30 Hour Famine 2011

From the 30th July 2011 to the 31st July 2011, the Interact Club of Wesley Methodist School organized a communityservice project entitled the 30-hour famine. The event started at 10.00a.m. on the 30th of July.We started with an opening ceremony by our own principal, Madam Chia, at the ping pong area.Our heartiest thanks go out to Madam Chia for making her time to officiate the event. She congratulated all the participants who had decided to take the challenge to fast for 30 hours non-stop.After the event had been officiated,the activities begun!

We had a World Vision representative, Ms Elaine, who gave us a talk about the theme ‘Child Health Crisis’.She showed us a videoclip from the Famine Media Visit to Mae Sariang,Thailand. She also introduced us to World Vision and what the organization is doing and planning to do in the future.

Miss Elaine,World Vision representative

After that, we went down to the assembly ground and had our ice-breaking session. All participants and lined up randomly. As we started the game, each person had to find their own name tags with their names and group names printed.

Participants lining up according to groups

Int. New Wei Jing & Int. Kimberly Anne explaining the games.

We then had a ‘Simon Says’ game where everyone had to follow instructions. After that, each group came up with a war cry and we had a game involving the use of war cry and ‘bombing’ the other groups.After that, we headed back to chapel for another talk by Ms Elaine more about 30-hour famine. During the talk, there was an interactive session where participants shared some of their ideas about a story given.

Then, our station games started. There were 10 station games all together. All of them tested our teamwork and cooperation.

Passing beans along straws

Mini Obstacle Course

Blind Man face painting

Molding Game

Human Vehicle

After that, we were given some free and easy time. Then, we had a sketch game where each group would have to think of creative and practical ideas to escape from a quicksand using only 3 pocket-sized items. Some of the groups are hilarious with crazy ideas but not practical. However, every one of them did very well.Then, we had a short game called the ‘Limited Senses Game’ where each group had to line up according to their height, birthdays and other criteria without the sense of talking and seeing respectively. Next up, we have a game called ‘Completing the Tasks’ in which we have only 30 seconds to complete all the tasks written on the screen.

The last activity of the day was the war game.All participants were gathered at the chapel and were told that they’re going to watch a movie. However, when the movie was starting, a war siren was started which indicated the beginning of the game. Each group received an envelope and they had to go through 7 phases of hard challenges to reach the refuge area which was outside the school office. The war siren was put off at times and that was when the ‘guards’ started to catch people and put them into ‘torture rooms’. Scary music was put on throughout the game to bring up the atmosphere. Lights out was at 11p.m.

The next day,we woke up bright at early at 7 a.m. ' Not Having It All' was the first game of the day.Participants had to go through some sort of ‘ maze’ where the appointed ‘mother’ of each group had decisions to make. Each decision made would end them up in different situations. Through this game, participants would learn and experience how the poor mothers have to make hard decisions.

Next, we had a short break followed by a life game called ‘Alive At 5’. In this game, each group represented a country and they had to ‘work’ for money to stay ‘alive’ throughout the game. Participants would learn how the poor sustain their family and how hard is it to protect and raise a child to 5 years old.

Later, it was movie time. We watched 'The Kite Runner'. At 3:55, participants were gathered at the canteen, waiting in anticipation for the clock to strike 4. Finally, the moment that all of us had been waiting for arrived. 10…9…8…7…6...5…4…3…2…1! And everyone cheered and clapped joyfully. Everyone started digging into the food. After this, participants started cleaning up.



All in all, this year's 30 Hour Famine was a great experience. I am sure the participants learnt many new things and also learnt how to appreciate the simple things in life. A BIG THANK YOU to the committee for organising such a fantastic event!