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Bo r l a s i a n 2 0 1 3
Out of School
Year 11 Trip to Uganda Summer 2013
Where’s Uganda anyway? Two and a half weeks, really? Not much of a holiday destination is it? These are some
of the frequent questions fellow teammates and I are asked when announcing where we’re off to this summer.
Until, that is, they hear of some of the remarkable things we’re planning on doing out there...
A group decision was made early on into what kind of conservation/charity work we would carry out. We chose
a school, and as plans have gradually been finalised it turns out we’re to be helping construct and teach in a
primary school called ‘Little Stars’. Our plans include
building a new classroom and some decorative work
as well as conducting suitable lessons to engage
them in -perhaps music, language and art led by
those best at the respective areas in our team. Did
anyone really need to ask why we were going once
we explained all this, animatedly? Getting a chance
to give a little bit back to people in countries not as
lucky as us was a prospect we all jumped at.
However, we are still young and want to get the
most out of anything we do, so with a trip to Uganda
where we can design our own itinerary, we’ve
made sure its jam packed with the best of what this
amazing country has to offer. Some of the highlights
of our planned itinerary include a trip to see the
actual Equator, a trek through mountains inhabited
by many primates, a safari and visit to the source of
the Nile. All travelling together in our two groups of around 16, each with our two brave teachers and qualified
group leader. All doing a little to help, whilst getting hopefully the experience of a lifetime in a completely new
place (this is our group leader’s first Ugandan trip).
But it isn’t just about the twenty or so days that we’re out there, oh no the journey started miles before that.
Fundraising has been a major part; from bag packing to skydiving, busking to a whole Christmas fair it is safe to
say we’ve all been busy. Uganda has become a part of all of our lives and every moment we think of the funds
we’re raising is a moment thinking of the difference we’re going to make to Uganda, and the difference it will
make on each of us.
Rosie Street
Geography Field Trip
On Monday 11
th
March, the year 12 geography students headed for a spring holiday to the tropical haven of
Snowdonia. After a five hour coach trip, during which we brushed up on our somewhat limited Welsh and
established that the stereotype of there being lots of sheep in Wales is genuinely true, we arrived in Betws-y-
Coed to drop our bags before heading to Llanwrst. As we drove through the Conwy valley, everyone was struck
by the dramatic and magnificent landscape Snowdonia has to offer. Upon arriving in Llanwrst we were given
a tour of the flood defences that had been built in the town after the extreme flood events of 2004. As well as
the typical features of a floodplain, such as walls and levées, we observed some of Llanwrst’s more innovative
flood management strategies of Dutch Dams and sheep islands! I also had my five minutes of fame presenting
our group’s own documentary.
The next day, was the most important day of the field trip where we had to carry out our fieldwork measuring
the velocity of various points along the Afon Peris, on the banks of Snowdon. Unfortunately, this was also by
far the coldest day of the field trip with Siberian winds and an air temperature of minus six degrees, which was
not ideal for standing in the river for three hours, especially given the fact that after stepping on some ice that
