Last weekend was one of those rare weekends when I was not required to go on programmes and I must say that GOD’s timing is great. I promised a good friend that I will attend his wedding in KL that day. The wedding was held in a 5-star hotel in the heart of KL. I only knew the both of them about 2 years back in a cross cultural leadership programme which we ran. They were in my group during the discussion where I was the facilitator. I remembered that during the session we had a discussion about how we can build trust not only within the organisation but also beyond the organisation. Ironically, both of them had differing views on the issue at first but it was soon resolved with everyone including the both of them agreeing that we need to build relationships first in order to build trust.

Reminiscing on that faithful day, I said to them “I told you to build relationships internally and see what you did.” The groom’s reply to me was, “Tim, you told me to build relationships, I did and took it beyond.” (Both of them are from another country by the way). We had a good laugh together. The ceremony began shortly after that. It was a beautiful wedding. Both of them looked beautiful even though the bride had viral fever at that time.

In his speech, the groom mentioned about the training incident and said, “All you need to do is look at the people around you to know how blessed you are.” Well, David and Shirley (Or should I say Mr. and Mrs. David), I’m glad I built that relationship with the both of you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of your lives. And a kind word of advice, do thank GOD for all your future undertakings together. Congratulations and remember that building relationships do not stop after you get married.    

The 3 Spirits (Spirit of KL, Spirit of Melaka and Spirit of Penang) were 3 major events organised by The Star last year that saw thousands of students from higher learning institutions scurrying the streets to discover what is the heart and soul of the chosen cities. As the race consultants, it was a unique experience planning, coordinating and running something this big.

Below is the interview (unedited version) with DJP’s Training Director, John Kam.

1. How many marshals were involved in all three spirit searches? (what age range)
Since no one had ever done a search like this, it was a learning curve for us as well as to how many marshals we needed. As time went By we discovered that more and more marshals were needed to facilitate the event. The largest search by far was for the SOP where we utilised almost 100 marshals over the 2 day search. In KL and Melaka there were around 50-60 marshals each. Most of the marshals were in the mid 20s to 30s range.

2. How did DJP get so many young people to help out? (on voluntary basis? please correct me if I’m wrong)
Because we’ve been in the market for experiential learning programmes for so long, we’ve built up a large database of people whom we call our Circle of Friends. This Circle of Friends has always been our greatest strength where the participants of our programmes and their friends form a network that we tap on. It’s also a way for us all to keep in touch with one another and make friends. Besides, these volunteers are also given an allowance and a chance to be a part of an incredibly exciting journey.Since it was also something new and exciting, lots of people wanted to get involved. We had marshals who volunteered to be a part of the team for all 3 searches! We also had many calls from people who heard about the search from their friends who were marshals and wanted to be part of the fun and excitement. This surprised us because we thought that after going through the huge amount of work involved, they’d never come back let alone encourage their friends to volunteer!

Marshals for the Spirit Of KL

3. Where did you find these young people?
All over the place! So many people wanted to join that sometimes we had to pick and choose. The marshals that we needed had to be from a special calibre. Bear in mind that these marshals needed to have twice the amount of energy the participants had without the potential reward. They had to be ready to face the sun, rain or whatever the weather had to throw at them. It meant braving the stares of general public while doing some really crazy stuff. Marshals also had to carry a smile with them at all times even though near exhaustion, remain as neutral as he could despite their own personal emotions and be firm yet approachable. It also helped that these marshals were chosen not because they wanted to be egoistic and be in a position of power but because they wanted to work with young people and develop potential. As such, it was also a learning process for our marshals as well.

Marshals on duty for Spirit Of KL Preliminary Round

Marshals on duty for Spirit Of KL Preliminary Round

Marshals on duty for Spirit Of KL Preliminary Round

As the year came to an end, I found myself reflecting what I did the past year. Just the other day my sister in-law was asking my brother in-law what was some of his greatest achievements for the year. Quietly, I tried to answer that question myself too. Boy! It was quite a challenge. I began to think - how do we define achievements? Is it the amount of money we make every month? Is it the amount of community work we do a week? Is it the number of certificates we have?

After pondering for a while, I came up with my own, well, definition, kind of. Achievements are something like a chipsmore cookie - “now you see it, now you don’t”. HUH! What do you mean ? Well let me explain! Achievements are just like chipsmore that is not always there or permanent one minute, it is there and the next it may not mean anything. To me my greatest achievement is knowing that I have given more than I have to the people around me. Just to see the look on their faces when they have finally overcome the challenge.

Let me just share with you. Just last month I was told that I’m going for the Brat’s year end programme. I was really excited as I’ve always enjoyed the “adventures” we had with these young “wanna-be” journalists. I was told by John that I’ll be on a raft with 7 youths and the journey will take a total of 10 hours. My reaction was `Great, let’s go rafting.’ (Well they don’t call me “crazy horse” for nothing). I still remember that warm cloudy morning when we started I told myself that no matter what, I’m going to keep the “energy” up even if I lose my voice. My team-mates on the raft were Aimee, Cynthia, Yin Peng, Muz, the 2 Caths (Cath See and Cath Yeoh) and last but not least Phui Yee and occasionally the videographer Tuck.

We began our journey rather solemnly as we were very focused on just trying to get into the rhythm of rowing. The people did not know what they were getting themselves into, and after building a playground for the past 2 days. They were not looking forward to this arduous journey, especially when there are only 3 guys in our raft. Yup! Girl power! They were already tired for the past 2 days of working under the sun and now rafting under the hot sun for 3 hours.

As usual, the noisiest and loudest among us was yours truly. That really kept them going and we had lots of fun through the journey talking about food, music, ghost stories, food and more food. Like they say time flies when you’re having fun and before we knew it, we arrived at out first stop. You should see the look on their faces - the smiles and the joy on their faces. Priceless!

The next day we continued our journey – another 7 hours down the river but this time the challenge was even tougher. The sky was blue and the sun was shining which meant only one thing – scorching heat. We started our journey in high spirits after yesterday’s conquest. This time I knew stronger motivation was required.

This time to get our minds off  the task at hand, we began talking about food as usual and some of us began to whine and groan in hunger. Aimee as usual was one of the noisiest and the only way to make a teenager quiet is to give her chipsmore. The power of food soon became a motivating factor for our raft. That’s when we decided to call our boat Kopi tiam.  We even had a session of “berbalas pantun” (impromptu poems) with a Roman slave-driver (guess who) making sure the raft moves in the right direction.

All our raft had was chipsmore so chipsmore became the main highlight for us (actually more for Aimee). I told her “Aimee you can see the chipsmore pack if we over take 1 boat”. And she smartly asked what if we overtake all 3 boats that were in front of us? So I told her “You’ll get to smell it if we overtake the second boat and you’ll get to eat the chipsmore if we overtake the 3^rd”. She then burst into a loud cry “Let’s go chipsmore!” I did not know what got into the rest of us as we all began paddling like we were being chased by a giant croc. After we passed the first boat all of us shouted “Come on we can do it!” Even the boatman was in on it.

The intensity of our paddling grew and we were all pumped up and motivated. I was already losing my voice with my shouts of encouragement and trying to keep the rhythm. We finally overtook the third and final boat that was ahead of us. We were finally in front. A cry of jubilation filled the air together with a sense of satisfaction and achievement. Again priceless! Immediately we took out the chipsmore packs, opened them and everyone, boatman included, ate them all up. Chipsmore had never tasted so good.

While enjoying our chipsmore moment, two boats passed us by. Nope, we did not win that race but we felt we won something more precious that day. It surely was a journey to remember. It was not about winning the race but how we ran it. I did not give up and neither did they. My comrades in Kopitiam believed in each other and that together, they could conquer Sungai Perak.  And that my friends, was among some of my achievements for the year.