Raleigh International -
An Adventure Weekend

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November 2000

Almost every summer since 1991, a small group of young UAE national men from the Higher Colleges of Technology have traveled on expeditions of Raleigh International. They have teamed up with volunteers of other nationalities to work on conservation and community projects, often in remote areas, under some of the most exacting natural conditions. And they have emerged having attained new levels of confidence and skills, broadened horizons, heightened self-esteems and greater sensitivity to the needs of others.

Raleigh International, an UK – based non-profit organisation, is a youth development charity. It allows people (17 – 25 years of age) of all nationalities and backgrounds to visit different parts of the world - Belize, Brunei, Chile, Costa Rica, Ghana, Mongolia, and Namibia – and apply their talents and energies to services towards the environment and local communities, while bettering themselves as human beings. On Raleigh expeditions, youth may be engaged in tracking endangered species or assisting in park management to benefit conservation. They may build schools, community centres or medical facilities for the inhabitants of their host country. And they may undertake trekking, climbing, or other such tasks as part of adventure projects.

In the process of actively contributing to constructive and challenging projects, Raleigh ‘venturers’ (as they are referred to) discover their own full potential by working in multi-cultural teams, learning from each other and sharing skills and ideas.

Every year 11 expeditions, of three months duration each, are organised. Participation is not free and funds must be raised for the trip. This is carried out on an individual basis or with the support of other venturers, ex-venturers or national committee members of Raleigh International. The assessment and selection processes for participation are tough and all would-be venturers must undergo a physically challenging and mentally demanding assessment weekend in their own countries. Once selection is done and funds secured, venturers embark on project-based expeditions under the guidance and supervision of volunteer staff participants (professional expedition leaders, project managers, and others).

Identification of potential Raleigh venturers was one, but not the only, purpose of an Adventure Weekend organised on 16 – 17 November 2000, in which some 13 students of the Higher Colleges of Technology (Dubai, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi) participated. It constituted part of the physical education programme of Al Ain Men’s College, but one that complements the academic, by introducing students to problem solving, decision making, leadership and team work through a set of tasks and activities in the outdoors. “Young people just need to be challenged and they rise to the occasion. There are some natural team players but are not aware of it,” elucidates Dave Jenns, physical education, sport and recreation co-ordinator, Al Ain Men’s College, as he gets the camp started. “This is a process of making young people successful, whether at home, in college, or the work environment. Corporate executives are doing this and value it. And if we can do this with college students, then we have the makings of well-rounded individuals. Some motivated individuals in this group will have the opportunity to go on Raleigh International expeditions.”

Earthsense joins the weekenders as they set up camp at the Bida Bint Saud area of Al Ain.
It’s 11.30 on a Thursday morning and we assemble at base camp that has been set up the night before on an attractive chunk of desert in Al Ain – undulating sandy terrain sprinkled with ghaf trees that provide welcome shade, scattered clumps of scrub, and some lofty dunes in the distance. Dave Jenns, coordinator of the camp welcomes us to what is bound to be a challenging but rewarding experience. “ So enjoy yourselves!” However, no smoking; and no mobile phones.

Students are split into three groups and attached to each is a staff member to facilitate and another to observe. Tents are pitched, baggage unloaded, kitchens set up, and toilets excavated. Lunch, and then, the programme unfolds.


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Each team selects its own location for group activities that involve getting to know each other (‘icebreaking’), followed by a string of exercises designed to challenge, instill team spirit, build trust, gauge tolerance levels, demonstrate leadership qualities, and portray humane traits in personalities. There is of course ample scope for humour, fun and frolic.

The familiarisation process takes many forms like: suffix to your name something unflattering (‘Horrible Heather’), or an animal (‘Hippopotamus Hamad’), or fruit (‘Apple Abbas’), address each other using these names, and converse. This is hilarious!  Or, simply tell others the salient features of your past, present, and future aspirations. Or, get to know another team member and introduce him to the rest of the group instead of talking about yourself.

Through the afternoon, there are a series of given situations, games and tasks. You are in a single line on a narrow strip of land across a bay. Now, without breaking the line, arrange yourselves in the alphabetical order of your names and then again, from youngest to oldest according to age. Next, let yourself fall back, and trust the team member behind you to stop you falling and drowning. You have made it to land, now stand in a row, each leg bound to that of your neighbour’s and walk together.

Imagine you are in a war zone; it is night, you are in pitch darkness and must follow your leader through the jungle. Do this without making a sound or else the enemy may be alerted! Then another situation: Your team members are lost in a sandstorm. You are the communicator and only you can track them and guide each one to safety. Do this, using Morse code! The scene changes. You are in a crocodile infested river and must cross it in single file using just two planks of wood to build bridges. There are still more games, going by such names as ‘spider’s web’ and ‘blind square.’


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It is a tremendous bonding, team playing, and strategising experience. The boys manage just fine, despite the blazing sun, helping each other out when required, and ensuring that plenty of drinking water is consumed and sun screen applied. It isn’t as if each task is just carried out and you move on to the next one. After every task, the group settles down to analyse its performance with the facilitator. Where did we go wrong? How could we have done things better? Could we have shown more concern for a member who couldn’t quite cope? Did we make everyone feel included? Did the leader delegate sufficiently? Were we polite with each other; and did we say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ during our interactions?

Now it’s time for a break to wash up and snack. The boys retire to their tents while the staff members meet up over tea to review group performance. It is, by and large, a very friendly atmosphere so far. One could see potential leaders emerging, and the group dynamics seem good. Cases of friction between a few dominant characters, however, need to be resolved.

The sun has set now. It is cool and the atmosphere takes on a placid, ethereal hue as fires are lit and the fragrance of cooking wafts in the air. But we still have a long way to go before we can turn in for the night. We dine and get together once again, this time to hear some extremely interesting stories. These come from ex-venturers who are part of the adventure weekend. They have traveled to Belize, Namibia, Ghana, Mongolia…..as volunteers and staff on Raleigh International expeditions. From all accounts they seem to have been exceptionally maturing, humanizing, even life changing experiences! We

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talk individually to a few that have been on expeditions, and to another who is very keen to go on one. It is 9.30 at night and we are posed with a desert survival problem that gets us totally engrossed. We are stranded in the desert with a broken down vehicle, far removed from civilisation and only 15 items that we have been able to salvage. These may help us come through, but we must rank these in order of importance for our survival. The correct response is read out to us at the end. We’d all got the order wrong!

We have one last chore before we crawl into our sleeping bags for the night. This is to collect our breakfast for the next morning from some sites that glow in the distance across the sands. This is night navigation. We trek for at least an hour in the darkness with only our leader, whom we change every couple of furlongs, carrying a torch. And we trudge along, making sure that no team member gets lost along the way, to collect our bread and juice and cheese from a number of locations.

Then, exhausted, we hit the sack, some of us in the shelter of tents and some out in the open. The night air is refreshing. We may not have the most comfortable of beds to slumber in, but to be under a sky illuminated with sparkling stars and a glowing moon is the most exhilarating experience for city dwellers that, dazed by neon lights, don’t normally get to witness such a heavenly spectacle.

Our fellow beings must have indulged in frenetic nocturnal activity because the dune surfaces, smoothened by the breeze overnight, are criss-crossed with beetle tracks by the morning. The sun has barely popped up when we go for a warm up morning run. Breakfast, and there is a final assignment. A member from each group has suffered snakebite. We must locate him and ferry him across to the base camp on a stretcher and ensure that he gets the proper medical attention. That’s how we learn how to handle snakebite patients.


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There is a last vital job before we close camp. Taking all our garbage away with us and leave the site just the way we found it; not only for other humans to enjoy, but also for wildlife – the beetles, lizards, gazelles (we have learnt, per chance, that gazelles are to be released in the area shortly), rodents and other wild desert creatures.

The adventure weekend has been a most valuable experience. Great fun too. Some three or four of the boys will be selected to participate in Raleigh International expeditions in 2001 (although all those who attended want to!). Selected individuals will undergo training by end-March or early April to prepare them for the rigours, challenges and cultural diversity involved in the real Raleigh expedition.

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