Raleigh International Malaysia Spring 07

Press statement - Raleigh International Raleigh International can confirm that at 12.15pm (UK time) on 23.04.07 a road traffic accident took place involving one Raleigh International staff volunteer and nine other project participants, in Borneo, Malaysia. Toby Eaton-Baudains aged 29, volunteer project manager from Derbyshire, died from his injuries sustained during the road traffic accident which occurred while travelling back from Sepilok orang-utan sanctuary to the project site at Batu Puteh. Yi Ling Siaw, aged 20, and Matthew Fernandez, aged 19, sustained injuries and are currently at hospital in Kuala Lumpur. All other passengers were taken to hospital as a standard procedure, but are now in a hotel in Kota Kinabalu. Here they will be offered counselling and the opportunity to return to the UK if they wish. The accident occurred as the driver of ... read more

Selamat Datang! The 3 weeks of Phase 1 of our Programme have now come to a successful close. How time flies! Our teams have spent the best part of the last month living and working in small rural communities, in remote environmental conservation areas or trekking through remote jungle. They’ve started building the infrastructure for much-needed village or forestry facilities, taught English, organised sports tournaments, learned how to cook local food and much more besides. Most importantly perhaps they’ve learned to adapt to life without the things that many of us take for granted: running water, electricity, beds to sleep in and the other material and psychological comforts of home. The highlight of last week was undoubtedly Monday, when the 9 groups arrived back from their project sites and then stayed for a couple of nights ... read more

With 9 coaches rolling away in the early hours of the 7th March, the first of our three phases is now underway. Teams are in regular daily contact with Fieldbase which is manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Fieldbase will be relaying any messages, ensuring that each team has what they need, helping with any medical issues and providing support in an emergency. We wait with anticipation to welcome everyone back and to hear all the stories in three weeks’ time! ... read more

The Participants! Last week, the first batch of participants arrived, a group of 19 Malaysian young people, they were greeted by the staff and taken to ‘Jungle Camp’ to begin expedition training. They then prepared to welcome their international team mates with a local song and some traditional Malaysian dancing the next morning. The following day, the rest of our participants arrived, in total we’ll have around 110 participants and 29 staff across three phases of the programme. They hail mostly from the UK and Malaysia, but we are joined by participants and staff from Canada, Chile, the Netherlands, Ireland, Ghana, Australia and Lithuania. They have all volunteered to have come to Sabah to work together, to help the environment and local communities, as well as to embark on what for many will be a ... read more

Sabah is one of the 13 states that make up Malaysia, together with the capital district of Kuala Lumpur (KL). Along with the other Malaysian state Sarawak, Indonesia and Brunei, it makes up Borneo, the third largest island in the world. Both Sabah and Sarawak were independent colonies before joining Malaya in 1963, and even today they retain more autonomy than the other states. The capital city of Sabah is Kota Kinabalu (or KK) where Raleigh Fieldbase is situated. Sabah, otherwise known as ‘The Land Below the Wind’, has a beautiful and dramatic landscape, and some fascinating ethnic communities, flora and fauna. The state is well known for its incredible natural features and varied terrain, which includes everything from swampy, mangrove tangled coastal areas, to gorgeous sandy beaches and coral reefs, through dazzling green paddy fields ... read more