House Party at Uluvadu

Guest Blog by Eira Evans, Charlie One

After 9 weeks of hard work the big day had finally arrived at Charlie 1. The inauguration ceremony of all 5 houses took place.

Many hours had been spent in a Raleigh chain moving materials into the village. Over 3000 bricks had made their way up the chain, 3 elephants worth of sand, rocks and 3000 roof tiles. There were times when we lacked energy and were tired but we whiled away the hours singing, dancing and laughing.

The venturers had been busy on the previous day painting their mural – a map of the world.

On 14th December we were joined by our Project Partner – CTRD, the masons, friends and family of the villagers and were extremely happy to have Anna, Polly B, Polly C visiting for the occasion.

We all awoke to find the village beautifully decorated. The villagers had not slept as they had been busy preparing for the big day. A day they had awaited for over 2 years.

Banana trees had their leaves curled into ribbons, hundreds of hanging plant streamers lined the entrance into the village. Each house was decorated with intricate chalk drawings and brightly coloured ribbons. It felt like Christmas morning when we climbed bleary eyed out of our tents.

Anna opened the ceremony by unveiling the Plaque on the side of Onathi’s house. The day was filled with emotion as Leela, one of the recipients of a house, had us all in tears with her gratitude and appreciation.

A ribbon was cut at each house and we all got the chance to light an auspicious candle.

Vijay from CTRD translated all the speeches and as I read my speech on behalf of the Project Managers, I finally got the chance to express just how much humility they had taught us and generousity they showed us. All of the group received a shawl followed by a slap-up meal made by the villagers.

 We in turn provided each house with a group picture.

We were all looking forward to sharing the first night as guests in their new houses.

The houses will provide the villagers with a warm and dry place to live with their families. A basic human right has been delivered and we hope that this will be the beginning of a number of improvements to the lives of the villagers over the coming years.
All text by Eira Evans and photos by Polly Baldwin http://www.dynamicpictures.co.uk/ (unless stated otherwise).

The Venturers Return for the Raleigh 10K Finale

Christmas has engulfed Field base in celebration of the Venturers and PMs return this morning. With tinsel everywhere and the Christmas tunes blaring out, we were so excited to welcome them all back from their final phase.

It's a bitter sweet time though, as although we're all so excited to see everyone and catch up with their news, it's all tinged with the sad reality that the Raleigh 10K expedition is coming to a close. But not before we celebrate and party in style!

It's final skit night tonight where each group will entertain, amuse and most likely sing a theatrical account of their phase. Then tomorrow we're up at dawn for the Fun Run before a day of wash-up and reviews topped off with the big leaving party complete with Golden Ganesh Awards.

I'll be inviting some Guest Blogs from the PMs over the next few days to summarise their final phase and describe their achievements.

Thanks also to everyone who's sponsored the Fun Run, over £700 has been raised so far! All the money will go towards Raleigh projects in India like the ones the 10K expedition have been working on.  If you'd like to sponsor someone please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Raleigh-India-Fun-Run

Merry Christmas One and all!

Polly C x

Group Round Up - The Final Countdown

Myself, Polly B and Anna head out on The Loop tomorrow where we'll be swinging by Tango 6 to collect Del who's been out there with them this last week and then heading up to Charlie One for the opening ceremony of their houses.

Before we depart, here's a round up of all that's happening on the project sites:

Charlie One
The houses are nearly all complete as the group have been hard at work plastering, flooring and putting in windows. They've also been flexing their creative side designing a mural to leave a lasting legacy in the village.

Charlie Two
All twelve eco-santitation units have been built and their delightfully green coloured toilet pans fitted. It's just the painting and the finishing touches they've got left to do now.

Echo Three
Still slogging it out hard and loving it in the trench the group have also continued erecting more fencing. The group will be taking a well earned break today and go to visit the local Golden temple for a bit of culture.

Tango Five
Tango Five have been absoultely loving it out there in the wilderness. Yesterday they enjoyed an amazing trek through tea plantations and today is the biggy, the 26km trek. We wish them luck!

Tango Six

Tango Six have too been loving it, with blue skies above them and barely any leeches in sight they're having an amazing time. Yesterday they had a 50km cycle route which they loved and today they've got a gentle 14km walk with the reward to me, Polly B and Anna waiting to greet them at the end of it!

All text by Polly Carpenter and photos by Polly Baldwin http://www.dynamicpictures.co.uk/ (unless stated otherwise).

Phase Three: Join the the dance

On Tuesday the venturers arrived back at field base eager to catch up with their friends from Phase One, to share big hugs and swap tales. It was great to see them all reunited and see all the new friendships that had formed throughout Phase Two.

Changeover was a hive of actvity but had a lovely chilled vibe. On skit night the bar had most definetly been raised with some funny, some musical and some darn right surreal! The Charlie Two girls all looked gorgeous in their new saris but it was Echo Three who scooped the prize with an awesome The Good, the Bad & the Ugly take off.

Wednesday was handed over to the Graduates to run the show, as they took the reigns of the schedule, activities, food and entertainment. A trip to local village Jayapura in the morning was a lot of fun. The group were split into teams and given a scavenger hunt to complete. The children in the village were particularly excited to have us invade!

A delicous bbq feast was prepared by them for lunch. We then bid a fond farewell to Irena and Shaun ...

The afternoons was chill out time with optional henna painting

and then an Indian Ball in the evening, complete with an Indian drumming band.

It was also a double celebration as it was Anu's birthday.

Onto Friday and at last, Phase three allocations. It's all change again as the groups get mixed up for the final time. Alan Watts, the American Writer, once said: "The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance." So to announce allocations this time, the PMs each started their own conga line picking up their venturers as they danced across the floor. With hillarious results ...

The groups are as folllows:

Charlie One
Off to finish the five tribal houses in Uluvadu are:

PMs
Eira Evans
Liam Gallacher
Caroline Millar

Venturers
Sean Edlin
Kirsten Elliot
Arthur Fane
Laura Hulley
Michiel Kruize
Samuel Mason
Jennifer Rimmer
Denise Stoelzel
Justine Stuart
Ajee

Charlie Two
Heading to Hagarahalli to build twelve more eco-sanatation units for the scheduled caste community are:

PMs
Rachel Allan
Charlotte Parbery-Clark
Susan Pollock

Venturers
Coen de Mol van Otterloo
Lucy Flint
Iain Hood
James Mcintosh
Jessica Norgrove
Jack Phillips
Katharine Studley
Sarah Ward
Isabelle Wijsmuller
Jonny Womack

Echo Three
Trench digging bound, to live in a homemade campsite outside the village of Basava Pura are:

PMs
Phil Dart
Bethan Jones
Hannah Lobban & Hannah White (job share)

Venturers
Anniek Akerboom
Owen Duffin
Robert Dwyer
Olivia Ferrari
Kane Grennan
Katie Macnaughton
Kat Ulichnowska
Elisabeth van der Zee
Aimee Welch
Erdinch Yigitce
Raghu

Tango Five
The Missapulimala trek is going to be tackled by the following:

PMs
Christina Ambrose
Laura Burnet
Sterling Grey

Venturers
David Frattinger
Amy Gannon
Ryan Heeley
Simon Majtlis
Tessa Nooteboom
James Rowantree
Kavita Shah
Anupama Varghese
Basil

Tango Six
The Demon Mountain trek is going to be taken on by:

PMs
Oliver Whittle
Lynne Cooper
Luke Jones

Venturers
Fiona Marchbank
Natalie Gordon
Shanelle Ward
Kimberley Delamare
Hubertus Kramer
George Miller
Philip Smith
Rosie Ward
Narthan

Field base medic this phase will be the lovely Dr Josse Emanuel and Hannah & Hannah, who not only share the same name, will also be sharing the Mointoring & Evaluation role at field base and also PMing at Echo Three.

 And then suddnelly Changeover was all over and Phase Three had begun as off they went bright and early on Friday, when we also said goodbye to Ros and Raja.

The Loop is planning to visit Charlie Two on Tuesday so get your messages on the blog by Monday evening for us to pass on.

N.B. Don't forget to tell us who the message is for including their full name and project group. Then select name/URL from the dropdown menu to tell us who it's from (URL can be left blank). Please be aware that we might not be able to publish all personal messages but we will make sure they are all distributed.

All text by Polly Carpenter and photos by Polly Baldwin http://www.dynamicpictures.co.uk/ (unless stated otherwise).

Phase Two: Over and out

So here we are again, on the eve of Changeover two eagerly awaiting the return of the venturers back at Field base. This time we have them here for two days before packing them off for the final phase of their Raleigh India 10K expedition.

As always, Field base has been working hard in anticipation and preparation of the Venturers return: Myself and Polly B have been pulling together the expedition magazine, a long hard slog but hopefully well worth it for a great memento of everyone's time out here. Doug over in logistics has been his usual calmly organised self, everything raring to go with enough tins of tuna, porridge and noodles ready to fuel the venturers in Phase Three. Christina has done a brilliant job organising the loop shop (always a welcome sight for the sugar and e-number starved venturers) and creating the Raleigh India 10K t-shirt. Phil's been the reassuring voice on the end of the phone for all medical queries and entertained himself by writing, directing and editing our 'comedy' skit video ready for the venturers return. Whilst Anna has been masterminding the operation and Del has been a hive of organisation both ensuring that everything runs smoothly.

Out on phase they've been telling us what an amazing time they've been having. The projects are really taking shape and each group are able to tangibly see the difference they are making out here, both on site and to themselves.
 
Charlie One have now completed all brick work on the five houses, two roofs are up and they've finished plastering on one. Tonight is a closing ceremony with the village, no doubt a joyous but emotional affair.

Charlie Two completed all 12 eco-sanitation toilets. Today they had a sports day with the community and a leaving celebration tonight.

Echo Three have worked tiresly on the trench and made fantastic progress. They had a leaving ceremony yesterday where they enjoyed a big feast.

Echo Four have had a a slightly challenging phase due to weather conditions but have been resourceful finding other ways they can support the community and certainly made the most of their time out there.

Tango Five are jubilant after completing the trek yesterday! They're now making their weary way back to Field base on the day and a half journey up from Kerala.

We can't wait for them all to descend and tell us all their stories ...

Happy Diwali!

It has now been a few days since all the newly formed groups left Field base and arrived at their new projects.


Tango 5 had a great start to the phase spotting elephants on the drive down to Kerala. They are now well in to their 16 day trek and have already climbed the second highest mountain in South India – Misappulimala, which peaks at 2,637m.

Charlie 1 arrived at Uluvadu and got stuck into things by digging a new long drop toilet. They are now continuing with the 7 houses started last phase.

Charlie 2 have met the villagers at Hagaranahalli and settled in to the school where they will be living for the next few weeks. One the first day they managed to complete the foundations for 6 of the 24 sanitation units that are being constructed.

Echo 3 set up camp and met the locals. They have been having lots of fun continuing with the Elephant Proof Trench and Solar Fencing started last phase.

Echo 4 also had a new long drop to dig and got their new bashas organised before continuing work on their Trench.

A few of the groups have also had the chance to celebrate Diwali with the locals, which is one of the most important festivals in Hinduism. Also known as the ‘Festival of lights’ Diwali is celebrated for 5 days, and involves lots of fireworks, candles and firecrackers.

Here at Field base myself (Christina) and Anna walked into the local village to see the morning celebrations of Diwali and found lots of Cows being cleaned ready to be painted with bright colours, and everyone wearing their best clothes to celebrate ‘Naraka Chaturdashi’.

 This day of Diwali signifies the victory of ‘good over evil’ and ‘light over darkness’. Small oil lamps are lit and elaborate Kolams (sand paintings) are drawn outside houses to bestow prosperity to homes.

Through the daily sit reps we were able to find out that Echo 3, Charlie 1 and Charlie 2 were fully involved with local celebrations, visiting local temples and being included in the community festivities.

Polly C and Del will be back tomorrow from Echo 3 and Echo 4 with an update of how they are getting on. If you have any messages for any of the groups leave a comment and all messages will be taken out with the loop vehicles.



Diwali Celebrations at Field Base



All text by Christina Ambrose

Photos by Anna Tate and Christina Ambrose