Outward Bound

I don't believe there has ever been a better week (that I can remember) to demonstrate the variety of Outward Bound. When I first signed up with Project Trust - even before then actually, when the representative showed up on the stage of Nonsuch, and showed us pretty pictures of what we could do, and where we could go - my first thoughts were: climbing, kayaking, having fun in the sun. I had trouble for ages, wondering how this could be considered a valuable project for Project Trust, how volunteering here would help other people, and not just be basically a year long holiday of adventure activities.

I'm not going to deny that being here is fun. I love it. I love the climbing, I love the kayaking, I love sitting on the boat and watching the sunset, I love the hiking and the trees and the crazy birds, I love the instructors and their jokes, I love the smiles I get when I say 'Terima Kasih' instead of 'Thank you', I love singing the National Anthem, I even love how sneaky the monkeys are. But the fact is, the adventure activities, the national pride, they aren't just what it's about.

OB is so much more than just fun in the sun. Over the past four days, I've been up for Physical Training - running, circuit training and so on - every morning for disciplines sake. I worked with the technical team, sweeping up the Flying Fox area, building a bench, taking down the ladder to prevent rot, the lobster claws the only thing keeping me from tumbling 15ft to the floor. I had kayak training, the sun beating down as we tumbled around, water up our noses, our knees covered in bruises from trying to flip. You can't see, you can't breathe, but you have to remember - the paddle set up, the position of your body, jolting your knees and hips, your body comes last, but don't forget to tilt back, push past the pain.

I've spent hours typing up Games Leadership and Risk Management Training, to be distributed among the instructors to ensure that the risks (and with the different participants we get, believe me, there are risks) are noted and reduced wherever possible, while establishing a feeling of community and responsibility though games and activities; just this morning, we spent our time cleaning the dining hall - scrubbing the tables and sinks, sweeping and mopping the floors, wiping the doors down. 

The fact is this: Outward Bound is about Character Development. The fun, the adventure, the outdoors  - they aren't ends in themselves, they're a means to an end. 

It's about providing experiences that are exciting and remarkable, involving uncertain outcomes and acceptable risks to develop the skills of team-work, of leadership, of self-reliance, of tenacity, helping people to overcome their self-imposed limits.

It's about compassion and service: helping others - whether by cleaning, giving blood, showing some initiative and making something - as an 'active expression of the value we place on our common humanity, our diversity and the natural world' as Outward Bound International states.

It's about instilling a sense of community, a sense of responsibility, both socially and environmentally.

But really, the point of OB is, at the very core, to help others grow. I'm having a fabulous time doing the things I love, and I really do admire the other projects available - they're all brilliant, and on the surface all could be said to be a lot more 'charity-work' than what we've got here. 

The fact is though, Project Trust does right by working with OB - it requires discipline, commitment, love for what you do, patience, integrity, a smile, and bloody hard work to help those who won't, and sometimes can't, help themselves.

I realise this is a bit of a ramble, and probably won't make a huge amount of sense, but I figure it might be useful at a later date - to prepare others maybe, for what they might do, and to show that OB isn't all about just having an adventure - the Instructors' have a whole lot more to deal with, and need a whole lot of support to deal with it.