RS Conference’10 “We Walk Together”

My friends and I at the Round Square Conference'10

The “We Walk Together” Round Square Conference 2010 was probably the best 2 weeks of the 3 years I’ve been in Regents. It was an amazing experience. 72 schools from all over the world came to discuss and engage on important global issues. Not only did I gain awareness on current problems but also gained insight into myself and people around me, something that I didn’t think I would learn. I wanted to meet as much people as I could, to work with, and see the different perspectives and personalities of people from all over the world. I hoped that the service day would be successful and I would acquire some meaning from it. Lastly I wanted to be educated by all the keynote speakers throughout the week, listen to their stories and be inspired.

The conference commenced on Saturday the 9^th of October. Delegates arrived throughout the day and our mission was to welcome them and help them settle in. This included walking them to their accommodation, giving them a tour of the school and providing them coconuts in the seated areas. Later we had dinner and tried to get to know people, especially the ones in our barazza groups.

Barazza leaders

On Sunday was the official opening ceremony, every school flag was placed on the stage and the king of Greece, leader of Round Square gave a short speech. After that was our first key note speaker and as a barazza leader I had to take notes and prepare questions for our discussion sessions that followed after. Peter Daglish was an inspiring man, he was very opened and in my opinion came up with one of the best ideas that all the schools could go back home and consider. He told us to open our schools to the poor, to the street children. I thought about this and if we truly were a round square school, if we really wanted to give back to our community then why not? He told us how he had sent a kid from Nepal to an IB school and he had scored 45, a score rarely achieved in our school. It made me realize that these children have the potential and we have the power to give them the opportunity. He also talked about our school uniform, a popular topic amongst students and he questioned why in an Asian country like Thailand that we were wearing something so western, we should embrace our culture or at least change it to something more comfortable. Since I’m chairperson of the student guild I thought that this was definitely an interesting issue that I could take back. One of my favorite things Peter talked about was the volunteers he worked with and he showed us pictures of a volunteer in Nepal teaching the kids there. This was something I was interested in for my gap year after IB so to get more information and stories of different volunteers just made me more enthusiastic about the idea. We then separated into our barazza groups to discuss what Peter Daglish had just talked about. My barazza sessions were full of different perspectives, opinions, ideas and experiences. The group consisted of adults and students from Australia, Bermuda, Kenya, Switzerland, Thailand, Germany, England, Hong Kong and South Africa. The conversations were always flowing, as everyone wanted to participate and have their say. We were all open to the idea of letting less fortunate children into our schools and the other idea of utilizing the growth of the internet to educate poor kids through the internet as they now have access to it through these $100 laptops they receive from organizations. I think that the barazza sessions were an important part of the conference so that the students could further discuss, relate and come up with ideas so they could return to their schools with new perspectives and ideas that would contribute to a positive change. After lunch we had RHIKAS, which is like a group activity except everyone does it together. We split up into groups and learnt about the millennium goals that were to be achieved in 2015. We were shown how some countries were meeting some of the goals and how some countries weren’t like Afghanistan and women’s rights. This made me reflect on my goals, were they achievable? Was I heading in the right direction of them?

Round Square Conference Theme Song

The next day, Monday, was our service day and I was allocated to go to the Old People’s home. I was already familiar with the place because it’s one of my activities after school. We were split up into three groups that would rotate between activities. I didn’t know anyone in my group and I admit it was a little scary at first but after I introduced myself to people conversations flowed and I got to know everyone in my group. The old peoples home was a very big piece of land, I think the monks also lived there. First we cleaned up their parks and gardens of rubbish and dead leaves. It was so tiring and got a bit annoying when the red ants were biting so I switched to longer pants, problem solved. The gardens looked much tidier after our efforts, we were satisfied and hopefully the elderly would be able to hang out there after benches and tables are put in. For lunch we had subway which I thought wasn’t really considerate since the old people barely get a variety of food, mainly rice, vegetables and a bit of meat. I think it would have been fairer if we had what they ate or if we brought enough for them too. After lunch we went down the road where the beach was and then proceeded to clean it up. I noticed that rubbish just kept flowing in which got me a bit irritated. It was coming from the other side of Pattaya, the main beach where all the tourists were. It just shows that if we could get something done in the tourist areas, a sign or even a policy to stop people littering there and even on the boats in the sea there would be less of a problem with rubbish for the old peoples home and for Pattayas beaches and sea. Following the beach clean we got a chance to interact with the old people and play bingo with them. It was actually really fun. The old lady I was paired up with was very lively, so joyful and very lucky as she kept winning all the time. Because I can speak Thai I got the privilege of getting to know her. She hadn’t had a visitor for 11 years and this was because she had no children and she asked me if I could be her child for the day. I felt like crying, it was really depressing that no one had visited her it just made the fact that we got to spend time with them all the more rewarding. My group headed back to school where we planted seeds of chilies, tomatoes and pumpkins for the gardens of the old peoples home. The plants would first grow at school and when they got big enough we’d move them to the old people’s home where they can be used and enjoyed.

For Tuesday’s keynote speaker was Khun Mechai. He owns the chain of Birds and Bees hotels around Thailand. He spoke to us about the importance of sex education and how everyone should be more careful and aware of the consequences. He was the one responsible for the dramatic decline of children per family in Thailand so families would be able to support everyone. Something else he had achieved was the eco friendly school of Pattana that is made of bamboo, a very sustainable plant. He told us about his vision for Thailand, that the schools should offer a variety of subjects from business to nursing classes and that vision was coming true through his school. Of course anyone pursuing their dream is inspirational, but hearing the steps and the hard work that must be put in makes it to me seem more real, more achievable. Next we had our second RHIKAS session with Justin Bedard from JUMP. I was really looking forward to his session since he came to our school and introduced his organization. He was so energetic yet down to earth. He told us about how our goals are so important, and wanted us to start small then aim big. For example from local, to national, then global, it always starts with the smallest steps first. This was great advice for planning my future goals or targets. Then he told us how we could be of 3 things, the prisoner, the vacationer or the leader. Pretty self explanatory but what was interesting was how he said whatever you choose to be in a situation do it to your full potential even if it’s a prisoner (complainer). I think what he meant was that whatever we pursue in life to fully commit to it and give it our all, it could possibly give us a purpose to life and put us in a more positive mindset. One of the highlights of the conference was the next activity he asked us to do. In partners we would ask each other “who are you?” the person would then tell their partner about themselves. It sounds so simple yet had such a meaningful effect, its felt so good to be open and honest and when your partner also took it seriously, in fact everyone did which made it so successful. That experience made me really think about what was important to me, what I valued, what I really wanted out of life. After lunch we headed back to the auditorium for 2 more speeches. The first was Manoj, one of Peter Daglish’s street kids from Nepal. I was proud at the fact that my school had accepted Manoj. I was really open to the idea of letting more scholarship students into our school after meeting Manoj, he was so kind, open and friendly. The next speaker Khun Nui was probably one of the most moving speakers. She had no arms and legs and told us her story of how her mother had rejected her but her father kept her. How she learnt to survive on her own with the help of her father and how after her father died she became stronger. She is a true role model. She is an example of staying strong through tough situations, getting back out there when there seems like no hope, a valued life lesson for me. Then we headed to our barazza sessions where we talked about what everyone did for their service days and what they felt about it. Most were surprised at how many service trips there were and felt as if they could have done more. They really enjoyed interacting with the local people and hearing their stories. I asked them about local services they had in their communities, and they were mostly the same. So it was nice to get some new ideas to take back to my activity with the old people. Then we discussed about the speeches we had heard earlier on. Everyone was touched by Khun Nui’s story and gave our opinions if we could have been that strong to carry on especially after her mother left her and her dad died. It made us appreciate our parents, family, loved ones and how we could also excel just like Khun Nui.

Combined experiences and activities on offer at the conference

 

Wednesday night was “we express together”, performances from different schools and countries. I performed the daft punk body dance that night. To be honest I had learnt the dance a day before because one of the girls in the group had dropped out and they needed someone quickly. It was a great experience and the dance was a huge success and a lot of fun! I also loved the other performances; I got a taste of different cultures from Peru, India, South Africa and Armenia. Then we headed to our barazza groups and made our group krathongs. By now our in our groups we’d all gotten to know each other better so the atmosphere was more relaxed and enjoyable. I also liked how we were making something of Thai culture and I got to explain a little bit of history of the celebration to my group.

We express night, Daft punk dance

Thursday was the final day of activities. We listened to the last speech of Father Joe. He had come up wit the theme of “We Walk Together” so everyone was looking forward to his speech. But we were all shocked and confused when he insulted our education systems and called us spoiled brats. He seemed angry. We had plenty to talk about of Father Joe’s speech, how insulted and confused we were. Then we realized, what if he had done it on purpose, what if he had done it to provoke us. Was he angry at us or passionate for us. He was a speaker that left us with questions instead of answers that other speakers had provided for us. That session made me think about how quick I was to judge and criticize and that for future situations I would definitely look at the other side of things. I handed out the kings’ flag to everyone and in silence they had to write down a short sentence reflecting the conference and we walked together to the side of the pool where everyone was sticking their flags in the grass. Then we continued to the auditorium for the closing ceremony where the king of Greece gave another speech. For our last night together we had a social at Nong Nooch Gardens and floated our krathongs making wishes and said our goodbyes to all the good friends we had made.

Last night of the conference, celebrating all the friendship and good memories made

The krathongs the barazza groups made out of banana leaves, flowers and candles

Looking back at the conference, I’m so thankful to be given the opportunity to be apart of it. I never thought I would learn so many life lessons in a period of a week, or meet so many influential people who have opened my eyes and mind to so many different possibilities. It’s always hard saying goodbye but I’d rather smile that it happened. The experience I had with my barazza group made me more enthusiastic for other people’s opinions and ideas. I feel more comfortable meeting and working with new people, a skill that will come handy in the future. I found a deeper meaning to service. I usually just do my part and come home back to my laptop and TV. Maybe to reach the ultimate service level is to be amongst the ones your serving, learning and living with them. Which helps me to understand the theme of the conference “We Walk Together.”