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18
ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE
Mud,
Blood,
Sweat
,
Tears
and Laughter
The BorneoTrip
By Sixth Former Maddie Luke
The Borneo trip was a test of character,
patience, perseverance and open-mindedness
and it was clear to see how people grew as
they surpassed their limits.
At first, the biggest struggle was
separating ourselves from the safety of our
culture into the complete unknown. The
shock was a sensory overload: the constant
buzz of the crickets, the different smells,
the humidity in the air, the lack of salt in
our food. We had to learn to adapt. The
way of life was alien to us as well: where
to throw your toilet paper, to remember
to wash your plates three times before and
after using them. But we were alien to many
of the locals, and this interaction with the
people we were doing the work for was the
most important part of the trip. They all had
a keen desire to learn from us and when
we arrived, they performed a traditional
Malay dance to immerse us in their
culture. Another delight was the beautiful
environment surrounding us that one would
only normally see in photographs.
It all started with 20 hours of travel.
Three plane journeys and a bus ride later we
arrived in Kota Kinabalu and launched the
trip with the important work of helping to
clear a horrendous quantity of plastic from
the mangroves to allow an entire ecosystem
to survive.
From there, we travelled to our first
camp, which became our Borneo home:
Camp Bongkud. We spent our time there
concreting their market square and teaching
English to the local children. By the end of
our stay, the camp staff had learnt all our
names and had made us feel welcome and
at ease.
Next was the dreaded five-day jungle
trek. What we did not anticipate was the
hideous amount of mud there would be.
We slid uphill, downhill and some slid back
to camp as illness took its toll. However,
the encouragement everyone gave each
other was the driving force behind the