Alpha 4 - Henry Compton Boys

Henry Compton School are now Alpha Four in Raleigh India. Eleven students, three staff members and two Project Managers now make up the team.

After an early morning airport pickup the group arrived at Raleigh India's Field Base in Mysore,  welcomed by an excited and enthusiastic Field Base team ready to kick the orientation into action.

Comms training, safety, first aid and health and hygiene were topped off with a visit from Snake Shayam who gave the group environmental and wildlife safety training.

Eager and raring to go the boys hardly slept a wink and were up early Sunday morning to continue with training and pack kit ready to deploy to their project site.

William DeSousa of MYRADA - our Project Partner came to Field Base to meet the team and to tell them how enthused the village was about the impending project.

Later that afternoon they were packed up onto the bus and travelled onto Telugu Massahalli. They have begun the work alongside the families in the village and are experiencing Diwali delights. 

Dynamic and Determined Alpha 3

With heavy packs and high spirits Alpha 3 began their trek at Top Station at 6279 ft and have been walking between 7 and 19km per day. The group have been climbing misty mountain slopes covered with tea plantations in warm humid and wet conditions.On the brighter dryer days Alpha 3 have been rewarded with amazing views as they walk through small villages and past roadside temples.

Alpha three have bonded so well they now call
themselves a family. They all sing along together and have a good laugh to help motivate each other through the tougher times of the trek and reportedly "I Will Survive" has become a favourite!

The group have had visitors from Field Base come out on a loop and after hellos and big hugs they enjoyed a rest day. The Loop Team brought a mini shop where the group could treat themselves to some fizzy drinks and chocolate, which was very well deserved!

On their rest day they group got to sleep in until 9:00 which was a right treat as their normal wake up is 4:30! This was a day when the group sat together and chatted, washed some clothes and wrote letters home.

In their own words Alpha Three are "all dirty, sweaty and smelly.
In pain, sore and blistered. But all doing well."

The group have enjoyed cooking over open fires and trangias and following a shopping trip they acquired a live chicken which was prepared by the iron stomached Richie! A big chicken stew was created and the group were delighted to have meat back in their diet!

The group ventured through leech infested areas and they would like to thank Project Manager Zoe and team member Karl for taking a leeching for the team!

Messages for home from Alpha Two...

Sam: Love and miss you all

Alex: I miss you everyone and I love you. Looking forward to seeing you again!

Arend: Remmert, alvast gefeliciteerd met je 23 ste verjaardag

Alpha One and Kebepura Village work together...

Alpha One have been enchanted and captivated by the community spirit in Kebepura Village. The rural community is situated about 1.5 hours from Field Base in Mysore and the people have been open minded and welcoming to the flock of visitors from Raleigh.

The group have been working well alongside the families and masons and also getting in some fun times with the children playing games.

The group have been kept entertained on the work sites with Bollywood song performances from Kahar, Sulfee and the masons.
The group have made rapid progress on the work sites and are confident that they’ll complete their target of 15 Eco-Sanitation units by the end of phase 1.

In the words of Alpha 1:

‘It is fantastic to see that we can make such a positive lasting impact and that these units will drastically improve the health of the villagers while also potentially enhancing the crop yield from the compost produced.”

Messages to Home:

Alex: "Happy Anniversary Amy and Happy Birthday Niall. I miss you and everyone!”

Amanda: “Having an amazing time so far apart from the sunburn,

miss everyone back home. Want to wish Charlie and Jane Happy Birthday.”

Sam: "Love you all!"

Thomas: "URGENT! Am on the wrong expedition, Spanish phrase book so far ineffective. Please send Rupees, Pesos not accepted. Hope people are getting my letters, if you don’t write back I might just stay!”

Eagerly Awaiting Arrival of Alpha 4..

This Saturday sees the arrival of Alpha 4 to Raleigh India and the excitement is mounting! Alpha 4 is one of our Bespoke Programmes and will consist of 12 students from Henry Compton Boys School.

Project Manager Sean aka Elvis and PRO Suze went to visit the community to complete the final planning for the project ahead.

The group will work alongside a rural community in the village of Telugu Massahali to build sanitation units for 16 individual families. Some preparation work has been completed in the village and the community is very excited about working alongside the group, particularly after the success of a previous project carried out by Welling School on our last expedition in Kandegala, 3km away.

As the participants will be in the village during Diwali - or locally known as Dipali they will stay in the local school.

The children of the village are very friendly - a little shy at first but I'm sure they will want to play lots of games. There will also be an opportunity for the group to participate in some of the festivities in the evening times and to really get to know the community members.

Radio Raleigh Debut!

Sunday evening saw the debut of Radio Raleigh on expedition 08I. All the Alpha groups excitedly huddle around in anticipation of the show. We play music and give news from all the Alpha groups, sports results and World News. This week saw the addition of The Worlds Weird and Wonderful news an a mystery guest - Sorcerer extraordinaire The Great Gavidini who transformed himself into an elephant!

Alpha 2 - Anti Poaching Camp Update

After all the groups deployed from Field Base and arrived safely at their destinations they quickly settled in and began to work alongside their project partners and local communities. Alpha 2 had a quick visit from our Country Director Gavin Shelton along with Forestry Officals who were all very mpressed with the progress at this early stage.


The group have exceeded all expectations of the local masons and have already dug out the foundations for the Anti Poaching Camp. A large steep hill leads up to the work site and the group yesterday carried the big rocks needed in order to fill the foundations today.
The group are staying in a Forest Guest House inside the boundary of the National Park where they will live alongside the Forest Rangers and staff. This is 40 minutes from the worksite and yesterday Project Manager Zoe along with Aime and Jayesh had a trip to the local village of Hediyala. During the last Raleigh Inida expedition a group of ventureres lived in this village and constructed 25 rain water harvesting units.
Here the group shopped for tools for the work site and of course a birthday surprise for Andy!! As this evening is our first broadcast of Radio Raleigh we will play a special song request for Andy from his Alpha group but if anybody at home wants to send him a birthday message please leave a posting!!!

Raleigh india podcast 1

Induction ends & projects begin with the allocations...

After an amazing start to the expedition everyone excitedly awaited their project allocation for phase one. 

Alpha One - Kebedura Community - Construction of Eco-Sanitation Units

Project Managers: Julia, Nikki and Emma

Venturers: Alexander Gregory, Amanda Cormril, Arend Van Haaften, Jade Mullarchy, Jennifer Rosam, Kahar, Krishnaveni, Murali, Sam Thorne, Sulfee, Thomas Knook.

Alpha Two - Hediyala Environmental - Construction of Anti Poaching Camp

Project Managers: Ros, Hamish & Zoe

Venturers: Amie Felton, Andrew Taylor, Ayesha, Cara Meehan, Emma Jameson, Gary Hutton, Jagadessan, Jamie Fitzroy, Jayesh, William Coulson.

Alpha Three - Kerala Adventure Project - Kurangani Trek

Project Managers: Ivan, Zoe and Jo

Ventureres - Charles Bullock, Guus Kruseman, Jayshree Jadav, Joanna Hough, Karl Pinch, Lucy Cumming, Manjula, Richard Rankin, Robert Lee, Sivakumar, Thurairaj.

The expedition had a visit during induction from the well known Snake Shayam. Shayam is a known and respected environmentalist here in Mysore who facilitated safety and environmental training for everyone. He imprinted the importance of respecting the environment and gave an inspiring message to all about how all animals and creatures are needed and that even snakes have their uses as they eat the rats!

The groups prepare for deployment:

Venturers journey out of Field Base...

After getting the induction programme off to a flying start our Volunteer Managers guide the venturers out of Field Base around the outskirts of Mysore on their trek training. Ensuring that participants are prepared for the adventure challenge ahead they were organised into 3 Alpha groups and set off early yesterday morning...

First off - making sure that the rucksacks are a good fit and comfortable - also a chance to get them a little dirty and worn in! Also an excellent opportunity to break in walking boots, ensuring that they are a comfortable fit and don't rub and give blisters - almost a certainty on the trek!

Alpha groups form together for induction training and get to build strong bonds and friendships straight away.

Trek underway the groups wander through some forestry owned land around the base of the Chamundi Hills.

In the evening the groups set up camp together where they learn oodles of new information - and get creative cooking noodles in trangiers. They also learn about the best place to dig a long drop (outside loo!) and slops pit - not anywhere near the tents!

Still going strong the following morning...

Temple at the top of Chamundi Hill where the groups took a rest break, got to meet local people and admire and learn more of the culture.

The all important Casevac (casualty evacuation) training - safety being a top priority on our expeditions here in India the medics have given training to all the staff and venturers.

By the end of the two days of trek training life long friendships have begun to form....

Whats happening at......

...... Field Base......

Tool training merged with a some good old group games ......

While Rich gets involved during tool time...

India and Raleigh Welcomes You....

RALEIGH WELCOMES YOU!

After months of planning, fundraising and careful organising the UK and European volunteers finally touched down at Bangalore Airport early this morning. Welcomed by a host of Raleigh staff to any answer any burning questions and ease them into their Indian Raleigh experience.

And once all the volunteers had been rounded up, in true Raleigh style we road tripped back to field base in Mysore for a welcome party and straight into the action.
There's no rest for the wicked, soon after the welcome party the venturers were preparing for a dip in the local pool and undertake a swim test. Over the next four days the guys will learn vital skills to prepare them for the adventures ahead.

Fairwell to Jerry And Qathab

Our Friends Jerry and Qathab with Host Country Co-ordinator Vijay

Its time to welcome our Host Country Venturers H.C.V's and say a farewell to our friends Jerry and Qathab. All the staff at Field base and the P.M's will certainly miss you through-out the project. Have a safe journey back to Kerala. 

However, it's also a time to welcome the ten H.C.V's whom have travelled through-out the day to join the staff team for an advanced training party.

WELCOME TO FIELD BASE!