~Raven Outdoor Consultant Sdn Bhd~

I was conducting a half day camp session for Hougang Primary School on the 16/11/05 wed. Its the last day of the 4 day session. We were suppose to bring them out of the school to conduct SRIC for them.

After i finished my last station, i instructed my kids to head back to the final Check Point which is the school. As i was walking back i heard kids from another group shouting "Teacher teacher!!! Got people fall down!!!" " alot of blood!" "Faster Come!!!" I stopped and scouted the area and found nothing. Thinking that it may be the kids fooling a round i decided to carry on my way back to school. Then the shout became louder as more kids joined in the shouting. I gather my group to follow me while i proceed to check out the area. I walk towards the location then my pace quicken, in no time, i was already running to the scene as i sense something must be wrong.

As i was nearing the scene, i saw Winnie standing up and looking around. I immediately know something is definitely wrong. As i reached the scene, all i saw was the blood stain on the floor tiles. I saw the boy pressing hard on his wounds, one on the right toe, the other on his left knee. I remove his hand from the left knee to check on the wound. It was in a very bloody mess. All i saw was that blood was flowing out from the wound and from first observation i suspect that stitching is required. I found out that the wound is actually an old scar which had already heal 1 year ago. Which means that the fall actuall tear the scar apart raw mann.. I quickly took out my First Aid Kit and started to bandage his left knee using a few layers of gauze and a roller bandage to stop the bleeding.

Once i’m done with that, i tend to his right toe. It was totally in a mess as his shoe and sock was soaking in blood. All his toes were red. Again i remove his pressured hand from the wound as i need to check on where is the location of the cut in order to stop the bleeding efficiently. The cut was right below his right toe. The skin was being ripped off from the sole below the toe. An area of about 2cm by 2cm. Again i covered the wound with a few layer of gauze and i bandaged it with a roller bandage.

Kevin was on scene to command and control the situation. He arranged for some swapping of the teams as i have to stay with the victim. Soon after that we clear up the mess, washed the blood away from the ground then we head back to the school with the victim.

We contacted Martin who is already standing by with his safety vehicle. We also reported the incident to the victim’s form teacher before we call the victim’s mum and convey him to the nearest clinic for the stitching to be done.

I met the victim’s mum at the clinic and briefed her about the incident and then Martin took over as i need to rush to Christ Church Secondary to conduct Rock Climbing session for Green Wood Primary.    

This is so far the bloodiest accident i’ve tended to since i got my 1st aid cert in 1998. Amazingly, i kinda enjoy it while i’m tending to the victim. I strongly recommend people to go for First Aid course whenever possible, it’ll really benefit.

Raven

St. John Ambulance Brigade Certified First Aider

13/11/2005, Sunday. I met up with limin as we have decided earlier in the afternoon to go for a night time photo shoot of some scenery.

I met up with her and we drove to Kranji Reservoir. We parked our car and proceed to the dam with all the equipment we have. A Canon EOS 300 SLR, a 75-300mm len, a 28-90mm lens, a tripod and a torch light. We set up our position just below the dam to have a shot at the Lights over at Johor.

While we were setting up the camera, lightnings flashes across the sky above our neighbour. Our objective was changed immediately to capture the lightnings. It was indeed fun trying out different methods and ways to capture those nice flashes. We tried many ways and methods to try getting a good picture.

Moments later, the lightning’s frequency had dropped. So we decided to try shooting limin’s favourite object. The road. We scouted for a few area to have our camera set up and we were being some how mistaken by the drivers as Traffic Police Officers trying to set up some speed cameras along the road.

Then we were off to the next location, Admiralty Road West. Where is that? Well, people who frequent Johor will notice a stretch of road on the left when ever they come back to Singapore via the Causeway. That is the Admiralty Road West. Our initial idea was to capture the causeway and some buildings of Johor. However, upon reaching there we found the dark skies lighted by flashes of lightnings again. After some discussion, limin decided we should head to Sembawang Park instead. So off we wen, to chase the storm from Sembawang.

Upon reaching there, as usual we scout for a nice location to set up our camera. Missed a few good shots whlie setting up the camera. After we are done with the set up, we wait…wait…and wait… It wasn’t as simple as some of you guys might think mann…I found out that light not only travels faster than sound but also that light travels faster than my finger which is already pressing on the shutter button. Arhh.. i was praying and praying just to hope i am able to get a nice shot of the lightnings. Tried many methods like using bulb and some extreme slow shutter speed with wide aperture. Hopefully the picture will come out good.

Moments later we shifted out location to the jetty. As usual, set up camera then waited. At around 10plus we decided to call it a day as i’ll need to reach Hougang Primary by 0700hrs the next morning.

Already sent the negative for development. I’ll be keeping my finger crossed.

Raven

Raven Outdoor Consultant

The Bullet Times

Where every seconds counts

24^th September, 2005

“Forth road accident involving school children in 2 weeks”

Singapore

- A 9 year old boy was hit by a taxi yesterday when he failed to stop at a slope.

The incident happens at Woodlands Street 41 at about

3.46pm

.  9 year old Mohd Rizal was cycling towards a T-junction and as he was reaching a down slope, he did not stop the bike as he did not have any brakes on the bike itself.

The taxi was travelling along the street when suddenly Mohd Rizal appeared right in front of him. “ I slammed on my brake hard trying to avoid the collision, but too late.” Said the taxi driver Mr. Vijay. “ It’s so unlucky for me today, I just started my shift 1 hour ago and now accident.”

The ambulance crew from Woodlands Fire Station arrived 7 minutes after the 1^st report was made by SSGT. Foo Yiing Kai, an off duty  SCDF D.A.R.T regular . “I was at home when I heard the loud impact,   I came out of my flat and I saw a kid sitting on  the road about 3 meters away from the taxi, the bike was wrecked”, he said. He was the first to arrived at the scene equipped with a small medical kit.

SCDF paramedics conducted primary examination on Mohd Rizal on the scene and found no visible injuries on him. His parents  arrived shortly after being notified by their relative passing by the area.  He was later sent to the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital for further examinations.

A passer-by who declined to be named, claims that this area was a place where accident is waiting to happen. “they(cyclist) like to zoom down from the slope and cut into the main road without even stopping to check on the traffic”.

“Just take a look at the boy’s bike, the bicycle is not properly equipped with the   proper hardware, he doesn’t even have a brake on his bike!” “Their parents shouldn’t have allowed him to ride on a bike with such conditions”, another passer-by who only want to be known as Ms. Tan comments.

 

The chairman of the Singapore Amateur Cycling Association Mr. Martin Koh Wei Ming advices all the cyclist to have their bike properly equipped or checked before heading for the road. “Each and every parents is responsible for the safety of their own kids, please do not allow your children to ride on an unsafe bicycle”.

   

Paramedics checking on the victim with SSGT. Foo assistance.

This is the forth accident involving children below the age of 13 within the past two weeks. On 12th September, 7 year old Lim Wei Hean was killed while he was crossing the road along Jalan Bukit Krishun, 16th September, 8 year old Chen Jie Xin a Chinese national was injured by a motorcycle which failed to stopped at a zebra crossing at Tampines Ave 8 and on 21st September a 11 year old American, Thomas Antonio was hit by a car while he was  playing outside his house at Serangoon Garden Way.

The traffic police are still investigating the above cases. If you have any information regarding any of the accidents please call the traffic police at 1800-2543200.

Word Count: 523 words

Story based on actual account witnessed by Raven Foo.

Paragraphs / stories in italic are non-facture

Reported by Raven Foo.

Photo by by Raven Foo.

Well, well, today is quite an enjoyable day for me.. althought been quite lost recently… However, i went for my fren’s house for hari raya celebration and i found new climbing kahkis.. Wat is more steady is that they are all the way from France… My God!!! haha.. We talked about climbing all night, Petzl, Camp, Albert Robert, Krabi and many more.. haven been talking like this for long long time mann.. i’m so happy tonight…

I’ve promised to bring them for climbing at Dairy Farm when i’m free.. haha.. They are the natural wall climbers back in their country.. so shall show them the Wall of singapore.. They’ll be shock i guess… haha… They will be spending their X’mas back in France, then when they come back in january they will bring all their climbing gear here for the "Big Wall Expedition". Haha… Looks like we are gonna have fun then.. haha..

Those who like to join me in the "Expedition" please feel free to contact me ya…

Passion for exploration,

Raven

Hmmm… been quite down these past few days… Lots of things happened along the way mann.. been thinking and thinking about it.. wat should i do? hmmm… Is this another test set for me to go thru again? I guess it is… I’ve done it once… did not really performed up to my expectations the previous round… But i’m gonna make it good this time… Time is the major factor now… " Being slow and steady is good, but being fast and consistant is even better" Gota focus, focus, FOCUS!!! Hmmm… Think, think, think of the possible ways brudder… How can i achive that? Looks like i’ll have to keep thinking mann..

Lost??

Raven