Basha babes and PMs get their projects

(Above: The Raleigh staff on trek including Dani, Neil, Andrew, Caroline, Julia, Caz and Peta with Mark Ashby, far right. All photographs on this blog have been taken by Ann Taylor unless otherwise specified.)


...And the sorting hat has spoken.

This morning all the staff at Raleigh 09C donned the magic sorting hat (literally – photos to come) to be allocated their projects for the first 19-day phase of expedition.

It was an exciting start to the day after the weekend’s trek. So here goes:

Alpha 1: Adventure trek phase 1 leaders will be Peter, Andrew the medic and Liz

Alpha 2: The Kalaiahnahalla eco-sanitation static site will be lead by Joey and Caroline.

Alpha 3: The Kappikadu tribal housing project will be lead by Matt, Caz the medic and Lucy our administration volunteer.

Alpha 4: Anaikatta solar-powered elephant fencing environmental project will be lead by Neil, Jenny and Ivan.

Fieldbase will be staffed by Dr Andy on medic duty, the PR office of Peta and Ann, Deputy Programme Manager Dani, finance manager Paul, logistics coordinator Julia and of course our permanent staff Host Country Venturer coordinator Vijay, logistics manager Amanda, Country Director Gavin and Country Programme Manager Mark.

So that was the excitement for this morning with everyone still rubbing sore muscles from the weekend’s trek training.

The training course went of without a hitch. Well, more or less, if you overlook the wrong turn early on in the expedition which lead to a brief 2km detour through dry Indian scrub. Once we got through that, it was a navigationally-challenging course through the back-blocks of Mysore and surrounds with camp at the base of Chamundi Hill on the far side from field base. (left: DPM Dani checks the training trek route on a map.)

Medic Caz (pictured left, photo by Lucy) became a local celebrity with the school kids and Neil taught everyone an easy trick to get his backpack on… although we should mention this is perhaps not the best way to go about it.

Our mountain leaders Ivan and Peter did a stellar job at keeping the unruly mob of medics, project managers, field base staff and others in check, although the highlight of Saturday’s walking would have to be the unexpected acquisition of a watermelon which is just the thing to eat during hot trekking. (right: watermelons!)

Ann got out her heavy artillery in the photographic department and so, from your friendly Raleigh India media office, we bring you:

Mark and Ivan’s “Bear Grylls” eight-steps to Basha Building.

1. Get your required gear. You’ll an army-style stretcher, a boxed mozzie net, a heap of rope (for the Australians out there, baling twine would suffice), a tarp, some tent pegs and a mate, because this is a two-man job. You will also need bamboo cut to two lengths of 8ft, six lengths of 6ft and two lengths of 2ft bamboo.

2. Tie together three of the 6ft bamboo lengths at eye-level. Unless you’re Ivan… then it’s chin level. Just use a normal shoelace style bow. Separate to create a wide tripod and “cinch” the knot by winding another length of rope around the existing rope. This will tighten it.
3. Repeat steps one and two so you’ve got two tripods with the 6ft bamboo.
4. Thread the army-style stretcher onto the two lengths of 8ft bamboo and rest it on the wide points of both tripods.
5. Thread the 2ft bamboo onto the short ends of the stretcher above the horizontal ends of the 8ft lengths, but on the inside of the tripod legs.
6. Create a box-knot to secure the head of the stretcher to the sides, then cinch the knot and do a simple hitch knot. Tie the loose ends of the stretcher to the top of the tripod securely with a double-knot. This means when you get in the basher, your weight will tighten the knot.
7. Pull a mozzie net over the top of the basher, then using the top of the tripods as supports, add the tarp and secure it down with tent pegs and guy ropes.
8. Get in the basher gingerly with fingers crossed that it won’t collapse. Once you’re sure you’ve built it right (preferably taking instructions from an experienced person and not just this blog!!) throw in your roll-mat, sleeping bag, pillow and get ready for some shut-eye!

(Above left: Mark tests out a new basha. Above right: The camp at the base of Chamundi Hill)

We built seven of these contraptions which were divvied out using the name-drawn-from-a-hat method although rumour has it, it got a bit cool during the night. And the construction did attract quite a few quizzical looks from villagers.

A campfire, a general-knowledge quiz and a bit of sleep later, it was 6am and time to tackle the steps of Chamundi Hill, complete with a Casevac simulation. This is the Raleigh strategy to evacuate seriously injured project members from site to ensure they get the best medical treatment. (right: Neil goes all Jamie Oliver over the campfire)

Dr Andy and medic Caz both did a some Oscar-worthy acting in pretending to have suffered a snake bite and both trek teams successfully evacuated them according to plan. Caz was also keen to assure all readers that a quick stint on the hand-held stretcher was not a bad way to travel. (Right: Caz gets a lift from Caroline, Neil and Lucy. Photo: Julia)

The rest of the trekkers were just happy the simulation didn’t happen at the top of Chamundi’s now infamous 1100 steps.

Tomorrow the Alpha Group leaders head out on their project planning visits and the next blog is scheduled for Thursday morning (roughly!)

Stay tuned!