Take a look at what they had experienced!
Marking out turf
Materials used to set up a fire
Digging out loose soil
Starting of fire!
Fire burning bright!
Cooking of food
Cooked food!
Personal reflections from each of them:
Rachel
My first impression upon reaching there was... rushed, cause I got lost. Really, really lost, i couldn't find the gate. So, when i first arrived, the group was already digging the fire pit. I got the chance to hack at the ground and pull it out. I can tell the soil was healthy from all the earthworms i saw. They got these whole pile of flammable organic stuff laid out, and we arranged the sticks and twigs to make the 'lazy mens(or something like that)' way of starting a fire. Then, we got a chance to strike a match! Well, only me and Shu Ting took the chance, for some reason the others were all afraid of fire. It took a few matches, but finally got started. I guess i get kind of over excited with all this fire stuff, because soon enough, i started roasting leaves, which they said was dangerous... but i lived to roast marshmellows afterwards. There was cooking from the embers of the dead fire, and the consumption of delicious pizza bread and semi-raw potato after that. From this event I learnt a lot from how to start a fire safely to teamwork to the things that Mrs Loh explained during a long speech about the Girl Guides of NYGH having respect amoung themselves and others, and how we should learn from them. I really hope we all can experience something like this again sometime in the near future.
Xiu Qin
I enjoy this outdoor cooking session with NYGH guides a lot, because firstly, i have learnt to use another method to prepare my food. Secondly, this session has help us to bond together even more, and thirdly, learn how to use simple ingredients like white bread to make a pizza.
I hope to bring this new knowledge to the other guides so as to make them gain new experience of outdoor cooking!
Wen Ting
I feel that the activity is fun and we should carry out during our own CCA as it is very interesting and in the modern days, seldom people will use twigs and dried leaves to start a fire and cook our own food. Moreover, the taste of the food is very different and it gives me a sense of satisfactory. Also, i learnt how to choose the materials for the fire and patience is also needed. This outdoor cooking is a rare and unforgettable experience for me as i have never did it before. I hope more people will experience the hardship of people in the olden days when they don't even have a proper kitchen and stoves.
Shu Ting
This training is both fun and enjoyable as we learnt many stuffs like how to set up and make a fire ,do and do nots when we make a fire etc...it was fun!:)The hardest part was turfing...(which means driving the changkul deep into the ground and aiming properly...) ,which i cannot aim well... i think that...the best part of the whole training was when we ate our food we cooked, there was a great sense of accomplishment, which made us all very proud of ourselves:DD
Although it was rather tiring, i felt that it was a wonderful experience. We should also do outdoor cooking like this during camp!!!! It would be funn:)
Felicia
Through this training , i have learnt how to do outdoor cooking in other ways other than using solid fuel. This process is much like 'barbequing' , and i was amazed at how they rekindle the fire. I have learnt how to dig a hole out and know the importance of the sizes of the twigs. Different things such as coconut husk that could be found in the nature catches fire very easily and thus, it is normally used in the starting of fire. Nanyang Guides were really helpful and friendly. They attended to our needs and answered our questions patiently. They even allowed us to have our hands on and even guided us through. We definitely should learn from them. Their compassion, smiles have made us feel part of them.
Elicia
I have learnt how to prepare food neatly and different cutting skills. There are chopping, slicing. I felt that we should have more outdoor cooking sessions in school camps or during cca times. So that our juniors can learn more things about Outdoor Cooking.
Ye Qi
The outdoor cooking at NYGH was very fruitful and i learnt a lot of things like how to classify the twigs into different categories, turf a pit, set up a lazy man structure using twigs and punks, start the fire, keep the fire going, safety precautions to take while starting the fire and many more. Although the smoke got into my eyes, it was a very fun experience. The food is also tastier as it is cooked using our own efforts.
Gloria
I had a whale of time learning how to do outdoor cooking (Ember cooking). I learnt how to turf a pit by first marking out the size of the pit using a changkul and then changkuling deep into the marked areas accurately, where the turf will be later lifted out. We then laid twigs and punks into the pit and started the fire. I also learnt about some safety precautions and how to keep the fire going. The Nanyang guides were also very nice to us, patiently teaching us and providing more information on outdoor cooking. It was a great experience and I hope that our next camp will have ember cooking as one of its activities.