Selamat Datang! Welcome to the final instalment of news from Programme 07C at Raleigh International’s Malaysia branch. All our work is finished and many of the Participants will already be home by the time you read this. The Programme was a greatsuccess, thanks to the hard work of all who took part and we’ve received a great deal of positive feedback from the press out here, the people we helped in Sabah, the Ministry of Youth and Sport (who lend us some support financially and administratively), parents and of course the volunteers themselves. Well done one and all! Just t [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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GRAVITY WATER FEED OPENING - KG SOSONDOTON On Friday 23rd March, Raleigh International and the community of Kg Sosondoton welcomed Yang Berhormat Datuk Masidi Manjun, The Minister of Youth and Sports Sabah, to officially its new Gravity Water Feed system. The ceremony marked the end of a successful three-week collaboration between the villagers and Raleigh volunteers. Funding for the project was provided by Coca-Cola Malaysia. Construction of a gravity water feed system involves a detailed survey of the village and area to ascertain where piping and taps should be placed as well as lo [View Full Entry]

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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 g [View Full Entry]

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The first stop for the loop team (Laura, Wendy & Simon) was Imbak to see Alpha 5. After what seemed like a phenomenally long drive and a very interesting stop for lunch in the stunning town of Telupid, and the crossing of an extremely small Imbak River we arrived at Ranger Camp. After a brief chat with the head ranger - who assured us “dry season, no rain for weeks, river is good” we hiked in. Alpha 5 seemed fine, although there were a few signs of encroaching jungle madness. Plan was to all hike out at first light, however [View Full Entry]

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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! [View Full Entry]

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Our launch ceremony, which was held on 6th March, was a tremendous success, and attended by project partners, sponsors, press, participants and staff. The programme was officially opened by Puan Suzannah Liaw, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth & Sports Sabah, and the evening concluded with some lively traditional Malay Dancing, including the Sumazu dance, which involves dancing nimbly in between bamboo poles which are being clapped together. There was, of course, extensive audience involvement in the dancing, from both participants and staff, some of whom were more successful than others [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 e [View Full Entry]

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