A camp that changed my life
By Wen Xiang
Dec 10
I first joined Y-camp in December 2010. It was a camp that changed my life. Y-camp to me is not like any other holiday or an orientation camp where the sole purpose is to interact and expand your social circle. It is a camp where it challenges your mental and physical boundaries as much as it will for the beneficiaries.
One will come to know that debriefs play an important part in Y-camp. Each night, these debriefs allowed me to reflect upon my actions, my attitude towards my buddy, my family, my friends and my life. I remembered vividly that during every session of debrief, one of my group mates would cry or that another group mate would reveal something personal which he/she would never tell anyone at all. It made me realized that we are actually no different from people with intellectual disabilities.
Everyone has some sort of disability in them; unable to control your anger, unwilling to care for others, taking people around you for granted etc. That's precisely where Y-camp comes into the picture. Through interacting and taking care of your buddy for the whole duration of the camp, you sort of see things from their perspectives. It makes you wonder about the way they see the world around them, the things that are going through their mind, the significance of each and every action. And it is through this little little thoughts that you realise that you are actually maturing as a person. To go beyond your boundaries to care for others is the best gift for your buddy, your group mates and you.
My buddy was Joel from APSN. He is considered rather high functioning and I really enjoyed talking and going through all the activities with him throughout the camp. I remember Joel having trouble remembering my name because it's pronounced in mandarin. However, his immense effort to try to pronounce it really touched me. Fast forward to 6 months after the camp. I met Joel while I was taking the train to Dhoby Ghaut. The first thing that came out of his mouth was "Wen Xiang". Even though he didn't pronounced it very clearly, it still shocked me. I felt this sudden surge of emotions in me. My buddy actually remembers my name! We chatted throughout the ride and I found out that he missed his station and he didn't know which train to take. So I followed him till he reached the correct station. Yet, it is sad that I received many discriminatory glances from the fellow passengers for talking to Joel - the fact that so many in our community continue to view the intellectually disabled with tinted glasses is saddening. Till date, this spurs me on to continue Y-camp so as to let more people know about people with intellectual disability and to know that they are no different from you and me.
