OSC Day 2

Our blog today was written by 2 people. The first part is by Malaika Salman.

"When we woke up, we had the mandatory luxury to take a dip in the freezing river at 7:00am. Then, on the bumpy and uncomfortable ride up the hill, we got off and set off for a hike to get to the waterfall. We got lost. More than half of the class headed in the wrong direction while hiking up to the waterfall (Editor’s Note: We challenge groups to take leadership and initiative to find their own way up without assistance from guides unless safety is at stake), after going up and down in wrong directions and in the end a guide came and took us to the right direction (Editor’s Note: They were about 20 feet from where they needed to be). We were told that this is the first time anyone has got lost hiking up the hill with borderlands, so we can all say proudly we have written history today. The whole “getting lost” was actually a fun and challenging experience for most of us because together as 9^th grade were trying to figure out where we had to go, but in the end, we learnt that we should always stick together as one unit.

Then after lunch, we headed into the village to interview people around the village about the dam that will be built in Kitugala, and I learnt a lot. Today was a fun, but tiring day and we all achieved something today. "

The second piece is written about the abseil activity, by Nathan Omprasadham.

"One does not always find they hanging off a 110-foot cliff with their life in the hands of an inanimate object, but one finds that doing so often gives you a rather different perspective on life. Wade (accompanied by his trademark grin) happily told us back at school all about how abseiling was technically the safest activity we would undertake on our trip. He told us we had nothing to worry about. He failed to tell us about the fact that doing so meant you would probably end up kissing a mountain…hard. 

Rocky intimacy aside, the decent was exhilarating, with water rushing past your feet as you descend down the incline, everything else disappears as the rope and the rock become your whole world. Slowly that expands and you start to take in the scenery, breathing the mountain air and digesting the spectacular view. Gravity is pushed to the back of your mind as your friends cheer you on, and step by step you descend into victory… and beyond."