And they all came back to change!

All of the groups on the 10 week expedition returned in very high spirits from their Phase 1 project sites on Monday for Changeover. Admittedly, most people returned unrecognisable as their former selves and Tim and Andy, Alpha 3 trek leaders, had clearly let themselves go. Surely no mirrors and very little water are poor excuses to go a whole three weeks without shaving?! Jack and Craig claimed to have had a much needed shower but it really wasn’t obvious to the rest of us and Gavin may have regretted his choice of white trackies and t-shirt when it came to actually having to wash them!

Changeover was a crazy 36 hours involving the washing of clothes and self, catching up with news from other Alpha groups and taking part in the famous Raleigh skit competition. Each group did a performance to represent life during Phase 1 and some parts were funny, some were moving and some were downright scary (the least said about Tom and Nick’s solos the better!), but each was special in its own unique way. It was a very close run competition between Alpha 1 and 4 as to the best song about life on Raleigh to the tune of Wonderwall. Alpha 4 was victorious and their refrain of “I don’t believe that anybody smells the way we do, so wash me now-ow’ really could have been about any one of us.

The moment of truth finally arrived and Jim announced the new Alpha groups and where each would be going. Caz and Kim are staying as Alpha 1 Project Managers up at Oshana school and their group for Phase 2 includes Breeze, Wendy, Gavin, Erik, Eustacia, Spence, Sophie, Jessica Hague, Angharad, Alex, Charlotte and George. Tom and Matt are Alpha 2 Project Managers down at the Sperrgebiet and the privileged few who have gone with them are Paul, Andy, Jamel, Christophine, Virginia, Rhosyn, Jack, Tom, Chris, Megan, Craig and Sze.

Alpha 3 and 4 are both trek groups for Phase 2. Charlie and Andy are leading Alpha 3 and their group includes Tasha, Laura, Alistair, Mark, Mairi, Nicholai, Nambuli, Charmillar, Rachel, Nick, Becca and Melvin. Led by Dave, Tim and Flic in Alpha 4 are Luke, Danielle, Michelle, Rainbow, Rejoice, James, Mathew, Veripi, Shakira, Joe, Dom, Ross and Victoria.

Everyone set off bright and early on Wednesday morning in their news groups and as seasoned Raleigh professionals are already working and trekking hard. They are all determined to make the most of every minute as the weeks are now flying by!

Alpha 4


Alpha 3


Alpha 2

The five weekers get to work!

All of the participants on the five week expedition have had their training at Fieldbase and are now working hard on their project sites. Alpha 5 are with Project Managers Eileen and Rob at Harnas where they will be building enclosures for the animals and helping Na an ku se’s development into a rehabilitation centre for orphaned, sick and injured animals. These environmental enthusiasts are Suzanne, Mark, Yae ji, Joseph, Jacob, Elena Dimitrova, Darren, Frances, Elena Barnes, Vevanguane, Roswitha and Joanna.

Lorraine and Nikki are project managing the building of playground up at Onameya school. Raleigh built the school during the spring expedition and has gone back to build a playground for the school children. Alpha 6 includes Jessica, Laura, Carrie, Sasho, Tom Austin, Claudia, Tom Barker, Chris, Corinne, Fiina and Gerson.

Alpha 7 is another playground project, this time at Hangholme school, which was also built by Raleigh and is in the far north of Namibia, close to the Angolan border. The Project Managers are Catherine and Pete and the group includes Lee, Amy, April, Donald, Laura, Lucy, Robin, Ka-Lee, Michael, Lukas, Cletha and Courtney.

Alpha 5 has already made great progress at Harnas, building hundreds of metres of fence and visiting the animals. Alpha 6 and 7 have been working with their local communities to plan and design their playgrounds and are now starting the hard work!

Welcome to the Playground

Alpha 4 built the most amazing playground at Otavi, which includes swings, a see saw, a Loch Ness Monster (a tribute to the Scots in the group!), monkey bars, a slide, a scramble wall and a very elaborate hopscotch.

They were made incredibly welcome by the local community and were met on the first day by the pre school children singing and waving banners. The opening ceremony was also wonderful, with Pastor Isaac and Rute from the Peace Corps explaining how much the playground means to the community. The pre school children performed a lovely song as part of the ceremony and Alpha 4 gave a very impressive rendition of Swing Low Sweet Chariot. The children then literally invaded the playground and it was amazing to see just how many children can fit on a wobbly bridge at any one time!

The group had a real penchant for dressing up and held a Halloween party on Rob’s last day and a ‘Heroes and Villains' Party for Chris’ birthday. Victoria was a vision as a pink Power Ranger, Craig’s hair is still Wolverine-esque and Charlie found yet another use for the black thermals as Catwoman. The birthday boy put one of Ross’s hats to good use and became a very realistic Zorro. Everyone proved that all you need for a good costume is a black bin liner, cardboard, gaffa tape and some leftover playground paint!

Tales from the trek

Alpha 3 trekked over 200km through the desert and made it successfully to the coast for a celebratory barbeque. After three weeks of porridge, crackers and maize meal everyone did think it was all of their birthdays come at once!

The group decided to give awards to each other in a number of different categories. Pistol Paul was voted fastest walker by the group and Andy was voted the dirtiest member of the group (the white football shirt may not have been the best choice for trekking..) The group thought that Angharad was most likely to come back as a staff member and that Helen was the PM most likely to get lost. She went on to prove this by getting lost on the straight walk to the long drop in broad daylight! Louis won the ‘best dressed’ category and Wendy the ‘most likely to be famous’. ‘Alex the Great’ is listed in the journal as best day leader, but it was definitely in his handwriting so may not have been the most democratic of decisions!

Secrets of the Sperrgebiet

Alpha 2 made great progress down at the Sperrgebiet during Phase 1and Trygve Cooper, our project partner has already told Jim and Sophie how impressed he has been with the quality of the group’s work. There was lots of digging and clearing and raking as well as some interior design when the group painted the Ministry of Environment and Tourism’s offices. The group was also lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a brown hyena, which was very exciting for them as they are so rare.

Everyone had a day trip into Oranjemund for much needed showers and a chance to visit the shops to stock up on crisps and chocolate. They also had great fun playing at the beach (we are reliably informed that the group was aware that this is a Raleigh Expedition and not a holiday camp...) There was also a rumour that a member of the group may have found a diamond!.

The group had a cross dressing party one night (what is it about life on Raleigh that makes the boys feel the need to wear the girls’ clothes?!) and Joe was heard to have said that he’s been considering cross dressing for a while now so we are pleased that he has now had the opportunity!

News from the school

Alpha 1 made great progress in building the school at Oshana during Phase 1. We were briefly concerned that the project was so far ahead of schedule that there would be nothing left for the Phase 3 group to do!

As well as all of the digging and building the group managed to find time for quite an involved game of Camp Cluedo. Milla tried unsuccessfully to kill Mal with her underwear and Rainbow was equally unsuccessful in killing Pete with a machete. However Nick was killed by James, next to the long drop with a mug of tea. Tasha was the super sleuth who had the job of working it all out.

Local animals were initially quite welcome around the campsite until the goats ate the soap next to the toilet and the cows ate James’ t-shirt and made an attempt on his trousers.

The group took on the local football team one day, and despite losing 2-1, Nambuli managed to persuade the opposition that it was actually a draw so Alpha 1 went on to win on penalties.