Abby Vetarapi Heuva

Abby Vetarapi Heuva had finished school before joining the Namibia 2006 expedition.                                          

I had some spare time between finishing school and starting university and Raleigh International offered me the opportunity to do something useful and worthwhile, which I thought I could benefit from. I wasn't that familiar with Raleigh International and didn't know very much about it. I was encouraged to join by the co-ordinator at the Youth Council in Namibia. From what I was told by the Youth Council, Raleigh International seemed a good way to spend my time and would give me the opportunity to meet people from other countries and cultures and also maybe learn something.

It has been really interesting to meet people form different nationalities and backgrounds. It hasn't all been easy. I found it hard work on the day that I had to carry the radio (an extra 9 kg) and I am not that used to walking long distances for climbing hills, so that has been a bit of a challenge too!

I was at Treesleeper on a community project, where we were building a cultural centre, where the local people can stage performances of traditional music and drama and sell locally produced crafts to tourists. The work was physically challenging. We had to dig out lots and lots of rock to build a septic tank and also do lots of cement mixing. The evenings were fun - we played games, quizzes and sat around the campfire chatting.

It was a fun phase. We had access to an electric drill to help us with the building of the animal  hides in Kaudom National Park. We also got to go on a safari - we saw elephants and buffalo.

My highlights from expedition include: being part of a team, laughing with the group, keeping a record of our progress and writing down the funny quotes!  

Working with people from different cultures has been good and a great opportunity to learn more about other countries. It has also been great for me to practice my English. It hasn't really been difficult at all - altogether much easier than I had imagined it would be. I have learnt to be more self-disciplined and to be more respectful of others. Raleigh International has helped me to appreciate the importance of respecting other people's cultures and of not discriminating against them.

 

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• Case Studies
• Aged 17-24 Venturer
• Host Country Participants
  • Erick Morales Scholz
  • Li Bee Tan
  • Abby Vetarapi Heuva