Whilst out in Borneo we had an idea to give out some disposable cameras to a group of local children in Bongkud.

The idea was for them to give us an insight into their daily lives by taking pictures of their friends, family, pets, school and their village. Hopefully giving us a chance to see a true side of what life is like as a young child of Bongkud. A side that we would otherwise rarely get to see.

Eight children from the local school were given the cameras and all but one camera was returned, once developed the plan had worked and we were presented with a great selection of fun photos.
Have a look at some of the best photos put together in this slideshow.

For more information on how to get involved in our volunteer gap programmes in Borneo, Malaysia click here.

To request a free brochure & DVD click over….here.

On a moonlit night, almost as bright as day, when even scoundrels and vagabonds fear the dawn, from o’ the murk the bones of a beast of terrible size can be seen lurking next to the surf. But this is no mythical monster. This apparition; as old as time, as terrifying as the dark, is a ship from days long gone, slumbering where she fell in the waters of Mantanani Island!

“Ahoy m’hearties! Be you in need of shelter?” calls a voice from beyond the vessel.

A ghost? A Pirate survived from the heyday of buccaneers? A child who has watched too many Jonny Depp films?

No, it’s a member of the Camp Borneo staff (for that’s how they speak on Mantanani… honest.) And he’s beckoning you over to take a look at The Magellan, our very own Pirate Ship! (Or the remains thereof.) So, why on earth do we need a pirate ship? Well… we don’t and that’s just the point. When you’ve got community projects galore, marine conservation work, scuba diving and endless games of football with the local kids all nestled neatly onto one desert island, what else could you possibly need…?

Exactly! Your own Pirate Ship made out of driftwood and recycled rubbish that has collected on the beach of the otherwise pristine island. 

Now obviously it’s nowhere near finished yet, but our gappers have made a great start this year (those HUGE driftwood planks ain’t light y’know!) but we are looking forward to screaming “Pieces of Eight!” “Shiver me Timbers!” and generally going “Arrrrrh, Jim Lad!” by this time next year in a finished, if landlocked, boat… So if you’re up to the challenge…? And if you don’t mind, y’know… building a kindergarten, teaching English, measuring some turtles and learning to scuba dive when you have some spare time away from the Magellan. Why not give us a call?

On a serious note, apart from being tremendous fun, we are building the Magellan to act as a backdrop to our marine conservation and education programmes. Being built entirely of “stuff” that has washed ashore from the sea it will easily illustrate, not only to our volunteers but also the children at the local primary school, the need to be more aware of marine life, the dangers humans pose to it and how we can begin to help.

So, once finished the Magellan will act as a classroom, playground and general place to hang out and watch the sunset. Can’t wait!

To see more pictures of our slowly emerging Pirate Ship and from our other projects on Mantanani, click here.

My first draft of this post was, in no uncertain terms, a work of genius. It was informative, revealing, entertaining, moving, shocking and uplifting. It had characters, subplots, themes…

…and crucially it contained every metaphor, synonym, expression and simile for excrement I could think of, expertly woven in seamless fashion into the narrative to be almost imperceptible to those not in on the joke. Honestly, I even managed to crowbar “touching cloth” and “turtle’s head” in there without being too obvious!

Sure, the topic of our Biogas Collector does lend itself to a certain amount of, well… toilet humour; however, as you will have read in our previous post on the project we are talking about a pretty amazing and potentially life changing piece of design coupled with mother nature at her most resourceful, so it seemed petty of me to bring it down to the basic component… poop. There seems to have been enough of that going round here recently as it is.

With the project nearing completion thanks to the amazing work of our Gap teams this year, I recently took the opportunity to visit Camp Tinangol with our BGC’s designer and friend to Camp Borneo, Ian Hall, to see the last checks and pipes put in place before our very first deposit… which we even captured on film!

Luckily for you, the biogas collector isn’t a one dimensional poo based methane gas creator so the resulting film wasn’t quite as disturbing as you might think.

The BGC can quite happily use other natural waste, like food leftovers, kitchen scraps and even some garden trimmings, to produce its highly practical methane gas which in our case will, once we have given the waste products enough time to start the process, be used for cooking.

However with the possibility for the gas to also be used for lighting and heating we could be looking at a design that could be rolled out to communities across our camp locations in Africa, South East Asia and beyond to make a world of difference to those willing to use it. Yes, we are aware there may be some initial reluctance to overcome – - “You’re cooking with gas from what?!?” – - and we of course still have to make sure the beasty actually works (fingers crossed!) but come on, how amazing would it be for poor remote communities to be able to have access to free fuel for cooking, lighting and heating? This, as well as saving money, would also decrease the need to harvest wood sources and so help protect local eco-systems. Everyone’s a winner! Isn’t nature great?

By chance, on the day the plumbing for the BGC was completed Camp Tinangol was host to a party for the local community attended by Dr Maximus Ongkili, the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Malaysian government. It was a celebration for the completion of a new road which provided much needed access for local communities, but we of course took the opportunity to re-introduce ourselves to the good doctor and explain what we had been up to with our Gappers in the community. However, our chance for Dr Maximus to be the first to provide the… err…  “Official results for the Dunny-on-the-Wold bye-election”, were scuppered when he decided to talk politics to the gathered throng rather than poo. (Pauses for cynical cry of “what’s the difference!”)

But, whilst we missed the opportunity of seeing a government minister leaving a toilet cubicle with a bashful smile whilst sporting an orange Camp Borneo T-Shirt and saying “I now declare this bio-gas collector open!”, Doctor Maximus was kind enough to publicly acknowledge the good work the clients and staff of Camp Borneo are doing in and around Tinangol (It’s not all about poo). And a few minutes later the karaoke started… sadly, that can never be avoided. And Ian and I did sing a song… but only after I requested that Doctor Maximus should dance whilst we sing…

…he did.

If you want to see further pics of the BGC and the resulting party, click here.