You wouldn't exactly call it your average holiday. Painting schools for palm oil workers' kids, visiting orangutan sanctuaries, connecting to a part of Australia's history in another country, and time in one of the hottest, most humid places on the equator! That is why we call this no normal holiday, this is OUR adventure!
A ten hour flight or less is considered somewhat decent. For us this wasn't exactly true. Most of us got close to no sleep, and suffered the consequences the next day when we had to concentrate on the task at hand, and really get our heads around the fact that this was not going to be your usual family holiday overseas. No five star resorts, no air conditioning (but the fans are fantastic!) and definitely none of the usual hygiene standards (save a shower i.e bucket and hose, somewhat working toilets and living in a pool of your own sweat 24/7)
The moment we disembarked the plane the gravity of the situation hit us in the face (along with our new found independence and responsibility as a group) Not to mention the wave of hot, muggy air that slapped us.
Our first port of call was Sandakan, where our first "management group" (groups of 4 people who manage food, money, water and accommodation for a certain number of days) were able to book us some accommodation at the Habeeb Lodge, a wonderful little lodge 2 minutes from the beach.
They say the first night is the hardest, and boy was that true. Everybody was having trouble adjusting to the heat and humidity, and many hardly slept that night.
Surprisingly the next day we were all in good spirits, despite our lack of sleep. The intensity of our current situation which put us all so far out of our comfort zone may have provided us with enough curiosity to power on through a day of Australian war memorials and orangutan sanctuaries.
The War Memorial in Sandakan, having so much to do with our homeland really hit home about how little we knew about the events that occurred here in Borneo. With some of us having direct links to the prisoners of war, it was an eye opening and humbling as well as deeply shocking experience for all of us.
The orangutans we managed to catch were incredible to watch, however most of us felt slightly disappointed at the lack of orangutans that came out (especially those photographers among us who had difficulty getting THE shot)
A quick money exchange and a 3 hour air conditioned bus ride later, we found ourselves deep in the middle of H71 palm oil plantation. This is where the all of our hard earned fund raising money would be put to use painting the school amongst other things to benefit the children of the plantation workers. The main highlight of this day (which we all agreed on) was most definitely the most amazing organic food we have ever ever ever tasted. Dragon-fruit, bananas, papaya, pineapple and watermelon was supplied by the bucket load by our superb hosts, Mr Chee and Mr Wong.
The sleeping arrangement, well that's a story by itself. In a nutshell the four BOYS on the management team somehow managed to fit all 16 of us in one room, with 9 mattresses. You could not move in the night without waking someone up, and if someone snored the whole room would erupt in moaning and punches directed in the general vicinity of the snorer(i.e. Evan)
This morning we arose to the charming sound of roosters crowing. After a breakfast of eggs on toast, traditional noodles and a potent chilli eating contest we were ready to go. We started work on the school at 8:30 am. Stopping only for water (and fried bananas) and lunch, we managed to paint the base colours for a good chunk of the school. We were told by our latest addition to the team (Manny our Antips in country agent) that the school was actually compared to a lot of other communities to be a very modern and well supplied school. We were shocked to hear this, as when we arrived we were confronted by crumbling plywood walls, rusty nails sticking out everywhere and half the roof missing. If this school was surveyed by Sydney OHS it would be torn down without question.
After a day of painting the walls (and ourselves) we are now feeling very proud of our work, exhausted, painted and anticipating a fantastic kick off tomorrow with our detailed painting now that our base is done.
To be honest the expectations people had for this trip prior to our departure were so inaccurate. People may have believed that the trip would be easy, hard work or may have not expected anything in particular. Spending with the local kids who helped us to paint their school has opened all of our eyes to reality and how we all really live in a tiny little bubble, and that this is how many people world wide actually live. It's no longer watching the shanty towns from afar on a tv in our comfy homes. We are actually here, experiencing this first hand, and we can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
We're off to play soccer with the local kids and are excited to see what Mr Chee and Mr Wong present us for dinner tonight.
Love to all parents from all children.
We all miss you.
Sophie Bowen-James and Jesse Zlotnick
