We recently ran a school trip for the British School of Nanjing, China, to our camps in Borneo.  The lead teacher, Richard, worked hard with our team to pull the trip together and then accompanied his students on their Borneo experience.  Here are a few words and some incredible pictures which Richard has pulled together after his trip which i think give a really good summary of some of the sights, sounds and experiences his team of students had.  Thanks Richard, and thanks to the team for their hard work on the projects and look forward to seeing a team from BSN next year.

Recently, GEMS World Academy from Dubai, visited Borneo on a service project trip, staying for a week, working hard and seeing lots of interesting things.  They spent the majority of their time in our camp at Tinangol which is in the north of Borneo, where they stayed in our traditional style longhouse, conducted worthwhile service project work as well as gaining an understanding of local culture and issues.  The team had a great time and really got stuck into the work which was based around our kindergarten project in the village of Tinangol.  They also visited the Tip of Borneo, tried their hand at some traditional dancing and some basic English lessons with the local pre-school.  Thanks for all your efforts guys and hope to see you out here again soon.

Team shot after the dancing

The girls showing how its done!

Team shot at the northern most tip of Borneo

Making traditional style bracelets and necklaces, Rungus style

With the children who will benefit from the completed kindergarten

Working on the entrance area to the new kindergarten

Putting the finishing touches to the bannister leading up into the kindergarten

Nicole Jeary completed her Gap Year programme in Borneo over a month ago. Here she tells of her CB1 experience...

Before embarking on our 3 hour trip to Camp Tinangol, the group spent the weekend in Kota Kinabalu getting to know our surroundings. Although awkward at first, after a trip to the beach on Sapi island and some snorkeling the group began to bond, even managing to find Nemo (yes, he really does exist)! The following day we had an opportunity to discover the culture and history of the diverse island of Borneo with visits to a museum in Kota Kinabalu. Unfortunately, jet lag did get the better of us and we were unable to see the Chinese Temple that had been arranged for us.

Upon arrival to Camp Tinangol we were warmly welcomed with fresh coconut juice and necklaces that were hand-made by members of the Village. Then later that evening we learnt and performed the Rungus traditional celebratory dance (and my bad co-ordination was exposed).

The nights were mostly spent playing card games, reading and chilling in the long-house. We were kept amused by the various bug scares and dramatic yells, but don’t worry, we all made it through unscathed. The camp got pretty wild some nights, with some of us even making it past 9.30pm. A definite highlight was the camp crew and the fabulous cooking!

Although hard work, it was nice to be so hands-on with building the Community Learning Centre for the local Village. Mostly the work consisted of cementing, plastering and some saw and hammering. When  some of the group lost motivation we were able to visit the local school and remember why we were here. There was no denying that the work days were long, however our progress was evident and we were always rewarded with delicious meals.

Our weekends were spent mostly relaxing (aka doing our washing) and on organised activities. These included a trip to the tip of Borneo, making rice wine, a trip to the beach and a local market However, truthfully the thing we were all mostly looking forward to was the internet cafe and to the supermarket to stock up on Dairy Milk.

To Summarise, Borneo was definitely a once in a life-time experience, which has left me with wonderful memories and 200 mosquito bites (and counting)!

Please call us on 01425 485390 or email gap@campsinternational.com should you want to know more about volunteering in Borneo or any of our other Gap Year Programmes.

Whilst our current team of gappers moved on from Camp Tinangol and are working hard on project work at Camp Mantanani this week, their blogging still continues with more experience and adventures as they go along in their Gap Yr program. It’s not all work and no play, honest!

Eva Reda continues to share her blog here…

Hi all!! 

The blog is back due to popular demand! I’m flattering myself here (but a big thank you to the parents who left positive feedback!), however for the moment I think a weekly blog would be more suitable than a fortnightly one as we’ve been super busy and have lots of news to report.

Week 2 brought the arrival of Henrietta Warwick (‘Henri’), the architect of the new kindergarten we’re building in Tinangol. Having someone who knew exactly what was to be done (with the added bonus of being fluent in English) improved both productivity and team morale, with most of the wall molds being finished this week, alongside the usual activities of English teaching and building a basic drainage system.

Other exciting activities included a weekend visit to the Northern tip of Borneo, and to the beautiful and isolated beach nearby – with warm water and mountainous surrounds included. Whilst there we were all lucky enough to get a full taste of the equatorial sun, which meant varying degrees of sunburn - most members copping only red shoulders and noses, but some unluckier people turning an attractive full-body beetroot hue.

The highlight of this week for most of us would have to be the successful completion of our very first canine emergency evacuation operation. Basically, in Borneo dogs don’t have the cute and lovable pet status they hold in Australia; sadly, they’re seen more as children’s play things to be pushed, pulled, dragged around and chased. The mature dogs are used to this, but our patience ended (particularly on the part of Henri and Hannah) after seeing a tiny ball of fluff being sat on with the full weight of a nine-year-old child. Consequently, they snuck it back to camp in Ashlee’s backpack. The little girl-puppy has been christened Surupu, meaning ‘good fortune’ in Malay. And it’s truly an appropriate name. After just a day of being properly fed, watered and loved, Surupu’s little tail is wagging happily for the first time. Mission accomplished Team Borneo.

To bring the week to a close, Man (the camp foreman) explained the process of rubber tree sap extraction that occurs around the camp, and took us on a tour of his extensive vegetable garden – the product of which was fresh sour mango and ginger salad for dinner.

I’m currently reporting from Kota Kinabalu, where we’re staying for the weekend to complete the four day PADI Scuba Diving course – or to enjoy some well-earned R&R for the non-divers. We’re also hoping to stock up on clean clothes, a precious commodity these days…

Once again we send all our love to everyone back in Australia! More from us next week!

I’m Eva Reda signing off for Blog #3 Team Borneo 2012

If you want to know more about our Gap Year Borneo Programmes fill in the form here and we’ll get straight back to you.

Another progress report, this time from Lewis our Tinangol architect intern – loads of hard work going on here on both the kindergarten itself and a drainage project.

LewisK Report 220712 copy

Last week i visited Borneo to run around the camps and check on the summer preparations for the fast approaching summer team season.  This is an annual thing where i get to poke around in the details of every camp – and trust me you really don’t want the boss poking around too much because it leads to trouble! So obviously the Camp Managers were slightly nervous about my visit but they also know what i am looking for – details on the plans for projects and activities to be undertaken, budgets, safety documents especially casualty evacuation plans,staffing, sleeping plans – the list is endless.

Over the next few days i hope to show some pictures from each camp i visited to check on the summer preparations, so people can get a feel for the in depth preparation being undertaken at all our locations.

My first visit was to Camp Tinangol who will be hosting a summer school team for the first time this year.  We have taken the plunge and finally decided to build a second longhouse after several years of consideration and wishful thinking.  The ground breaking ceremony was held back in April and the gang wasted no time in getting stuck into the building, which is on track and on budget.  It may look far from complete but actually the bulk of the work has been completed.

Toilet with a view – a new block overlooking the forest

As well as  the longhouse, the teams visiting Tinangol have been very busy over the last 2 years building a kindergarten which has featured on these pages many times.  It is now nearing completion and it is our intention to try and finish it off this summer. Currently a gap team are working on the main staircase up to the main level.  Work here will include finishing the stairs, all walling and finish the flooring near the rear of the building and construct all lower walls using biocrete blocks and form work.  Loads to do and we hope to have an opening ceremony at the end of August to officially hand the building over to the community to be used.

Underneath will be walled using biocrete blocks

Work on the uprights for the front stairs

Great to be back in the field visiting our projects in Tinangol Kindergarten, Borneo. Simon is over from Africa and combined with Matt and Rory we are reviewing all our camps and projects, sharing lessons from across the globe and of course staying in some pretty terrible hotels.

Fendi is having to put up with 4 Directors talking non stop for 6 hours driving every day.

The Kindergarten build is coming along well in Tinangol village but need to turn up the heat and raise essential funds.

Camp Manager Zul and his team have our long house looking spectacular and we have decided to build an additional long house in the same location to accommodate more volunteers and bring more hands to our projects in the area.

If you think our bedrooms in the long house look basic….you should see the Hotel Rory has booked us into! Out here for one week to include Cambodia so more to follow……