We have had a busy weekend though as we hosted the first Host Country Venturer Alumni weekend here so we were lucky enough to meet Qathab, Sathyajith, Srikanth, Shiju, Kareem, Arun, Sundar, Sulfee, Kahar, Siva, Veni, Jaga, Manju, Mubarak, Murugesh, Mani, Guna and Sreejith who were all venturers on 08C, 08F, 08I and 09C. On Saturday Vijay organised games including an Olympics obstacle course which was won by Alpha 1, although it was very close at the end!
Mani mastering the spiders web on the obstacle course!
On Sunday the host country venturers and most of the remaining field base team (Cat, Margaret and M-J) headed to the Kabini river where we built rafts out of bamboo and tyre inner tubes and all went rafting down the river which was great, and everyone managed not to fall in!
Vijay directing the raft building!As a result of the weekend, we have now set up 2 support groups for host country venturers and alumni; one based in Kerala and one based in Tamil Nadu. This will be a great source of help and support in recruiting future host country venturers and guiding them through the training for expedition. It was sad to say goodbye when everyone had to head home yesterday afternoon but everyone left having made new friends. We are hoping there will be another alumni gathering before Christmas, including the host country venturers from 09I that are out on project at the moment.
The alumni team (and Cat!)Jess will be back later today so keep checking the blog for updates on their visit to Charlie 1, Echo 5 and Echo 6. We have other members of the team out visiting the other projects too this week so we will keep you updated on their progress.
Hi Nick (Thorp) We are all proud of you and really enjoying following the blog and finding out what you are all doing.
ReplyDeleteMum x
Hi Natalie,We are on our Holidays now - No heatwave unfortunately, more rain than sun. Missed you yesterday, thanks for the birthday card. We all went on a sheep safari in the Derbyshire Dales! Hope you are enjoying your engineering endeavours in the sanitation department, make notes so we can discuss!! Love Dad X
ReplyDeleteHi Nat, Hope a good time is being had by all, despite all the hard work. Spending our hols clearing out the garage again, this time the Hi-Fi has finally gone! Dad was in bits! Grat picture of you in the sari. Love Mum, Phoebe and Chessie x
ReplyDeleteTo Abbey and Becky Harper in Charlie 3.
ReplyDeleteHope you are having a fantastic time and the monsoon rains and mud are not getting you down. We must be having an Indian summer as its not stopped raining for the last 3 days. Chloe and Lucy are both away and alledgedly having a good time without us!
Mum and I are off to Snowdonia in the camper for a few days, no doubt we will do lots of walking as mum is training really hard now. She completed the Thame triathlon last weekend and came first out of all the Banbury Ladies, including the teenagers!
We will leave another comment when we get home, places for Bath and Exeter have been reserved.
Love you both lots'n'lots and miss you.
Take Care, Mum & Dad xxxxxx
Hello Rory
ReplyDeleteI am now in the same country as you which is a wpnderful thought. I keep looking on the blog to see if there is any more news from your project but can't seem to find anything. I think of you last thing at night and hope that you are both well and happy. How are the loos going? Perhaps you will be so inspired that you will want to join Burrells! Delhi was unbearably hot and humid but between mopping up the drips I managed to get some work done!
Haven't seen any rain yet, how about you? Just off for a banana lassi! All my love mumxxxxx
To Alex Stewart from Mum & Dad
ReplyDeleteLove and miss you darling. Hope you are enjoying your trip to Kerala and keeping well. James has a job and will start on Aug. 21. We are going on holiday to Mauritius from Aug. 20 - Sept. 3. Los of love xxx