And they’re off!

Phase two has officially begun! Everyone’s packed, on the bus and off! We’ve just done a quick sweep around Fieldbase to make sure no-one got left behind, and I’m happy to say everyone is in their new groups and off to start their new adventure.

Back at Fieldbase we’re settling back into life around here. Maggie and Jon are learning the ropes and being shown how to man the operations room, where everything is and most importantly, how everyone likes their tea and coffee! Tim is teaching Jon how the logs team work and Maggie is getting her head around the Fieldbase medic role.

Time for a cuppa! 

It’s always pretty quiet after the craziness of change-over so we’re enjoying catching up on work and getting ourselves organised for the next phase. I might even treat the team to my culinary skills and attempt to whip up a peach crumble later...we’ll see!

During change-over one of the venturers (Megan Hounsome) gave me a poem that she had written with her group during the training weekend they all went to in the UK before coming out here. I thought it was rather lovely and worthy of a blog post...so here it is:

“To India we are going, where the curry will be flowing, so we thought we’d write a poem.

These are India’s highlights, the food, the people and sights.

We’ll do some Bollywood dancing, see cows and elephants prancing.

We’re all afraid of D and V and washing our hands will be the key.

To see a new culture is our mission, experience diversity and religion.

To sum it up it’s gonna be great.

Raleigh International – we can’t wait!”

We’re happy to say, that if phase one is anything to go by, the poem is certainly living up to expectations!

Here are a few messages from the venturers for friends and families back home. We handed out all the blog messages and post over change-over and everyone was really excited to get them...so keeping them coming!

From Matt Bell to Anthony

Mate,

Just got your message. 1^st November, so your flight is in a few hours. Good luck mater, feeling excited for you J Probs won’t get it for a few weeks but keep me up to date with how they go. Just remember the Europe combo 4 when the reg ain’t watching nut, nut double nut. Getting the sypmtons in mate, but cheers for you writing and I’ll see you at Christmas.

From Emma Christopher Echo 4

Hi Mum, Dad (and Freddie!)

Thank you for your message, it was nice to hear from you so soon! Glad to know you’re not celebrating in my absence. We were told our projects today and I am working on an environmental project working with turtles! I would tell you about it but the message would last forever, so keep an eye on the blog to see what we’re doing.

I hope everyone at home is good. Lots of love, xxx

From Dan Rose

Yo yo Mum, Dad and Robyn and whoever else reads this. I’m so excited as out of here tomorrow. I’m off on the Demon trek which apparently isn’t as treacherous as it sounds. I’m really happy to be doing a trek as I really want the change in experience that I’m going to get after working so heavily in the community on my last phase. It’s going to be awesome climbing some summits and ride a bike on some crazy Indian roads overlooking some beautiful sites. Apart from that everything else out here is wicked apart from my camera breaking. Anyway, I love you all and are missing you tonnes. Rob, stay strong buddy, I love you.xxx

Gemma Bennet – Tango 5

Hi guys,

I just got your letters and cards; it was so good to hear from you! Happy Birthday mum, this is the soonest I could get a message on. And also congrats to Dave! So, so proud of you for passing your first aid course! And yeah, you could have loved the thunderstorm! But now I’m going on trek, woop, so I’ll hopefully hear from you when I get back.

Love to all,

Gemma xxx