Royal Rangers Selangor 7

By Cmdr Denise Chew

January 19th 2007 marked the first day of Outpost Camp, the first ever camp orchestrated in the year of 2007. The structure of the 2007 Outpost Camp differed from the other Royal Rangers camps. Emphasis was not entirely placed on teaching the fellow rangers toolcraft, ropecraft or other “craft-craft” stuff but rather, the leaders wanted to incorporate more fun and less stressful activities (learning first aid and lashing ain’t easy-peazy, simple-pimple), activities that would arouse team work and promote comradeship between the rangers. The Outpost Camp was a 3 days-2 nights camp and it was open for participation to rangers from as young as Ranger Kids all the way to Expedition Rangers.

So… on the 19th of January, Cmdr Terence Ooi, Cmdr Asha, Cmdr Nathaneal and a few lieutenant commanders (too many to name) congregated at church earlier than the designated departure time to load the camp necessities into the van. After loading and hungrily consuming Mc D’s, they were off to Port Dickson. The other leaders and rangers met at church later at 7.45pm, but the buses arrived at church after 2 long hours of waiting! This however did not dampen the overly elated rangers.

Upon arrival at the Methodist Centre (our “home” for the whole camp), “sleepy-and-constantly-yawning” rangers were ushered to the canteen for briefing and orientation. In total, about 110 campers went for the camp. The rangers were briefed on camp rules, “Rule No. 1- The camp commander is always right, Rule No.2 – In any case if you think that the camp commander is wrong, refer to Rule No. 1…..” , the management of camp equipments and the on-going camp quizzes. The rangers were divided into 4 marine-life teams, namely the Killer Shark, Octopus, Dugong and Puffer Fish. Each team had a team leader and an assistant. After having delicious red bean soup for supper, the rangers shuffled in exhaustion with their enormous backpacks to their respective dorms and were ready to call it a night. ‘Lights off’ was at 12am.

The next morning, at 5am, Cmdr Jeffrey Yong and Cmdr Jeffrey Goh decided to treat the dudes from Adventure Boys and Expedition Rangers to some morning exercise, boot camp style! =þ (Note: None of the guys were harmed in the making…) The other rangers were left undisturbed and they woke up at 7am and then headed to the canteen for breakfast-sausages, sunny-side eggs and bread with butter or jam. Devotion was scheduled to be at 8.30am, so rangers were seen walking, hopping and jogging to the different venues on the campsite for devotion. A camp ain’t complete without having the presence of our Lord Jesus residing among us. The camp theme revolved around the verse from Zech 4:6, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord”. Truly and wonderfully true! =) After devotion was parade. It was an awesome sight to see all the fellow rangers smartly clad in their Rangers uniform and responding alertly to the commands given by Senior Guide of the camp, Cmdr Bryan Eric.

Later in the morning, the 4 teams were given time to coherently work together to prepare their flag, song, yell, presentation and boloslide which reflects their particular marine-life. The gurgles and rumbling noises from tummies later led to lunch! (EVERYONE’S favourite) Rangers chattered away and ideas for more songs and yells were exchanged in every direction. The rangers were pumped up and the exhilarating affair bloomed in a crescendo manner. Games were next in line! The different games played along the beach varied from throwing eggs to balancing a bean bag after having spun around a stick for 7 times to eating a whole watermelon. Each team sang their songs and uttered their yells at the top of their lungs in the effort of cheering for their own team mate. After games, some of the rangers took a dip in the sea, some walked along the beach where the waves gently caressed the shore and some opted for high-action volleyball.

At the same moment of time over at the amphitheatre, the Expedition Rangers gathered and made preparations for council fire. The theme of the council fire was “Pirates and the High Seas”. Rain was inevitable as dark clouds soon loomed over the campsite and it started drizzling heavily. But that did not at all hamper the rangers from attending the council fire dressed in their unique and fashionable costumes for the night. Praise God for the drizzle came to a complete halt after a while. The council fire was then officially started when the host of the council fire (the Expedition Rangers) graced us with an opening act. Each group were required to perform a presentation and it was a job well done by all of the leaders and rangers! Kudos! It is thus common to have a fashion show at the end of every Royal Rangers council fire. The fashion show allowed rangers to catwalk towards the judges and show off their costumes in hopes of impressing not one, but ALL of the judges and whoever succeeds will win the “Best Dressed” title. Zech Chin and Hui Wei won best dressed as ‘Zech Sparrow’ and ‘Sponge Bob Square Pants’ respectively. After that, councilman Ooi shared devotion. The closing act by the Expedition Rangers marked the end of the council fire. After council fire, the rangers roasted their own burger patties, sausages and marshmallows for supper. Lights off on the second night was also at 12am.

The morning of 21st January sadly marked the last day of the Outpost Camp at the Methodist Centre. Like the day before, rangers woke up at 7am and had their breakfast in the canteen. Parade was after breakfast and the Killer Shark, Octopus, Dugong and Puffer Fish team were asked to present their songs and yells once more. Tons of photos were snapped by our outpost renowned photographer, Cmdr Sarah Lim. Like Sundays in church, we had service during camp too! The rangers were then divided into two groups – Ranger Kids and Discovery (Group 1) and Adventure and Expedition (Group 2) for the morning Sunday Service. A camp would be meaningless if God’s Word is not imparted. Cmdr Peter took the younger children’s service while Councilman Teoh ministered to the older boys and girls. Boys and girls were ministered and had a great time worshipping the Father.

Next up was FCF Village!!! Cmdr Darren “Bruang” Teoh was the man in charge. Having his FCF tent as the backdrop, FCFers paraded their skills whilst having interaction with the rangers. Cmdr Theresa and Cmdr Asha taught the art of weaving Chinese knots using their delicate fingers. Cmdr Peter’s spinning tops (a.k.a. Gasing) won the hearts of many boys. Cmdr Terence in his “wong fei hung” style outfit shared chinese history over cups and pots of chinese tea. Last but not least, Cmdr Darren himself with his faithful assistant, Cmdr Lai Kit, roll and knead flour into Indian puree with mixed potatoes and peas. Children were salivating of the delicious cook-up, as you can see with the long queue at his station.

The last event of the day was the prize giving ceremony. Throughout the whole camp, marks were awarded to teams based on different criteria’s such as originality and creativity in the input of creating the songs, yells and flags, number of participants in the camp quiz and team unity. At the end, the marks were totalled to obtain a winning team. Team Puffer Fish came in 4th place and the Killer Sharks managed to chomp their way to 3rd place. The noisy crowd in some bizarre way managed to tune down the volume and everyone listened in anticipation (not constipation) when the camp commander was about to announce the 2nd and 1st place. Separated by about 10 marks, the Dugong team got 2nd place, so the Octopus team emerged as the winner with a total of 32 points! Prizes were graciously presented to the deserving team and individuals and infectious laughter and shrieks of joy filled the air. As the rangers packed to leave the camp site and head back to the comfort of home, I believe that each and every one of them managed to learn a thing or two through this camp. Our amazing and Almighty God has time and time again been so faithful and have provided us all with everything we’ve ever needed and it is by His grace that the 2007 Outpost Camp was a success. All praises to our Master Ranger, the Lord Jesus Christ!!