You
know how the grown-ups keep telling you that now's the best time of your life,
so don't waste it? Thing is, they don't tell you HOW not to waste it do they?
They just sigh and look old. Emily Tan talks to this strange organisation with an even weirder mission. They truly want to be a friend to every student in campus. Now is that mad or what?
Campus Friends??? Who dat?
You
know how the grown-ups keep telling you that now's the best time of your life,
so don't waste it? Thing is, they don't tell you HOW not to waste it do they?
They just sigh and look old.
"But life is so boooooring!" you wail, "There's nothing to doooo!"
If your life is filled with college, television and malls Aå it isn't surprising that you find it dull and monotonous.
Don't you wish you had a bunch of friends who'd drag you along on crazy outings like white-water rafting, jungle trekking, or even an all-out paintball war?
And what about the things you want to do in life. You know, save the world, solve poverty, and feed the hungry?
"Hah! What can you possibly do?" scoff the cynics.
What if I told you that there is away you can unite with others who share the same ideals as you and make a real difference in the lives of others?
Campus Friends (CF) is a company designed to help you live a life filled with fun, passion, and purpose.
You see, some years back, three buddies - Cathryn Loh, Lindy Ong, and Margaret Loy - got together over kopi and decided to stop moaning about the way things are and do something about it.
"We wanted to tell the youth of Malaysia that their lives are worth living. And to help them live it with purpose and passion," said Caryn.
"The idea was to reach out to as many youth as possible and the best places to find them were the local campuses," added Lindy.
So
they founded CF in June 2004 and based it on four objectives:
(So, didja notice that the four points spell LIVE? Didja didja?)
Campus Friends on campus
Umm.. so I'm going to have to hang out with aunties ah?
No-lah, of course you won't - cool though they are.
You'll be hanging out with your uni and college mates, and doing incredibly wild stuff like pool parties, paintball wars, and whitewater-rafting.
If you're lucky enough to have a Campus Friends club on your campus you'll know what I mean.
So far the clubs are in International Medical University (hey even Med students need a life!), Prime College, Nilai International University College, Life College, and Limkokwing University College of Creative Technology.
Come and say 'Hi' to some of the kids running the show.
Campus Friends Clubs committee members:
So, what are you guys up to?
Chris:
We have activities that are cool and fun but it doesn't stop there. See, we
have this insidious purpose to drive people to live their lives to the fullest,
and the stuff we do is designed to bring that out.
Roz:
You see, student life can be so busy and hectic that we never seem to have the
time or energy to do anything worth doing. We have no life! The club actually
does things like tutes to help you out in studies so you have time for other
things - which the club also organises.
What kind of things?
Chris: We just had this camp at Broga, where we challenged them to really conquer their fears. So we threw them off the flying fox!
Rachel:
No la... not really la. We got them to jump off voluntarily!
Chris: Overcoming their fears what.
Roz: In IMU we have a freshers pack to welcome them after torturing them mercilessly during 'O' Week!
Rachel:Then there was the pool party, apartment cookout...
What about Limkokwing?
Judy:
Our club is relatively new there. But we recently managed to organise a paintball
war!
Truth is, it's important to have a club like CF in Limkokwing to break the ice. People there are so busy and clique-ish that most of the clubs there are kinda dead. Hopefully this club can break the trend and bring people together.
What do you guys love about the clubs?
Roz: It's just such a great way to have fun.
Judy: CLEAN fun! Healthy fun! But still fun.
Roz: Yeah yeah... clean fun (grins). It's a good way to make friends and expand your mind.
Chris: It's a club that wants to make a difference - that has a purpose. When a club doesn't have any purpose, all the activities feel empty and worthless.
Rachel: Personally, CF has really helped me. As a freshie, it's scary to be in a campus so big and to feel so small. It was great to be guided through it by the CF people.
Living with Purpose - putting words into action
Its' easy enough
to tell youth to live with passion and purpose but how are they to actually
DO such a thing? Malaysian youth are not usually known to take a stand and make
a difference. More often than not we bow to our conditioning to keep quiet,
and not make trouble.
Learning to pick your battles and to determine what is truly important in the long run is a valuable skill that many learn too late to their regret. Campus Friends aims to help youth judge matters in which it is important for them to make their opinions known and to make a difference. through interactive workshops.
One of these is "Tombstone" a module aimed at helping them discover the importance of living a life with purpose focusing on the legacy they wish to live behind and to develop life goals to achieve this legacy. Despite the rather macabre title, Tombstone is actually a fun and inspiring workshop where youth have loads of fun but leave with something to think about.
But has all this actually made a difference? Has it accomplished anything?
It accomplished something in International Medical University (IMU).
IMU's ragging during Orientation Week is notoriously evil. Freshies put through the ordeal have been known to fall sick, run home crying, and shed kilos of body weight. Each vicious 'O' Week leads to a year of students
determined to make the next batch of freshies suffer even more than they did.
Enough, was enough, the Campus Friends Club of IMU felt that the ragging had descended into cruelty and wasn't fair on the freshmen who were nervous enough as it was. They stood up and petitioned that the next 'O' Week would be fun and decent, with games that were funny but not humiliating. And they won - that batch of freshies had a fun 'O' Week and were warmly welcomed and guided by the CF Club.
Standing up for what is right is an action with a purpose worth fighting for. The CF Club of IMU stood up for what they believed in, made a difference - not only in that one instance, but for many 'O' weeks to come.
Perfectly planned
I've always been one for designing my own planners. I'd print out calendars, add lots of blank paper for scribbling, create timetables, paste in articles and things to do and read in class when the lecturers were snoringly boring.
It's ironic that it's only when I've left uni that they come up with an utterly perfect planner like the LIVE Book. Gah! Talk about missing the boat!
I mean, just check out how cool the 2006 planner is! It comes in four designs, and besides a monthly calendar to jot happenings down in, it has pages to scribble notes on, timetable charts to fill in, and most importantly, an address book.
But this is even better. It comes chock-full of activities to do, stories to read, and lame jokes.
The planner also has weekly and monthly challenges that dare you to do little things like boost your grades by following the schedule, or big things such as quit smoking.
And how's this for the ultimate in neato? They have a treasure hunt that will take you all year to complete, lead you to weird and exciting places, and there really is a treasure at the end!
Here's how it works. You start off in the book, then you go to their website www.campus-friends.com and get clues to follow. These clues will send you to places to find certain things that will lead you to more clues ... and at least at the end of the year, the treasure - two laptops and Mp3 players to be won!
So run out and get yer LIVE Book 2006 planners from your campus bookstores, and selected MPH outlets for RM25.
Oh yeah, if you're a freshie you just may get one free with your CF welcome pack.
Lucky people!