Robyn Brooks: A Passage To India

Raleigh is a youth and education charity. Since 1984 the expeditions have inspired 30,000 people from all walks of life, nationalities and ages to be all they can be, helping them develop new skills, friendships and make a difference to communities  and environments across the world. Borneo, Costa Rica and Nicaragua and India are the three countries that Raleigh have been doing work in for many years now.

My name is Robyn Brooks, I am 18 years old and have just finished a local sixth form, not sure about what I wanted to do next but knowing that University wasn’t for me, I researched other options available. I knew that there must be more out there other than University and that’s when I first came across Raleigh.

Raleigh encourage young venturers to organise fundraising activities to raise funds for their chosen expedition, at first glance this was quite a daunting thought  as the deadline for all fundraising funds was rapidly approaching. To help with my fundraising target, I asked family members for donations to help towards the cost of my fundraising target.

Aside from the target there was the cost of flights, kit and vaccinations to pay for, so for these I have organised a sponsored truck wash, written to local supermarkets to organise a bag packing events and I have also written to local charities. All of this will count towards getting the necessary kit and vaccinations for my expedition.

The expedition I have chosen to go on is India, I will be staying in Southern India in a rural part of Karnataka, Mysore for 10 weeks undergoing three phases that each last three weeks. There is a community project, on this phase you could be working in a local community, helping build a kindergarten or install a water feed system so the locals would have access to clean water.

There is also an environmental project, which is much like the community project although the focus is set more on being aware of what’s around you, on this phase there are many things that we could be doing one of which could be helping to build an elephant reserve near local communities. Finally there is the Adventure phase, this phase is created to push your limits and experience something that you never have before, it’s all about survival and making sure we have everything we need to eat and drink.

My thoughts on going on the expedition are a mixture of nervousness and excitement, but it will be an experience I will never get the opportunity or time to do again. I want to push myself, take myself out of my comfort zone and away from everything I’m used too. I think when I come back I would have learnt many life lessons and I won’t take for granted many of the things we have such as, running water, mobile phones and internet.

The expedition is rapidly approaching as I am set to go on the 8th October were Karnataka India will be what I call home until the 15th December.