Conquering Kilimanjaro!

COUNTRY: Tanzania
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building, renovation & construction
WRITTEN BY: Sybilla Galvin

Jambo Rafikis,

I write this blog from a completely unique environment (and new country) to where our group has become so accustomed to living in in the past 2.5 months. Tsavo has been home to us for the past couple of weeks and we will be here until returning home or traveling onwards in only a few days time. Our conversations this week have centered around our best memories at camp and the things we are most looking forward to coming home to. Most popular include munching on tacos and slurping chocolate milkshakes, seeing if our dogs remember us and not having to sleep tangled in a fly net.

First and foremost though- Mount Kilimanjaro. Literally the biggest achievement of my life: 5895m of achievement- to be exact! On the Monday, Lauren, Rozi, Beardo, Ella, Rory and myself said a gut-wrenching goodbye to our Mwambani family. We knew it would be hard to bid farewell to the local boys, the Indian Ocean and the amazing staff at the camp but it was almost incomprehensible to the seven of us exactly how hard it would be to not return in the foreseeable future. I am 100% positive that myself and the others in the group plan to return to Mwambani village at the next given opportunity.

I don't have enough time to give a break down of the seven-day trek to the summit, but I can say in short that we all made it. (Hurrah for no awkward side note!)

Summit night was without a doubt the toughest challenge. Trying to hold our cold, underprepared bodies together, we each mustered the strength we had to keep team moral high. I have to admit I spent 75% of the 12km hike alternating between silent and bursting tears. We each had a very different experience that night. 2 hours into the trek Lauren began throwing up. Determined to reach the top, she took a much slower pace and was accompanied by our angel of a guide Robinson who stayed beside her through all 8 vomits to the peak and back. 3 hours into the trek Ella was vomiting, Beardo's fingers had reached a piercing level of cold and Rozi's mental breakdown had her more than ready to accompany anyone back to base camp.

We were told by one of our guides before leaving that night that long breaks would be our demise, and by this rest stop I could well and truly feel myself coming undone. Our third guide Nestory- the cheeriest, funny and cold-resistant guide- stayed with me as I fell behind due to my low level of energy and the intense cramps I felt all over my body. Nestory carried me part of the way up and I know if it weren't for him I would not have made it all 5895 meters. At 5.30am, Annabelle, Rory, Ella, Rozi and Beardo had reached the summit. Due to the cold the group only spent enough time for a couple photos at the summit. At 6.10am (perfectly timed without even knowing) I reached the summit in tears and watched the sun rise above the clouds by myself- the most spectacular and well-worthy view of my existence. 10 minutes later Lauren and I crossed paths and instantly all our emotions welled out into a heartfelt embrace. I could not be more proud of my fellow mountaineers (its official) for getting to the top and for being the most amazing bunch of people to do something so difficult and life changing with.

Tuesday morning was similarly emotional and relieving as we were the first group of the day to get to the bottom. Showering was magical, heat was wonderful and sleeping in a real bed was too good to be true. In the late afternoon the rest of the group (Sarah, Hannah, Matt, Calvin, Elles, Toby and Laura) and leader Eliphas met us at our hotel where we shared our stories of what had happened on the mountain and at our old home. We went out for dinner that night, where I had two main meals and fell asleep at the table.

The next morning we all got in our much-loved bus and crossed the boarder into Kenya where we are to spend the remainder of our trip. We are the first official group to stay in this new camp- erected in March of this year. The camp in many ways is similar to the one in Tanzania, with the two main differences being the spectacular change of landscape (Indian Ocean to vast flat plains) and our two-man mattress on floor tents.

Our itinerary here is very different from the continuous work on the house in Mwambani village, Tanzania (which I failed to mention earlier was completed by half the group while we were climbing Kili). In the short time we have participated in a variety of activities based mostly around construction and animal conservation. We have finished building a long drop toilet for the local primary school, made elephant determent fences with oil and chili, dug a trench in a wildlife sanctuary, made 'elephant dung' paper and spent time with local women's group making bracelets and leaning about what they do in the community.

Leaving Africa is going to be a very bittersweet experience, and we won't forget the incredible memories we've had here anytime soon.

Xo Sybilla

Reminiscing a life-changing trip and some advice to future travellers

COUNTRY: Borneo & Cambodia
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building & Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Clare O'Brien

I literally feel like I've left my family behind. It's been two days since I left Borneo and all I want is for those people to be back in my life. We were the motliest crew ever but we worked.

The last few weeks went by so fast. Our three months of non-stop cementing has also caught up to us and we caught ourselves several times almost falling asleep at work. But all we had to do was remind ourselves of the massive difference this makes to the lives of these children, and we were motivated to keep going. We dug and lifted, carrying massive buckets of heavy soil through the school to build the floor of a shelter for the kids.

Just when we thought we couldn't lift anything more, couldn't smash another rock or mix another pile of cement it was suddenly our second last day of project work, and I'll be damned if we didn't finish on a high, despite the sweltering heat.

We had some of the best fun chilling in the long house making the spare room our home, turning the spare mattresses into a jumping puke and making the camp our playground. The last night though was honestly one of the best. We decided to have a night time game of hide and seak sprinting around camp. When we got too tired to play we all pretty much fell asleep next to each other before we eventually headed to bed.

As we trundled off back to Siem Reap, I couldn't help but reminisce. I know it's corny as hell- but I did it. Sitting in the back of the bus looking at how different our surroundings were to when they first started. I honestly can't even begin to sum up my personal highlights of this incredible journey, but I do know that they all involved the fantastically sassy Zoe, the energetic and gorgeous Brea and the ever-chilled and majestic Stevie.

I am now sitting in a backpackers lodge in Vietnam and I honestly feel like my life has been changed. I would recommend this experience to anyone. If you need a break from normal life, if you want to make a difference somewhere else in the world, whatever the reason- this is definitely something everyone should experience.

As a teenager leaving high school with no real drive or destination, I did feel a bit lost. Now, after finishing three months in an impoverished country I feel like I've gained more than I thought I could. This trip helped to solidify my values and opened my eyes to the world. My trip to volunteer in Borneo and Cambodia with Antipodeans Abroad has been the best decision of my life.

To those that do decide to embark on an expedition such as this, I have this advice: enjoy every moment, don't worry about missing people at home because they'll always be there. This may be your only chance to meet these people, to build a kindergarten for a village, be taught a different language by kids, and travel with people that will soon become like family. I now have so many friends around the world that I can't wait to get back out and see them all.

If there's one thing I know for sure, it's that my lifetime of travelling has only just begun.

Clare O'Brien

A Zanzibari trip for Tanzania Gappers

COUNTRY: Tanzania
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building, renovation & construction
WRITTEN BY: Sybilla Galvin

Jambo Rafikis!

The past few weeks have been an absolute high for the whole group. Last Friday morning we embarked on our long journey to Zanzibar. The day began at 4:45am to get a taxi to the bus station. The bus trip to Dar took a mere 8 hours, which we followed up with yet another taxi ride and a quick 1-hour ferry trip. From the moment we arrived in Zanzibar we were in love. We finally got to have some of the things we had been really craving since leaving home including bacon, burgers and mojitos alike. We stayed one night in Stone Town then retreated north to Nungui beach where our bungalow was situated right on the water. We had plenty of time to relax in the sun, haggle for beautiful Masai paintings and have cocktails on rooftop bars as the sun set right before us.

On Monday 8 of us chose to go scuba diving. Before reaching our first dive site the captain of the boat spotted a pod of dolphins and everyone on board jumped in with fins and masks to swim around with them! It truly was a magnificent site to see them at an arms length in the wild. We dived with turtles, octopi, stingrays and huge variety of fish, not to mention the colourful coral. Rozi, Lauren, Rory and myself were the only ones who stayed on for a second dive, of which we loved every minute. For Sarah's birthday we returned to Stone Town in the evening to go to our favourite restaurant. The next day was extremely sad as we said goodbye to the Zanzibar sun and boarded our 12-person plane back to Tanga (with Rory in the co-pilot seat).

On Thursday we farewelled our beloved Paryz and on Friday Eliphas returned with 3 new additions to the group- Matt from Newcastle, Calvin from Canada and Elise from Holland. Our group is constantly changing but it's amazing how at home we all still manage to feel with everyone staying here. Friday (being Lauren's birthday) was a very different day from our norm. Instead of working on our mud house we spent the morning at the mamas' house cooking chapatti and vichetti (delicious little doughnut type things), and the afternoon weaving reads- used for bags, mats, hats and the like with the mammas and curious villagers. For Lauren, we organised to have a dance crew from a nearby village come and entertain us for the evening. Their performance varied from traditional Tanzanian dances, to hip-hop and an unusual Halloween style act at the end (too bizarre to explain…)

Work on the mud house is coming to a close for all of us planning to climb Kilimanjaro this Tuesday (eek!). The six staying behind will- fingers crossed- finish the house while we are on hiking, then meet us in Moshi before heading to Kenya for our last leg of the trip. As I am writing this it is starting to sink in that my stay here in Camp Tanzania is coming to a quick end. I am going to miss the local people and this place an unbelievable amount.

Next time you hear from us we will have conquered the tallest freestanding mountain in the world! Wish us luck!

Kwaheri!

Xo Sybilla

Getting stuck in to volunteering in Cambodia

COUNTRY: Borneo & Cambodia
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building & Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Clare O'Brien

Halfway through the last month and I'm not sure how I'm feeling. Both homesickness and feelings of never wanting to leave have begun to wash over me.

Our arrival in Cambodia was all a blur, we met our final addition to the group- India, another Australian girl- and headed straight from the airport to camp. We trundled along on the bus until we arrived at Beng Maelea where we were greeted by one of the most welcoming faces, our camp manager Han. There was never a moment when he was not smiling... or when he was silent. If we were walking to project work in silence he would bust out some song or just chirp a rhythm- it was fantastic.

The camp felt like it had grown out of the ground and was just a perfect part of the village. The dinning area had no floor as it was all hardened soil, the benches and tables were made of wood and looking to the surrounding long houses was like looking onto a little jungle village.

The thing that made this camp for me was the fact that it was part of the community, we had to walk through the local pagoda to get to work and would have kids running in and out of camp. Not only that but in the mornings our camp became the English classroom.

The school doesn't have enough classrooms for them in the mornings so the camp offers its facilities to the class. They get an added bonus though- us. Almost every single day for two weeks the morning and afternoon English classes would have one of our group teaching them. I remember the first time we found out there was teaching in camp. We had a nice peaceful breakfast in the communal area, brushed our teeth and came back from the bathrooms (which were a fair distances through the trees) and suddenly the communal area was over-run by children.

Just like in Bongkud I was so surprised by how much English they actually knew and we were able to have a few conversations. The afternoon lessons, however, were less like that; they were much younger and normally consisted of singing the alphabet, heads shoulders knees and toes and then playing an hour-long game of football. Even though it didn't feel like you were teaching much you knew it made a difference when they came over to help us work.

We were working on the teacher accommodation. Many of the teachers live in Siem Reap and many other places that are much too far to travel on a daily basis. They had previously been sleeping in a classroom until the school needed that space and sadly they lost a lot of teachers because of this. The accommodation we were building was a building split into 3 rooms, 1 room for two teachers, and was located in the school yard. That is where we saw our teaching come into play. As we pushed the trailer through the grounds the kids would always run to help, no matter what it was filled with, we had massive rocks, massive buckets of sand and even bags of cement. After helping with the scariest journey pushing it through mud and over rocks they would stay and help to move it into the rooms, always trying to strike up a conversation. A lot of these did end with just asking how we were but just having that tiny connection would put a smile on both the kids and our faces for the rest of the day.

Our days off felt like they went past in a blur, the whole two weeks did. The two days we didn't work we visited the temples and went on an unsuccessful fishing trip. Visiting temples over here is so different to at home. There is no 'do not touch' or 'do not climb' signs. In Beng Maela we were literally climbing over temple ruins, it was very different for the temples in Siem Reap. They were spectacular. Lucky for us we got to see a sun rise over Angkor Wat, to see it all highlighted in pinks and purples was amazing. We spent the rest of the day with our tour guide Kim, doing a bit of temple run seeing Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the Thome Raider temple before the day was over. It was a really spectacular day.

All our site-seeing is so fast-paced that our day fishing was a beautiful time to take a break. Even though we'd already been in Cambodia for two weeks, that second last day in camp is when I really began to appreciate the country. We rode around in a trailer attached to a moped, we drove past amazingly green rice fields, under a fantastically blue sky and got smiles and waves from anyone we drove past. The fact that the camp staff could talk to anyone from any village and get a smile, the fact that we could say "Susudi"(hello) and get the same smile was also fantastic. The people here are truly so happy and kind even though they have little to nothing compared to us. They work hard for everything they own and seem to put their all into everything they do, it's truly amazing.

Saying goodbye to the camps is getting harder and harder. As time has gone on I have slowly realised that when we leave each camp it is probably the last time we'll ever see these amazing people. And that's all I could think as we drove away from Han and the rest of the smiley Beng Maelea crew and began our seven hour journey to Phenom Penh. Being in the cities is always so different and I find it a lot more challenging to be here than I do in the villages. Thankfully we have only spent one full day here; tomorrow will be heading to our final camp, for the last two weeks of our trip. I can feel myself getting emotional already.