St John Ambulance of Australia organised the International Cadet Camp (ICC) from January 2 to 11 in Sydney, Australia. The venue of this camp was the Tops Conference Centre, Stanwell Park, Sydney. About 450 St John Ambulance officers and cadets from 11 countries, namely, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Wales, England, Sri Lanka, Solomon Islands, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Africa, took part and Malaysia was represented by 10 students, aged 16 to 18 from SMJK Ave Maria Convent, Ipoh and a 15 year-old boy from SMK Tuanku Abdul Rahman Putra, Selangor.
During the official opening ceremony, delegates were treated to a taste of Australian indigenous culture with a performance and traditional welcome from the local aboriginal community.
In the International Cadet Championship, Malaysia was represented by Thong Wen Dee, Lee Yen Lim, Chong Poh Sim and Lim Wen Yi from SMJK Ave Maria Convent, Ipoh. The Malaysian competitors kept their cool and showed mettles of steel when they won five out of the six categories contested. In another two categories, they beat all the other countries and emerged first. In the Presentation category, Lee Yen Lim delivered a ten-minute presentation about Malaysia to an audience of mixed ages. She awed the adjudicators with her smooth delivery. As for Chong Poh Sim, she was asked to perform an on camera interview for a local news station in which they discussed about St John and the role that she is playing in the Bushfire Recovery Centre. The adjudicators were impressed with her confidence and knowledge to all questions posed.
For the Camp Concert, the theme was “Your Custom and Culture”. Contingents had to present their background and culture and Malaysia definitely lived up to its tag of a melting pot with diverse customs and cultures. The Malaysian delegation performed a 1Malaysia dance in colourful costumes. It was no surprise they were announced the winner as they received a standing ovation from the audience after their performance.
During the closing ceremony, Malaysia was announced the winner of the 2014 ICC International Challenge Shield based on their performance throughout the 10-day camp and also from all the marks accumulated from all the competitions contested.
