Brunei's Local News - Brudirect.com

Sultanate And Singaporean Adventure Students Begin Six-Day Camp
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Bandar Seri Begawan - Twenty Secondary School students from Singapore that comprising five boys and 15 girls arrived in Brunei yesterday afternoon to join 20 of their local counterparts for a six-day Brunei-Singapore Adventure Camp 2008, which will run until December 5, to promote international understanding, collaboration and bonding.

They were greeted on arrival by last year's student participants, of a similar camp that was held in Singapore, who have now been promoted as trainer-guides for this year's camp, as well as supervising teachers, and Education Ministry and Singapore High Commission officials.

After their arrival, the Singaporean students, accompanied by four of their teachers, as well as their local trainer/ guides and local supervising teachers boarded waiting buses to take them to the Wasan Vocational School, which will be the participants' home for activities conducted in and around Brunei-Muara District.

At the school, the Singaporean students met with

their local student counterparts participating in the adventure camp for an official opening ceremony as well as an ice-breaking session. The Ideal student participants comprise 10 boys and 10 girls that have been selected from secondary schools nationwide.

Today, the camp participants will explore Kampong Ayer as well as visit historical sites around Bandar Seri Begawan.

Tomorrow morning, the participants are scheduled to participate in padi farming activities at Wasan's padi fields. Sometime later in the afternoon, the students will go trekking along Bukit Shahbandar.

On Wednesday, the adventure campers will go on an exploration of the Tasek Merimbun Reserve Forest and see how sago is processed into `ambuyat', a local delicacy. Later that evening, the students will get to sample `ambuyat' for dinner and play traditional games.

Temburong will be the venue for their activities on Thursday at the National Park and the Kampong Amo Longhouse, where they will be spending the night at the Bangar Rest House in the district.

The following day, they will be taken for a tour to see the making of two popular traditional delicacies 'wajid' and `cendoit before attending the closing ceremony of the adventure camp later that same evening.

One of the objectives of the adventure camp is to forge new friendships across national borders through various team-building games and outdoor activities. The camp also serves to educate students on the need to conserve the natural environment, to preserve its biodiversity and the need to preserve the cultural heritage of one's country through nature activities.

Student exchanges through the adventure camp is a key area of cooperation in the Memorandums of Understanding on Educational Cooperation that were concluded between Brunei's and Singapore's Education Ministries in February 2006. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin