RECSAM News_Sept-Dec 2021

8 RECSAM News Vol. 52 - No. 3 A New Normal Deepavali SEAMEO RECSAMTeam Building Beach Series at Monkey Beach, Penang DEEPAVALI , the festival of lights, was celebrated differently this year. In upholding the Centre’s spirit of Muhibbah (solidarity), the festival was celebrated on 16 November 2021 at RECSAM with sparkling joy, but a little differently. The celebration saw RECSAM staff from various races having a good time and savouring a delicious spread of hi-tea and festive delicacies, which were pre-packed and distributed in packets to them. Many were all smiles and laughter as they sampled the Deepavali spread as well as Indian delicacies such as thosai, putumayong, chapatti and vadai.Apart from sharing the festive joy within staff fraternity, the presence of staff from various races and religions reflects Malaysian spirit of Muhibbah. All staff were reminded to appreciate the little things in life and find innovative ways to continue the traditions and to be responsible enough towards the environment and their surroundings. The pandemic has surely changed the way we socialise and celebrate this occasion but nothing can take away the sheer joy of savouring all the yummy food! SEAMEO RECSAM STAFF GATHERED for a retreat at the annual team building on 9 December 2021. All staff spent half-day at Monkey Beach and enjoyed the team building activities geared to make everybody bond better through fun and laughter. The trip began with a jungle tracking to the Penang National Park. The Penang National Park in Teluk Bahang turned lively with the chats and laughter of RECSAM staff who left the urban jungle for some real jungle trekking and got the chance to be as close to nature as possible. We started the team building programme with a welcoming remarks from Dr. Shah Jahan Bin Assanarkutty, Centre Director and followed by an ice breaking session at Monkey Beach with the soothing sounds of waves crashing on the beach. All staff were put in groups and accomplished multiple challenges and missions in order to obtain the highest collectable points. There were a total of 6 customised challenges where teams would need to figure out their team members’ potential and split responsibilities to achieve its mission. Some of the games challenge (Fast Forward Game and Water Bottle Fun) involved sand and sea water such as filling up ice cream plastic packet with seawater using only hand & paper and filling up water bottle with seawater by using only sponge as its programme mechanism. With six teams of total 69 participants, all staff embraced all the exciting games full of challenges in this programme. Although it was a hot sunny day by the beach that time, all staff were aggressively involved and everyone had a great fun time! In summary, the team building programme had been successfully conducted for the day. Staff enjoying the gathering & festival of light celebration RECSAM staff cultivating a great team spirit “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” – Henry Ford, Industrialist