The much awaited day dawned and
on the morning of Wednesday, March 20th, all the children of Forms 4 and 5
collected at school, ready to board the buses to Camp Fort View,
Thanagazi. After a welcome drink of
lemonade and briefing by the
camp organiser, Mr. Piyush Khandelwal, children
were off to explore their tents, leave their rucksacks, freshen up and return
for a delicious lunch. Thereafter, they
were introduced to the instructors and split into two groups – Green Guerrillas
and Red Indians. While one group visited a nearby village the other group played some team games to
build a bonding within the team and learnt how to make different kind of knots
used while hiking. Children visiting the village were given a guiding
questionnaire for them to interview the villagers about various issues such as
education, woman empowerment, medical facilities and transportation.. They were
able to appreciate their culture and not screw up their nose or raise their
eyebrows at the cow dung all around and the villagers’ modest dwellings. Later
in the evening they worked in groups to make a presentation of their findings
and shared it with the others around the bonfire. The evening meal was a treat for most as they
were served chicken. After a sumptuous meal it was time to retire but the
children were hardly in the mood.
After much cajoling and constant reminders of
the long day ahead, they finally fell asleep.
In true camp style, children were
woken up at 6 a.m. with the blow of whistles, a handy tool for the instructors.
After some milk and cookies, they jogged and exercised for half an hour. They
were then briefed about the first half of the day and sent to get ready. After
breakfast we set out in single file on our trek across the dry terrain of
thorny bushes and rocks. After a couple of hours and the discovery of different
types of rock and animal bones and skulls, we reached a river crossing.
Children were familiarised with the equipment and skill required to ‘zipline’
across the river.. Even the
ones who were a little apprehensive overcame their
fear when they saw their friends enjoying the experience. Once done, we walked
another three to four kilometres to the Thanagazi Fort. On reaching the fort
there were mixed reactions of: relief for having finally completed the trek;.
Back at camp, after some lemonade and a delicious lunch, children were given
some time to rest and gain back their energy.
This was followed by children
filling in their reflections in a journal they were provided. The evening
around the bonfire was filled with music and dance. There was a group from a
nearby village that sang folk songs, played music on their traditional
instruments and also showed the children some folk dance steps. The children
had a fabulous time dancing to the music and showing off different steps. It
was hard to send them for dinner which they finally did only when they were
told that they would be listening to stories around the bonfire once they had
finished their food. Story telling was a good idea as it made them go to bed
much sooner than the previous night.
Finally (or should I say sadly),
it was the last day of the trip and I could tell that a majority of the
children didn’t want it to end. They were in for one last surprise when they
were briefed about the Guerrilla Warfare that they were going to participate
in. There excitement was uncontrollable
and each team was on the warpath to be
the winner, smeared with paint across their face. The two teams began by collecting resources
with the help of clues and a compass. These were then used to build a catapult
and they were given time to test it using a tennis ball. The climax took place
when they were given raw eggs to fire at the opposite team. .
After packing and bidding
farewell to Camp Anubhav and its instructors, we began our journey back to
school. I hope that each child came back grown in experience of a different
kind.
