The Chronicle Autumn Term 2017

18 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Mud, Blood, Sweat , Tears and Laughter The BorneoTrip

environment surrounding us that one would only normally see in photographs. It all started with 20 hours of travel. Three plane journeys and a bus ride later we arrived in Kota Kinabalu and launched the trip with the important work of helping to clear a horrendous quantity of plastic from the mangroves to allow an entire ecosystem to survive. From there, we travelled to our first camp, which became our Borneo home: Camp Bongkud. We spent our time there concreting their market square and teaching English to the local children. By the end of our stay, the camp staff had learnt all our names and had made us feel welcome and at ease. Next was the dreaded five-day jungle trek. What we did not anticipate was the hideous amount of mud there would be. We slid uphill, downhill and some slid back to camp as illness took its toll. However, the encouragement everyone gave each other was the driving force behind the

By Sixth Former Maddie Luke

The Borneo trip was a test of character, patience, perseverance and open-mindedness and it was clear to see how people grew as they surpassed their limits. At first, the biggest struggle was separating ourselves from the safety of our culture into the complete unknown. The shock was a sensory overload: the constant buzz of the crickets, the different smells, the humidity in the air, the lack of salt in our food. We had to learn to adapt. The

way of life was alien to us as well: where to throw your toilet paper, to remember to wash your plates three times before and after using them. But we were alien to many of the locals, and this interaction with the people we were doing the work for was the most important part of the trip. They all had a keen desire to learn from us and when we arrived, they performed a traditional Malay dance to immerse us in their culture. Another delight was the beautiful