice
exercise. We had a goodbye party in the evening with the village people. We performed the bird dance and
the song which we learned on the first day. It was a touching night and we all got a little gift from the
Day Six
It was time to leave the camp. Today we went shopping in Kota Kinabalu downtown. We had Starbucks
and McDonald which we haven't have for a long time as those don’t exist in Vietnam unfortunately. We had
a good time shopping and felt relaxed. Goods in Kota Kinabalu were easily found in Vietnam. However,
we shopped because goods in KK were more updated and cheaper than Vietnam. Shopping in KK was very
pleasant. In the evening we flew back to Brunei. When we arrived to hotel, we were all surprised because
of the quality of hotel. It was 4 star hotel! We finally can live in a hotel!!!

4. INTERNATIONALISM by Young Jee
Year 12 students went to Borneo, Malaysia. Because it was Malaysia and we were not able to communicate
with Malay, English was the only language we could communicate with local people. Thankfully, local
people could speak quite a bit of English although it was not fluent.
A few of us also learnt a few words in Malay. We could count up to three and ask how are you (Apa Kha-
bar?) We also had the opportunity to a Malay song, which we had to perform on the last night of our trip.
Also this was an opportunity to try different food, experience different culture. The most fun thing was
learning local instruments and local dance. We separated into two groups and we took turns to learn instru-
ments and dance. The dance is called ‘the bird dance’. It was our first time to learn such dance which is
very different to what we are used to seeing.

5. DEMOCRACY by David
When we arrived in Brunei, we talked about splitting into groups so there should be at least 3 people as a
group . Anywhere we go we should inform the teachers and let them know where are we were going, what
time we would return and where we were supposed to meet. We also decided to vote for certain specific
activities during that day. I also think it’s the best solution to choose the activity that most of us want to do.
This means that not all people can do whatever they want, so in different circumstances and different situa-
tions we had to talk through our options and debate the decision in a persuasive way.
We lived in a camp where we’ll have to do most of the things for ourselves such as washing our clothes,
doing the dishes, drinks etc… except meals such as breakfast, lunch and dinner. We also chose 3 different
people each day (that includes the teachers) to wash all the dishes after the meals.. Some teenagers might
think its not fun to do all of that stuff which they find boring and irritating. But why is it so bad when you
are doing it with your friends? And that can totally make the difference. Because you got others helping
you as you’re helping them. It makes things easy and fast, that’s why none of us complained about it in
Brunei and Malaysia because we got each other’s back and that’s what it matters.

6. ENVIRONMENT by Cindy
Brunei: when we arrived in Brunei, the first thing I realized was the similar tropical weather as Vietnam’s
weather, especially Ho Chi Minh’s: it is hot for the whole day! After leaving the airport, we had the chance
to visit its royal and natural museums. In there, we saw a variety of living species and their habitats. Some
samples of animals that I had never seen before were very weird, but interesting. Everything in there made
me feel like I was staying in a rain forest that has a wonderful biodiversity. This great nature does not only
appear in the museums but it also happens everywhere in the city: we saw many kinds of catfish in the riv-
ers and some wild animals on the sides of the roads. However, the environment in Brunei’s water village is
not really good. It is quite polluted due to people’s waste. Furthermore, although the atmosphere is very
fresh, the toilets or some public buildings are quite low quality.
Borneo, Malaysia: the weather of Malaysia in general is also similar to that of Brunei, but when we went
up Kota Kinabalu (a very high mountain), the weather changed a lot: it is cooler and fresher. In Borneo, it
is hot during the day (but not as hot as under the mountain), but it is very cold at night. Surrounding our
camps are a lot of trees and some nice animals (they are not wild animals), and behind the camps is a river,
but that river is contaminated due to copper mining. One thing that I like in this place is that local people
plant many kinds of vegetables and flowers, which will become their foods or decorating things.
The nice and fresh environment in Borneo made me feel relax and very convenient. I love that place.

7. ADVENTURE/ACTION by Jasmine
Climb an extremely high hill – It is a tall hill, a very tall hill. Before we had been told to climb the hill,
we were actually enjoying the beautiful view of the hill from where we lived, it is very pretty and majestic.
It wasn’t so tough at the beginning when we started, but the routes were getting steeper and more slippery
on the way up to the hill. On the half way, nobody had extra energy to enjoy the beautiful landscape but
focusing on how to walk one more step without wasting too much power. Even though its hard and seems
impossible to reach the end, we all made it at last. One of my classmates even ran down halfway and back
again for a bet. You all know who I’m talking about!
Learning local dance and playing local instruments – This is the most interesting activity during the trip
I think. We get to know more about the local residents’ culture, and realized that the children are all very
talented and friendly (of course not only the children). All of us were being asked to learn their dance and
perform in front of them on the last day. I was absolutely shocked when I heard that because the dancers
had to dance like birds and imitate bird screams when changing the routine. It wasn’t as easy as we all
thought, the dance made my legs hurt. But it was fun after all, and due to some unknown factors, the bird
sound became boys’ job.
We also did jungle trekking on one of the last days during our trip. No one had any problem with going
through a jungle/forest, the problem was we also had to walk through the jungle using a rope bridge that
was really high up. We had to split up in groups of six. Most of us were really nervous and to add on, a few
of the boys starting shaking the bridge. The problem was that one of us had a huge problem with heights! A
few of us had to comfort this person, and luckily the bridges weren't that long. Thank goodness, our next
stop was the hot spring. It wasn't much of a spring but more of swimming pools, but it was still fun!

8. LEADERSHIP by Young Jee
2011 year 12 Malaysia trip to Borneo was meaningful. Every student learned their benefit in their own way
this time. To focus on leadership, there was many chances for students to show their leadership. There were
also some shy and introverted students, but we could see many students stepping forward.
When teachers were not able to take care of students every single time, one or two students led the others to
their duties. As we had to work on community project, we could see some students asking others to spread
the duties out to make the work more efficient. We had to organize ourselves with what teaching materials
we wanted and needed (one of our activities was to teach the local children English)
On the second last day, we had a small concert and before that, we all learnt a Malaysian song. Because we
all wanted to show something to local kids, we prepared a small concert with instruments provided. In the
process of preparing concert, Lincon was the one who had the spotlight. His enthusiasm and interest and
effort to make this concert successfully led to a great time on the concert night. We all could see Lincon
allocating small instruments and teaching students how to play and sing and also, organizing the program
and being MC.

9. SERVICE by Jasmine & Yasmin
Community project – We first cleaned up the land by cutting the grasses and plants for the project later on.
It was totally exhausting. Even though it doesn’t look as hard, when we actually started to use the hoes,
gardening scissors, machetes and wheel barrows, we learnt how difficult it is to be a farmer, and what I
know for sure is that none of us has the potential to be a farmer, perhaps except for Mr. Ian. We also paint-
ed a small kindergarten. It was quite hard because most of us were short.
I am not really sure if doing our chores is considered as service but still. We took turns washing all the
dishes and we helped bring out the food and clean up the general area as much as possible. One thing that
everyone was surprised with was the fact that they needed to wash their own clothes. Most of us have never
done it before but it was definitely a nice experience.
Besides that, we also taught the local children some basic English. Lincon, Julia and Lavender taught them
a song about colors, Everyone had fun watching them. My (Jasmine) group taught a slightly older group, it
was quite hard because most of them were not really fluent in English so Yasmin had to constantly trans-
late it.

10. MORE PHOTOS!!!