Mentors to Zoo day!

May 6th was a day for the mentors to have fun & work hard in preparing for the mentees Zoo Day on May 10. It was also an opportunity to learn from the experts at Zoo Negara, so as this could be shared with the mentees later. Part of the anumal enrichment program that Zoo Negara had planned with us was to prepare special goodies for the bears, lions and tigers! Growl!
On our way to the Zoo kitchens, we encountered a cute mother-and-child hippo, who were busy drying in the sun after a cool dip in the pool.
Once we got to the kitchens, the mentors started slicing and dicing the succulent fruits which would be ingredients in the lollipops....
Some of the mentors helped fill the clean water bottles with syrup-flavored water....
while the others washed up gunny sacks and hung them to dry.

After placing the lollipops in the freezer, we were then taken to the big cats' enclosure, where Education Officers at Zoo Negara briefed us on what was going to be done when we returned on My 10.
:)
Usha & Dr. Brendan

Field Day 6

"What's Great About Me?!" Here's something we don't always chat about. So, today, we decided to help everyone discover the beauty they have in themselves.

The girls were then challenged to identify characteristics special to themselves, and then had a great time running from mentor to mentor when a certain characteristic was called out.

The other group had a 'catwalk' when the girls identified their characteristics, and although at first they were shy, they were soon having a blast!



Mentees creatively drew and colored images that described how special each of them were.

Through artwork, teens recognized and identified different facets in their lives, such as things they are good at, their dreams, their family, feelings, and accomplishments.

We discovered the beauty that lay in each person, how special we are, and how similar we are.


:)
Usha & Dr. Brendan

Field Day 5

We all have positive values, and Day 5 helped us discover the wonderful values we have in us. Helping out was trainer and facilitator, Eric Bryan.

Starting off the day with an exciting ice-breaker, the mentees had a great time tyring to help the 'Police' catch the 'Thief'.
We then pretended to be either trees or squirrels, and was caught in chaos during the 'fire' and 'earthquake'.

What were important values to us? We selected pictures that seem to be meaningful to us, and talked about the values in represented as important to us.




The second part of the activity was more hands-on : the mentees created their own flower which held different values in each petal. They had a great time creating it, and then proudly showed them off.





Break time! Eric entertained some mentees with a few tunes.
Finally, mentees identified people with good values whom they can look up to as positive role models.
We ended with the song 'Angel in Disguise'.

:) Usha and Dr. Brendan

Field Day 4 - Second visit to SPCA

Yay! Another trip to SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), another chance to help animals. Here, Priscilla Hendriks, the awesome Education Officer at SPCA, gave us some insight as to the reality of pet ownership in Kuala Lumpur. She stressed the importance of pet responsibility and how our helping in turn, helps the animals at the shelter.Then the mentors and mentees had a blast doing a meaningful activity, where they identified how special their friends were and what qualities in them they liked.

Of course, we also visited the animals, who (hopefully!) recognized us from our previous visit.

"The cleaning needs to be done - whether or not it smells!" :)
"There you go! You have a clean bed now!"

So Day 5 was on what are helpful and non-helpful ways of communicating with others, and ways we can reach out to help others and ways we can reach out for help when in need.

At the end of the day, everyone realized how special the animals were - they showed us unity, they showed us strength in the face of adversity - they showed us that we too, need to be united, for no man is an island.

:)
Usha and Dr. Brendan