Balik Kampung

Photo courtesy of Farah

I think it's well known that city life really takes a toll on our health - long working hours, feeling trapped in a concrete jungle, and people generally rushing around without consideration for others. The whole family had been feeling quite anxious and stressed over the past few weeks, with my son's primary school exams (which just finished last Friday) and work. We decided to take a break - it was a choice between popping over the border to Johor Bahru, Malaysia for a few hours (another concrete jungle, what were we thinking?), or de-stressing in natural surroundings.  We chose the latter, and we made the right choice. 

We signed up for Balik Kampung at Ground Up Initiative, Bottle Tree Park. 

Some of you might have heard that the place was closed down in April as the land has to go back to the government for redevelopment. Fortunately, they have been given a slight reprieve .... until.... I am not sure when!

When we arrived at 9am, we began the session with morning exercises (I think to keep us awake!) and then we were split into groups according to our interests. We had the choice of cooking a vegetable-based lunch, woodwork or farming.  We chose woodwork, and we got to make our own board game for GUI's Kampung Play programme. I could tell my son had a great time with the drill, hammer, saw and sand grinder.  We ended off the session with a scrumptious lunch the other volunteers had made, but not before spending some time to reflect at GUI's very own pond (see picture above), and wading through a knee-high stream (much to my son's delight!). 

We had a very enjoyable time and would definitely go back again. More importantly, I felt closer to nature and de-stressed!  Register at this link to take part! 

The stream!
Photo courtesy of Ground-Up Initiative

PS: You may notice the lack of photos in this post as the family had decided to make it a digital-free session! :-)