I visited the school in Beng Mealea, Cambodia, recently where the majority of our focus for project work is currently being put.  It was still very dry on the ground but rain had started on the previous afternoons, so it was looking as if the long dry spell, and inherent hardships, were finally coming to an end for the community.   We have at last lifted the roof off the left hand classroom at the school which was suffering from falling tiles due to a lack of cross-beams in the roof.  In order to put more beams in the whole roof was lifted off, old broken roofing sheets replaced, and then all put back together again.  The job took over a week to do and of course had to be done by outside contractors due to its  complexity and height.  Thanks to everyone who donated towards this part of the project.  Now we can really start to work on making the classrooms amazing places to learn from – I will keep you posted on progress.

The roof from the interior, showing additional cross beams and new sheets

The new roof from outside

First few courses of bricks laid for the new teacher accommodation block

The younger kids were doing their numbers, using small shells on the floor to write the number

 

In the past 3 months, Safuan, our architect intern from Arkitrek have been working on our long term plans for a more sustainable and environmental friendly /green building project by continuing bio-crete brick mix experiment on site apart from working on the final phases of the Community Centre at Camp Bongkud. At the final stage [...]

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This weekend we had a little expedition up Iliniza Norte, to recce it for groups.

Just south of Quito is “The Valley of the Volcanoes”, which is dotted with active, dormant and extinct volcanoes of varying heights.  The most famous, and the highest active volcano in the world, is Cotopaxi, but there are many others and most of them are climbable.  We have it in mind that there maybe great experiences out here that we can offer visitors to Ecuador.  So, I dusted down the boots and got myself out there.

OK, I live at 2,400 meters above sea level, but even with that, a one day ascent of a mountain over 5000 meters has got to be a little tiring.

The walk in was gentle enough, with the mountain sitting at the head of the valley looking increasingly ominous. 

I am not entirely sure why I look so pained – perhaps it was some sort of  premonition into the agony that was to be experienced struggling up the scree slope you can see behind me.

After the walk in, things started getting a little more serious rather abruptly.  The views, between gaps in the hail and fog, were fantastic, and it is from up at height that you really get a sense of truth of the name Valley of the Volcanoes.  However, we also saw a  lot of this:

After the scree slope, there is a fair amount of easy scrambling, first to reach the summit ridge, and then to move along it; with some interesting drop-offs on both sides – most of which we had to imagine rather than see fully.  At this point you get a strange sense of dislocation – you are scrambling along a ridge at 5000 meters above sea level, having woken up in your own bed.  It takes 5 or 6 days to get to these altitudes on Kili’.

Our little band of climbers reached the summit after around 4.5 hours.  We had in the group three Brits, an Argentine and an Ecuadorian guide.

(The man in the middle of this photo is Kevin Irvine, whom Stuey, Rory and I worked with something like 15 years ago.  He is out in Ecuador teaching at my childrens’ school: now that’s a coincidence.)

The result of all this?  Iliniza Norte is a fantastic mountain, the views are incredible, it is achievable in a day, and there is a real sense of being in a place that you can only be through your own efforts and that you are not going to be everyday, month or even year of your life.

I hope that we can get our Gappers up there, once they have had a little time at normal Ecuadorian altitude to prepare, and maybe for some of them that can lead on to Cotopaxi itself.  It is often used as a warm up /acclimatisation to that mountain and that is our plan: I’ll report later this month on the success or failure of that.

Jambo! We arrived in campTanga on Thursday evening to be greeted with a feast. There was a large group of 20 or so volunteers from the Arab world who had kindly invited some of the local villagers along to their farewell barbecue at camp. They had been on a short trip volunteering mission with camps.

Our first night in camp couldn’t have been better, we met Anderson and Eliphas and straight away they made us feel completely at home. We were lucky enough to spend the evening with a few villagers who we are now seeing every day. The food has continued to be amazing thanks to Donald, the world’s greatest chef! Every evening is something to look forward to whether you are reading whilst relaxing on the sofas with the noise of the ocean and buzzes of the wildlife or something a little more extreme like a game of ‘Last Card’ with the camp staff which never fails to entertain.

We spent the whole of Friday in Mwambani, the village next door. We were greeted by the community as if we were family. We were taught how to thatch roofs, cook some traditional dishes and continually danced and played with all the children. As there is only three of us in camp, it has worked to our advantage as the villagers know us by names.

Our project for the month we are here is constructing toilets for the newly on going project, the Trust House. The house will double up as a nursery classroom and Tailoring lessons centre for the women of Mwambani. Although it is hard work for three girls, it is extremely rewarding and honestly fun! We have learnt how to mix, plaster and smooth cement as well as putting in the floors, building the doors and windows.

Painting and putting on the last touches is equally fulfilling as one gets to see their effort paying off. It really gives you a sense of achievement.

In the afternoons we teach English or a lesson on computing. People come from Mwambani and it’s  neighbouring villages too!. The lessons are relaxed and fun to be a part of. The pupils are of all ages and all eager to learn, constantly asking questions and giving their input. We thoroughly look forward to the afternoons because of them.

We are leaving Camp Tanga next week, the month has gone so fast! We can’t wait to handover the project to the village and see how much our hard work is appreciated however it is going to be extremely hard to say goodbye. We have never met such kind and welcoming adults and such fun, enthusiastic kids, all very hyper on life! We will never forget the time we have spent in Tanzania and would like to thank Camps International for giving us such an incredible opportunity.

Those lovely gappers who previously wrote about their Tsavo experience have blessed us with another great blog about their time in Makongeni. They call themselves the Chizi Fresh Team so lets hear from them…

Our 2 weeks in Makongeni village have flown by far too quickly! We were greeted by the staff with coconut milk on arrival (a local tradition given to visitors) which was definitely a great welcoming. Makongeni is a lovely close-knit community which has been extremely welcoming to us gappers at camp! We got stuck in to the community projects straight away which included; plastering, cementing floors and painting in the local primary school, planting seeds and learning how to make jewellery with the youth group as well as helping out at Rafiki Health Centre. In total, we spent 8 days at the primary school which allowed a strong sense of achievement as we saw our work develop.

Again, like our experience in Tsavo Camp the staff here in Makongeni have played a huge part in making this experience so incredible! Julius, our brilliant chef, has been feeding us up and giving us a taste of a few local meals such as Chapati and Ugali (sima) plus a few home comforts including burgers and chips – YUM! Whinnie gave us an excellent Swahili lesson going further in depth than what we had previously learnt. Dr. W always keeps us laughing, and Combo has been an excellent leader with regards to the plastering and flooring etc in the primary school classroom.

Gladys, the camp manager, has created an environment in which we feel totally at home. When we’ve asked her about something she’s jumped on the case without a moments delay, and as a result we’ve had a tailor made unique trousers exactly to our measurements, plus we’ve had our hair braided with the colours of the Kenyan flag and next week we are also getting Henna tattoos! Last night Gladys and Whinnie came up with an excellent game which had us all laughing hysterically. In addition to the wonderful staff here, the local guys who run the youth group have been so inspiring with regards to what they have instilled within the community. It’s been great getting to know them and being able to hang out with them in the afternoons, learning about each other’s cultures. We really don’t want to leave!

After a week of hard work, we were rewarded with amazing weekends! We were taken to the most breathtakingly beautiful beaches to relax and top up our suntans. On our first weekend, we had the opportunity to go scuba-diving or snorkeling which was slightly scary at first but a fantastic experience as we saw many tropical fish! On Saturday night, Gladys took us for a night out African style to a local nightclub called Shakatak, which was such fun to let our hair down! Sunday was a chill out day at the beach and in the evening we had a ‘family barbeque’ with all the staff at the beach and watched the sunset-perfection!

Overall, the last two weeks of our trip have been unforgettable and makes going home next week even harder for us. At least we have the pictures and memories to always remind us of our once in a lifetime experience. We love Makongeni!

 A few weeks ago, we were invited to attend the Global Issues Service Summit (GISS) in Nairobi. This annual, 3 day event, encompassed practical workshops, guest speakers, discussions, community service and drama, all related to conservation and the environment, water, art as social awareness, HIV/AIDS, peace and reconciliation, grass roots solutions and the digital divide… [...]

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They may be a small group but this certainly had no impact on the fantastic time that our 5 gappers had during their stay at Camp Tsavo. As they left to move onto Camp Makongeni they shared their adventure with us….

The 5 of us volunteers arrived at Camp Tsavo at lunch time after a gusty ride from the airport on our jeep! We were introduced and welcomed by Sammy K (‘The name’s on the belt’) and given a tour around our new home.

 Our first day was spent at Sasenyi School, a 40 minute drive from Tsavo Camp. As we pulled up to the school, we were greeted by waves and ‘Jambo’s’ from the students which made us feel warmly welcomed!  We began our work digging out the foundations of a recently knocked down classroom in order to re-build a new one. Steve, our group leader, managed to keep us motivated and entertained through the blazing heat by his constant funny outbursts … Sledgeeee HAMMER! These were consistent throughout the whole fortnight which always kept us going.

The hard work was followed by a more relaxing day making elephant dung paper. We were definitely hesitant to get stuck in originally but were equally intrigued as to how it was made and found ourselves eager to try it out. We were all astounded at how resourceful the local community are and how they have the ability to make things out of nothing!

For our R.R (rest and recuperation) days we would take the jeep to Voi which was roughly an hours drive from camp. We were able go to the local supermarkets, internet café, restaurants, souvenir shops and a swimming pool at Galaxy Hotel. On our first R.R, we visited a Massai village nearby to be shown around the tribes’ homes (bomas) and way of living. It was so surreal to see the difference between their culture and ours, especially when they began their tribal chants and dances in their brightly coloured garments and makeshift sandals. Furthermore, the extreme lengths the males go through to show their right of passage – burning circular marks onto their skin and removing their two bottom teeth at the age of five,not forgetting being circumcised without pain relief! OUCH!! They taught us how to make fire out of rubbing sticks together on top of elephant dung and grass, as well as teaching us about their Lion hunting tradition, whereby they show the slaughtered Lion’s tooth to the parents of the intended wife they want to marry in order to prove their worthiness.

Going to visit the Imani women’s group was definitely one of the most powerful and inspiring experiences of our lives. We were told by Mama Mercy how ‘Imani’ meant faith, which is most definitely an appropriate name to give to such a humble group of women. This group was started by Mama Mercy originally due to the growing rate of HIV/AIDS within the community. She began to provide these jobs which meant a sustainable income for women who otherwise would have fewer opportunities to be able to support themselves and their family. It empowers women to be self sufficient and has also stood up for girls with the controversial tradition of arranged marriage in young teen girls. We were all led by the women to plant seeds in their field which will allow them to sell the crops in three years time.

A 5.30 am start to the day awaited us in order to get to Tsavo East national park on time for our SAFARI! Thanks to Steve’s excellent observation skills, we were able to see; Twiga, Ndovu, Pundamilia, Mbuni, Duma – (Giraffes, Elephants, Zebras, Ostriches, Cheetahs and many more).

Highlight of our day = Monkey snatching one of the volunteers sandwiches at the picnic park!

The heaven’s opened as we sat in the open jeep on our long journey home. Despite it being fun at first it was a shock to be so drenched after such a hot day but luckily the staff at Tsavo took care of this and had teas and coffees laid out for our arrival back home. This became a common occurrence and they consisted to exceed our expectations of hospitality and made us feel more at home than ever.

Climbing Mt Kasigau was a challenge we weren’t expecting! A four and a half hour trek up the mountain was topped off by a 500 metre vertical stretch to the peak. An overwhelming amount of exercise sent us all to sleep at the top of the mountain when we were suddenly awoken by our guides warning us of the torrential rain to come! This led to a humorous slide down to the bottom and we were SO happy and proud of ourselves to finally reach the end of the challenge.

Throughout our stay, we spent a few more days at Sasenyi School plastering classroom walls and planting trees that will be used for health purposes for the students within the school. We became more and more familiar with their way of working and it was a breath of fresh air to see such happy students that were more than eager to help out … they showed us how it was done. We felt so privileged to be surrounded by such good natured people and loved the opportunity to talk to them (and practise our Swahili).

Above all of the amazing experiences we have had over the last two weeks, the best thing about camp Tsavo is the extremely friendly, accommodating, funny, welcoming, happy and supportive family of staff that work here alongside us. They have truly made our trip unforgettable and we couldn’t have asked for a better way to start our trip to Kenya! Although we are excited for the next adventures at our new camp, we will be so upset to leave our Tsavo family behind!

WE LOVE CAMP TSAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We all enjoy being independent and many of you reading this have experienced independence on a deeper level by travelling with us to Africa and Asia. However, it is also an aspect of life that we take for granted. At our community camp in Tanga, Mwambani village, Tanzania. We have been fortunate enough to get to know one of the villagers who is a constant inspiration to all of us and a great help despite him being physically challenged.  ….

Mohammed Bakari aka Raru was a keen footballer and trained everyday with Mwambani FC at the local football ground directly opposite our camp. In 2007, the life of young, strong, loving husband and father took the worst turn whilst playing his beloved game. During an ambitious header, he dived for the ball and as it skimmed above him, his head collided with the up right of the goal post knocking him unconscious. His teammates, all eager to help, picked him up and rushed him in a car to the nearest hospital. There, he lay in a coma for one month. Due to lack of qualified First Aiders around him, Raru was not handled in the correct way when the accident happened. It is unfortunate that he had been left paralyzed. Many of the villagers rallied round to help and contributed towards physiotherapy for him, however, this is a very poor village and funds only stretch so far.

When we set up Camp Tanga in 2010, we consulted with the village chief, Mzee Kapera, as to who would be suitable people to work with us. As it is camps policy to provide employment for the communities that our camps are located, he urged us to take on Raru’s wife, Mwanamgeni, as they were purely living on hand outs from the community.

Throughout the busy times at camp, Mwanamgeni was employed as house keeping staff and at the beginning of 2012 we were able to offer her a full time position. With four children to support in school and daily living costs, a monthly wage completely impacts their daily family life.

Over the years, Raru has received a small amount of physiotherapy and has gradually improved his mobility. He can stand up with a lot of determination and the walls of his house as support and has a parallel pole outside to assist with walking but he cannot walk unaided.

As you know, we are building a Trust House in Mwambani which will host a kindergarten, computers, tailoring school, library and general community education learning centre. When inquiring as to where we could potentially build the Trust House, Raru offered a large part of his land for us to build on, almost as a thank you to his fellow villagers for their support. Bearing in mind that the land is all he has, this is a very generous gesture.

With such a resource in the village we would then get our volunteers to be teaching English in the center as opposed to doing it under a mango tree….

Fast forward just over a year and our volunteers have worked tremendously hard to complete the building. The nursery school play area is being cleared and leveled at the moment and by November we intend for this fantastic project to be completed and for children and adults alike to be utilizing the facilities.

Our volunteers have all been touched by Raru’s story, his generosity and determination and have applied a similar mentality when working on the projects in Mwambani. Recently we gave Raru a wheelchair that he can wheel himself and he is chuffed to bits with it. We hope that he will gain strength in his arms by using the wheelchair each day as his previous wheelchair required someone to push it for him. To restore a small amount of independence for someone who has such a big heart is the least we can do and we know that when the Trust House is open, Raru and his family will be regular users, after all, it is next door to their house!

We at Camps have dedicated this story to Raru the true villager!

Dubai International Academy’s (DIA) trip of Tanzania!

From the sand dunes of sunny United Arab Emirates to the muddy foothills of rainy Kilimanjaro.

I have never witnessed a group so excited about rain like DIA. We have been hosting many School expeditions over the years and one almost expects them to ask “where is the sun” when they arrive and the skies are grey. Well, it all came clear that this lot do not experience much rain, if at all any. It was great to see them celebrating with a little rain dance.

Immediately after exchanging pleasantries and the group had settled in, we took them on a familiarization tour of Mbokomu village and the school that they’ d be working at.
As the Swahili saying goes “Be a good host to your visitor on their first day, the next day give them a hoe to plough”. And so we did. Honeymoon was over, the Team was taken to Kiboriloni School to literally get their hands, shorts, t-shirts and faces dirty. They painted and drew murals on two classrooms in two days. With the short trips, students realize that they have very little time on projects and have targets to meet so what they tend to do is work their socks off on every activity that is thrown their way.

We changed the pace and engaged them in a typical Chagga (local tribe) cultural tour. The tour included helping a local lady with her daily chores such as; tending to her goats, fetching  water from the stream, and farming. Basically the students get to experience a day to day life of the locals. The tour is not considered complete unless everyone is wrapped in kanga’s (sarongs) and put in the mama’s smoky little kitchen to prepare lunch for themselves. Nothing could stop them from their cookery lesson, they were brave enough to stick around the kitchen despite smoke from burning firewood causing tears and sweat dripping from their eyes and faces!  Once in the village, you are considered one of them and you are expected to do what local people do including having your food while seated on a mat and using your hands to eat.

As we still had a bit of time left on our schedule, we  organized a football match with a group of local boys. Although the locals are used to playing all boys teams, they did not mind playing a mixed school and it was awesome to see boys and girls sharing the same playing field, which is a rarity in these parts of the world.

The day that needed everyone to be well prepared was here. The Kidia waterfall trek. It had rained through out the night and morning so the Team woke up thinking they had got away with it. You should have seen their faces when I announced to them that the trek was still on. Whilst we waited it off, they enjoyed a trip into town and spoiled themselves with Pizza’s at Indoitaliano restaurant followed by a supermarket run to get a few goodies before heading off to Kidia. In the meantime, the staff, and especially the local guide, were doing some Chagga rituals to the gods so that they could blow away the grey cloud that was hanging  over Moshi town. All the prayers and traditional chants worked. By the time the students had finished munching on their Pizza’s, the skies had cleared up and the sun was shinning.

The adventure ensued. The team had to take it slow and easy as the ground was still a bit wet and slippery and the trek was steep. With the help of the local guides, the entire Team managed to get down to the falls. Such an achievement and great feeling for the students as it was both fun and a challenge as some of them used their bottoms to climb down and the heavy rains made the waterfalls drop with such force. It was not just the trek down to the falls that took their breath away but the gauges, little farms, the beautiful, plentiful flora and fauna, greenery and the ever friendly locals who smiled and waved at the students whilst going about their daily chores.

   
The next day the group left bright and early to go to Tarangire National park for their safari. They saw loads of wildlife and enjoyed the game drives in their entirety.

On their return to camp, we had prepared a barbecue dinner for everyone as their last meal in Camp Tanzania. The group appreciated it very much as it was a great way to end their expedition. After dinner, the speeches ensued and we had a chance to ask the volunteers to sum up their entire trip in just one word. This is what they had to say;

It was great to see all the activities that we’d organized completed and the students and Teachers taking on all the tasks with a positive attitude and enthusiasm.

We were honored to host you and thank you for a great effort!

One of my first ever blogs for Camps was all about poop and how “human waste is where its at”.  It was a discussion about how we were looking at experimenting with bio gas digester’s and the intricacies of human waste.  Well our interest in poop continues, and whilst the digester’s weren’t a resounding success, valuable lessons were learnt and i am still keen to design, build and use digesters somewhere in our camps or locations.  

My passion for getting back on the jobbie trail was re-ignited recently when i was lucky enough to meet the head of the World Toilet Organisation, Dr Jack Sim.  Yes there is such an organisation and there is also a World Toilet Day which is in the process of being recognised by the UN (for your diary its 19th November every year).  Dr Jack is an inspirational character and whilst many may think its a bit of a joke, actually Dr Jack’s and the World Toilet Organisation message is a very serious one.  Did you know 2.6 billion people on this planet of ours do not have access to a toilet – in other words they poop (or as Dr Jack would say in his technical terms – shit) in the outdoors, meaning flies land on their business which then end up on their food, passing on all sorts of nasties, not only on to them but all their neighbours as well.  If you look at the Millennium Development Goals set in 2000 you can see actually sanitation, and therefore toilet ownership, affects most of them.  

The 8 Millennium Development Goals

Dr Jack’s mission is simple – to help the 2.6 billion without loos gain access to one.  And i think you should consider this mission every time you visit your little boy’s room, something we take for granted, day in, day out (assuming you are regular!).  I am interested to explore opportunities with Dr Jack and, in particular, he has a toilet production and distribution set up in Cambodia.  I am considering starting a toilet programme in Beng Mealea – we don’t want to just hand them out and so i need to think about how we “reward” families with toilets – perhaps assistance with technical construction work at the school project – the toilet and tanks cost $45 – what we want to encourage is what Dr Jack calls the “Keeping up with the Jones’s” factor, where families see others in fancy looking loos and want one of their own.  This combined with an educational programme and a “shame” factor of pooping in the open, will hopefully spread the desire for a toilet quickly and effectively throughout the community.

So watch this space for more toilet endeavours.  And of course, Dr Jack is also an expert on biogas digesters and composting toilets so he has been primed to have his brain well and truely picked in order to further improve and explore opportunities in the world of poop, especially in our camps trying to reduce our impact.  I thoroughly recommend you go and bookmark the World Toilet Org’s website now and get 19th November blocked off in your diary now!

And if you’re into Matt Damon then go watch this press conference……