Camp La Salle 2007

With the determination to reinforce the relationship among Lasallians from different schools, the Hong Kong Lasallian Volunteers organized the Camp La Salle 2007, previously known as the Lasallian Leadership Camp, on 13 – 14 October 2007. The Organizing Committee started planning for the camp at the start of the summer holiday. Members of the Committee are either graduates or current Form 7 students of the Lasallian Schools. 34 Lasallian leaders from the Hong Kong Lasallian secondary schools joined the camp.

The programme kicked off at La SalleCollege at 9:30 am on 13 October 2007. Mr. Rodney Ho greeted the campers on behalf of the Organizing Committee. We are glad to have invited Brother Anthony Cummins, who came from Australia and is currently working in New Zealand, to be our Guest Speaker for the third consecutive year. In his first session, Brother Tony enlightened us on the life of St. de La Salle through a question-and-answer format. The campers were invited to answer the multiple-choice questions. Brother Tony was very generous and gave out souvenirs from New Zealand to those who made attempts! Through this session, we learnt much more about the life of our founder, St. John Baptist de La Salle. The group photo was taken right after Brother Tony’s session.

The campers enjoyed a series of ice-breaking games that followed. They designed challenging tasks which required campers from other groups to play. The ice-breaking games were not confined to the campus of La SalleCollege. The games were extended to CheungChauIsland. The Organizing Committee designed a lot of interesting tasks for the campers to complete at the game of ‘Island Tracing’. The campers showed enthusiasm and completed all the tasks whole-heartedly.

After settling at the Caritas Oi Fai Camp, campers were invited to share their feelings, experience and difficulties faced during the Island Tracing. Mr. Charles Yim shared his experience in organizing the Lasallian Exchange Programme 2007 before dinner.

Two other mass games were conducted after dinner, followed by a workshop prepared by all members of the Organizing Committee. A simulation on inefficient meetings was put on stage. The campers enthusiastically participated in this session and raised the problems observed in between stages. It is hoped that they will bear this in mind and avoid committing these mistakes during their coming meetings. We had two other activities which inspired the campers of the essence of effective leadership. The leaders were reminded to remove the obstacles which may blind them.

On the second day, the campers spent a lot of time preparing for the service session which was held in the afternoon on 14 October 2007. The campers prepared a short role play and singing as performances. Brother Tony continued to talk to us about the renowned Lasallian survival kit – The Thrivival Kit. There were different items inside this kit, such as pencils, erasers, chewing gum, etc., representing different leadership qualities.

Towards the end of the camp, Mr. Peter Leung, on behalf of the Organizing Committee, presented a Thank You card to Brother Tony for his generous support and help. Mr. Francis Tse, the Resource Person of the Hong Kong Lasallian Volunteer, reminded us the bonding among the campers was neither built on a common camp-tee nor a nice campsite, it was the effort and participation of both the Organizing Committee and that of the campers which built the success of the camp.

The camp did not come to a close after leaving the campsite. Instead, the campers went to the La Salle Old Men and Women Rest Home and conducted a service session with the elderly there. Both the elderly and the campers enjoyed the session very much. The camp came to a close at La SalleCollege, where the campers shared their experience at the service center. We then had some group games until 5:30 pm.

Though the camp has come to a close, it marks the beginning of our mission. Lasallian leaders will live the Lasallian Spirit and spread it to their neighbours. The cooperation among Lasallians of different schools will continue in the days to come.

The Organizing Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank different parties and individuals for their unfailing support and guidance. We will start with the Brother Directors of the Hong Kong Lasallian Volunteers – Brother Thomas Lavin and Brother Patrick Tierney. Without their help and support, the camp would never have got off the ground. Thanks must also go to Brother Anthony Cummins for his support and guidance for the third consecutive year. His talks and experiences have definitely inspired us tremendously. We are also grateful to Principals of the schools.We would like to thank the Teacher Advisors of different schools for their coordination and cooperation, especially Mr. Robert Wong and Mr. Francis Tse, the Resource Persons of the Hong Kong Lasallian Volunteers, for their invaluable guidance and inspiration. Finally, thanks to all campers of the Camp La Salle 2007. We look forward to similar functions which bond Lasallians together in the near future.