Monday, November 1, 2010

World Hunger Relief 2010 at Putrajaya

It has been 2 days, and I am only blogging about this because it has been a busy weekend. What happened over the whole few days leading to the weekend pretty much gave me grey hair or else caused me to lose more hair. It has not been a very good period as it was a frustrating time.
So the event above was held on 30th October, a Saturday. D*starz was invited to perform and some other students were asked to help in the traditional games booths. The whole event ... well, lots of things went wrong before they went right.
The girls were supposed to perform around 3:30 -4:00. Any time then. But it rained at about 2:40. It poured and there were strong winds. That was a cause for concern. But eventually it tapered down into a drizzle after about half an hour. But it continued to drizzle for a while. The ground was wet and unsuitable for the performance.
Eventually it stopped raining and the girls performed on the slightly wet ground. It was a little worrying but everything went quite well. Notwithstanding the fact that one of the regulars could not turn up on time and thankfully, we had Mag to stand in and help. I am thankful for her, esp since she was not well.
The girls manning the games booths were a little shy and apprehensive initially. But after a while they warmed up to the games and the sporting public also caused them to enjoy the games a lot more.
The programme overall is a good one. But the lack of publicity is obvious because not many people outside Putrajaya knew about it. I am glad to be part of the event though not in the way I would have liked to be. Still it was a good event to bring the girls to.

The above was the safe, official opinion and write-up. What is unofficial and no holds barred is what follows. It is not the event itself but the whole preparation towards the event for me, and for the girls.

Though we were informed and invited way before the event, there was not a lot we could do as it was the exam season. It was tough getting the girls to agree, and getting their parents to agree to let them practise during the week before exams. ELeventh hour pulling out was expected. And it happened. Problems were anticipated, and that, too, happened.

On the side of the organisers, I honestly think they could have done a better job. Everything was so ad hoc, and disorganised. There was no Plan B if some things went wrong, like rain. The layout of the different booths could have been improved. That they wanted the girls to wear tights / leggings could have been decided earlier and told to us earlier. The time change could have been decided earlier too. So many things happened to actually make it less than a well-managed event.

Our girls - now that is a story on its own. One girl pulled out a week before. A replacement was found but not confirmed until 3 days before the event. Another girl pushed her luck too far and I told her to just shove it and stay home instead of attending the event. She was displaying such selfish and self-centred traits that I felt like hurling all sorts of things at her. Then the girls who were supposed to go for the event for the games booths ... most of them pulled out the last minute. I was so angry with them that I just wanted nothing to do with them ever again. It was irresponsible and totally ungrateful of them when they though that they did not want to go. Too much work. Too much time spent on it. They would rather go for parties or go out with friends. Selfish.

Though everything went on quite well in the end, it was, to me, a disappointing period. I was disappointed and disillusioned by the girls. I was hurt that some people could only think of themselves and have little regard for others. The hopes and promises I thought I saw, all broke into smithereens.

So I am now thinking, how do I motivate the girls to have the passion for what they do? I know most of them are only 14-15 years old. But I can see that they do not have the same kind of passion and desire to excel as much as those who have had to work very hard in the past, to be recognised. Maybe we should make life difficult for them so that they have to strive, work for their everything. But can they survive that? I don't know.


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