Borneo 08H Magazine CURRENT DRAFT - Raleigh International

Expedition Borneo 08H
October - December 2008
Sabah, Malaysia

Welcome Selamat Datang
Jim Clements Country Director
An expedition is nothing without a great team of staff and venturers involved to make it happen and
Raleigh Borneo 08H has had that in abundance. Thank you to all of you for your hard work and
dedication — the success of Borneo 08H is down to you. And of course, none of this would have
been possible without the generous support of our sponsors, partners, and suppliers, particularly the
Ministry of Youth and Sports, Sabah. Thank you for your ongoing assistance.
Raleigh Borneo 08H has provided a lifetime’s worth of opportunities to you in a very short space of
time. Many of you have conquered fears, gained physical and mental strength and overcome
obstacles you never dreamed that you could.
It has been a privilege to share these victories and experiences with you against the amazing backdrop of Sabah with its
beauty, history, diversity and culture. But it doesn’t end here. Just as you began your journey with Raleigh preparing and
fundraising before you even set foot in Borneo, you will take the skills and life lessons you’ve learned and the friendships
you’ve made on expedition back home with you.
I hope you have enjoyed the expedition as much as I have and I challenge you to keep growing. Always remember how
much you can achieve by putting your mind to something and getting stuck in! Best of luck.
Mark McCarthy,
Country Programme Manager
Raleigh Borneo 08H
marks my first
e x p e d i t i o n a s
Country Programme
Manager — and
what an amazing
experience it has
been! These past months, I have
watched the staff and venturers
develop new skills and grow as
individuals and team players. I’ve
enjoyed forging relationships with
the communities, project partners
and all the participants of 08H.
I look forward to many Raleigh
Borneo expeditions to come.
Thanks for making 08H a success!
To our sponsors:
A big terima kasih to all of our sponsors and
project partners. Thank you for your generous,
ongoing support in making Borneo 08H a success!
Yolanda Graham
Recruitment, Support and Media
Coordinator
It has been
incredibly inspiring
to witness how the
venturers have
faced up to the
many challenges that this expedition
awarded them, outdoing themselves
and completing the journey to come out
stronger in so many ways. Thank you to
all who were involved in making this
expedition a success, and stay in touch -
I am eager to hear about the great
accomplishments in your future!
Ministry of Youth and Sports, Sabah
Asia Ability
Bridging the Gap
HSBC
Yayasan Sabah
PACOS Trust
MESCOT
Borneo Divers
Sabah and KL Support Groups
GYM08

Raleigh in Malaysia
Raleigh has a long history of involvement in Borneo. We have
engaged in a wide range of exciting and successful projects
spanning over a period of more than 20 years. We owe this
success in part to the development of strong relationships with
project partners and sponsors that help make our projects possible.
As a youth development charity, Raleigh’s aim is to offer young
people from a range of backgrounds the opportunity to develop to
their full potential. Through our projects, we offer young people the chance to gain an
understanding of other cultures, to explore and challenge their own abilities and to make a
positive contribution to local communities.
Message from the Minister of Youth and
Sports, Sabah
YB Datuk Peter Pang En Yin
Raleigh programmes offer a chance for young people to
learn from each other and share their knowledge,
experience and cultures. We want young people from
Malaysia and other countries to have an experience in
Sabah that will leave them with broader horizons, and
with open minds and hearts. We want them – you – to
be excited by the challenge and not always to take the
easy path in life.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all of the Raleigh staff and ventures for
helping to make this magazine possible .
A special thank you to Yolanda Graham, Jessica
Henderson, Andrew Hobbins King and Jo Grey for
their help with the layout, design and copy.
—Lisa Henshaw
Communications officer and magazine editor
Raleigh Borneo 08H
Mamutik Island
Batu Puteh
Buayan
Mananam
Imbak Canyon
Long Pasia

Staff
Field Base:
Jim Clements
Mark ‘Mac’ McCarthy
Yolanda Graham
Paddy Harvey
Jo Grey
Sheila O’Neill
Sarah French
Lisa Henshaw
Owen Illingworth
Simon Whittle
Chris Chamberlain
Medics
Emily Rowbotham
Ian Fraser
Andrew Hobbins King
Anna Sykes
Mark Fernando
PMs
Chris Billington
Rebecca Mehrtens
Emily Crowther
Clare Herbert
Sarah Mostyn
Caroline Perkins
Amy Holmes
Pete Broomhead
Sarah Young
Dave Meyers
Venturers: Alison Walker, Sophie Deed, Ben Harris, Florine Scheer, Lewis Hone, Selene Ng Shih Ling
Gaskarth, Job de Beer, Chai Lee Lee, Vivian Mohr, Will Thompson, Katie Hartshorne, Shelley MacDo
Laura Thompson, Will Newell, Kate McQueen, Annie Hodge, Aimee Farrar, Ollie Pierik, Marc Harme
Ilona Hamilton, Saphir Glynn, Fadzylie Dullie, Farm Woon Chin, Emilie Deiters, Emma Hankinson, Da
Stanbury, Will Harvey, Dennis Gan Chye Sheng

R
A
L
E
I
G
H
B
O
R
N
E
O
sh Lambert, Cheong Zhi Yong, Tyrone Timm, Heidi Desrosiers, Emma Kingdon, Laura
ld, Jessica Henderson, Roel Vogels, Josh Salter, Lee Grimsley, Luke Dorey, Ng Hui Mei,
, Matty Davis, Polly Flaxman, Millie Loat, Yap Lu Ying, Kiki Janssen, Josh McIntosh,
Oates, Tom Carter, Ryan Stidi, Joost Vermeijden, Alana Ingham, Emily Greco, Rebecca
0
8
H

KAMPUNG BUAYAN
Alpha 1 at Kampung Buayan, although closest to Kota Kinabalu on the map, is the
most remote of the project sites. It is a grueling three hour trek from the
nearest ‘road’ which involves several river crossings, some Indiana
Jones-style suspension bridges and the newly christened ‘Hell Hill’. Venturers
had the difficult task of trekking with all of their kit, tools and food which
involved several journeys back and forth.
The project itself involved building a micro-hydro electric system to supply
environmentally friendly power to a number of remote communities within
the majestic Crocker mountain range.
Life for the venturers on this project included some physically
challenging manual labour: carrying sand and stones from the nearest riverbed up
to the top of the hill for the system’s dam house, building a suspension bridge to
make working on the site easier and laying pipe from the water
source to the engine house.
Afternoons were spent playing football with the community, teaching the
children English and playing many a game of ‘heads,
shoulders, knees and toes’!
COMMUNITY

KAMPUNG MANANAM
Raleigh worked closely with PACOS and the local community to construct gravity
feed water system to provide clean, safe water to Kg. Mananam, located in the
Tongod district. The system will supplement the community’s current reliance on
rain water. It will also ultimately eliminate the polluted Kinabatangan River as a
water source for the community.
Alpha 2 life involved hard work damming the river, lugging pipes and rocks,
shovelling concrete and laying pipe in the hot sun. On 30 th October 2008, the
Minister of Youth and Sports, Sabah, YB Datuk Peter Pang En Yin visited the project,
giving Raleigh and the community a chance to show off their hard work. The water
feed was completed in Phase Two and officially opened with a ceremony on 12 th
November 2008.
Raleigh venturers were also able to get involved with
the community. They taught English and coached
athletics to the local children several nights a week,
and painted murals (and each other!) to decorate the
new school building.
PROJECTS

IMBAK CANYON
Less visited than Mount Everest base camp, hidden in remote,
untouched jungle...working in Imbak Canyon was a privilege and a
pleasure. Not only have venturers of Alpha 3 seen the beauty of the rainforest,
they’ve been able to help preserve it, by completing the foundations for a
suspension bridge across the canyon to allow rangers and scientists better access
for research purposes.
Alpha 3 spent their days on two construction sites on either side of the river,
mixing cement and carrying many heavy loads. The reward of a shower to wash
off that unique mixture of cement, mud, deet and sweat made it all worthwhile.
They also made successful renovations to their home
at BBC camp, but never quite managed to get rid of
the bats!
ENVIRONMENTAL

BATU PUTEH
Boasting a wide
variety of wildlife,
working in Batu
Puteh brings the
Environment
and
community together. Raleigh
participants worked closely with the local Sungai (River)
people of the Lower Kinabatangan River to help complete the
development of an Eco Lodge designed to
promote sustainable tourism.
Members of Alpha 4 worked hard lugging more than seven tonnes of
ironwood at the Eco Lodge site, building boardwalks and preparing the
Lodge for visitors. They also helped with other local environmental
projects by planting trees and constructing nets to clear the Eco Lodge’s
beautiful Oxbow Lake of non-native, destructive weeds.
On days off, there was plenty of time for
wildlife spotting and relaxing at ‘Raleigh
Pally’ Alpha 4’s campsite and playing pingpong
and volleyball with the local
community. Lucky team members spotted
orang-utans, proboscis monkeys,
macaques, hornbills and other local
wildlife near camp and the worksite.
PROJECTS

LONG PASIA TREK
Alpha 5 and 6 offers a once in a lifetime, 12-day trek through
the dense, humid jungle of South West Sabah along with five
days learning to scuba dive on the sun-kissed Island of Mamutik.
At the beginning of each phase, fresh trek groups disappeared into the
rainforest of Long Pasia, led by the mysterious Nooh ‘the legend’ and
resourceful Hanry.
From exhilarating river crossings to panoramic ridge walks to
days spent beneath the forest canopy the venturer’s moved
deeper into the jungle. Friendships formed around a smoky
campfire and camp craft skills were mastered in the pouring rain
— skills that would teach them the necessities of jungle life.
Torn from the comforts of modern
life, the trek groups quickly learned
to survive in the ‘most inhospitable
environment on the face of the
planet’. Witnessing the raw power
of Maga falls and scaling Mt.
Senipung, the trek was a truly
testing challenge.
Emerging bitten, bloodied
(leeches) and exhausted, they
were taken into the hearts and
homes of the Long Pasia villagers
before leaving fed and content
for their island paradise....
ADVENTURE

MAMUTIK DIVE ISLAND
Known simply as
‘the dive island’,
Mamutik represents five days in
Paradise to those on the
adventure phase.
The diving project allowed
venturers and Project Manager to
earn their PADI diving certifications and
to explore — and help preserve — the
underwater world of the South
China Sea.
Once qualified, the
groups participated in
conversation efforts,
helping to clean up the
reefs.
PROJECTS

Farewell Messages
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are
It may be nearer, when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things seems worst
That you must not quit.

Make a difference!
Stay Involved with Raleigh
Although your time in country is now over, your journey is just beginning! Raleigh is not just about an expedition; it is about
being part of a global community of like-minded people. People like you who want to do something extraordinary with their
lives and really make a difference in the world.
There are lots of ways to stay involved with Raleigh and to get out there and make a difference in your local communities
when you return. There is an alumni section on the website where you can keep in touch with your expedition friends, share
memories and photos and lean about Raleigh societies and other volunteering opportunities. Check it out at: raleighinternational.org/Raleigh_alumni.
Don’t forget to complete the alumni registration form online so we can stay in touch with you through the alumni newsletter.
You can upload your photos or videos and join the forums, too.
Raleigh Borneo
PO Box 14182, 88848 Kota Kinabalu
Sabah, Malaysia.
raleigh@streamyx.com
+60 (0) 88 712 134
www.raleighinternational.org