Trips & Service

Below is a collection of trips I have gone on that have shaped who I am today

Desert

Growing up in Dubai, the desert has and always will be one of my favorite places. My family and friends used to go on camping trips every weekend, traveling out into the dunes and finding ideal spots to spend the night. I loved every trip. Running around in the dunes, playing tag and then mellowing down for the night, circling around the campfire and talking with friends. We'd grill our dinner over the fire, every family contributing something to cook for the evening. Some of my happiest memories have come from being out in the desert and just enjoying the sensation of the scorching heat fade away into the cool night.

Before I was born, my mother and father had a tradition of spending new years in the desert, so when I was born on the 31st of December 2004, it became a tradition to spend my birthday in the desert. Right at midnight, every year, we would climb up the highest dune we could find and enjoy the view as the Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah skylines lit up with fireworks.

Rites of Passage 2019

Starting my second year in Bali and entering my first year in high school, my grade was given the opportunity to go on a "Rites of Passage" camp. As a yearly ritual, the boys and girls were split up, going separate ways to complete their "Passage". Upon arrival at camp, we found we'd be spending the first night in a cabin, all together. With the rule of no phones, we spent lots of time together in a "Mens Circle" talking about a range of things, from masculinity to puberty, and sharing many personal experiences. We'd also spend time doing other activities such as fencing, mud wrestling, and spending time in the nearby river, but this was all leading up to one thing. Up until then, we'd only heard stories of previous boys that had gone on the trip but all of them had spoken of a night alone, in the Jungle.

I was terrified. I was hoping that was the one thing they'd left out of this years schedule, but as the second night drew closer they brought us together and told us about our sleeping arrangements for that night. We'd be taken into the Jungle, not far from our cabin and left there to spend the night, until the next morning. We'd been allowed and given 5 things to take with us for the night: a poncho, mosquito spray, a hoodie (that I'd forgotten at home), tobacco, to deter snakes, and a whistle in case something went wrong.

So we got ready, and set off all together, single file, in complete darkness and silence, apart from the drum played by one of the camp leaders. We walked for 10 minutes, along a path through the surrounding jungle until the drums stopped and a different camp leader walked down the line and stopped in front of me, grabbed my arm, and walked me away from the path into the jungle. We stopped and all he told me was, "This is your spot", before returning to the line and continuing. I watched as they walked away and continued dropping other people off in different parts of the jungle. I opened up my tobacco and sprinkled it in a circle around where I was standing. My friends and I had joked about bringing rolling papers and smoking it but in that moment I was much happier being safe from the snakes. Around 30 minutes passed they finally walked past my spot one last time leaving me completely alone. I stood for a long time, assessing my surroundings, freaking out at every sound, and contemplating staying up all night. After around an hour, I felt confident enough to sit down and even lay down. From then on, it was a blur of waking up a million times, getting cold, spraying the whole bottle of mosquito repellant on myself, and praying for the sun to come up. And it finally did. I felt the most rewarding feeling, standing up and being able to see where I really was. And twenty seconds after I'd stood up, one of my friends stood up, 50 meters away from me. I'd been that close to him the entire night but had no idea. From there, we both went around finding the others dotted along the path before the camp leaders came around and found us again.

Though I was dreading it beforehand and the thought of spending the night alone without a sleeping bag or light terrified me, I would do it again. Seeing the sunrise after that sleepless night was one of the most beautiful things I've ever been able to experience.

Malang 2022

At Green School, once a year during High School, we embark on service trips around Indonesia. We are given options of places we would like to visit and then have the weeks beforehand to plan and prepare for the trip. Due to Covid, my first two years in High School had their service trips canceled but as the restrictions eased the service trips were allowed to restart when I was in Grade 11. All trips are incredible but the one that really caught my attention was the Malang trip. A beautiful city located in the east of Java, known for its fascinating nature and incredible art installations. We'd be staying in the southern region, at a campsite directly on the beach. It looked incredible. From Bali, it's approximately a 16 hour bus ride, or a 1 hour flight. Unfortunately, we were unable to take the flight so we had to endure the bus ride. Despite the overnight ride, we arrived in the morning in high spirits and with the most beautiful white sand beach in front of us. We quickly got to work, picking out our camping spots and setting up our tents. We'd brought extra tarps along incase of rain so our tents would be completely safe. My friend and I made a point to make sure ours was completely waterproof, spending around two hours making it perfect. And that evening, our hard work payed off, when the beach was hit with one of the most intense thunderstorms I'd ever experienced. While we sat comfortably in our tent, we could hear the chaos outside, as peoples tarps flew away and tents got drenched from the downpour.

After a lovely nights sleep, we spent the following days on the beach, exploring the area, learning about the coral restoration projects, replanting mangrove saplings and surfing. We spent almost all our time completely in nature, cooking our own meals and walking to most places. Towards the end of the week, we found that the camp site we'd been staying at was in need of a grill. So, as the "service" element of the trip, we decided to get the materials needed and build them a functional grill for future campers to use. We spent our last days there getting bricks, cement and a custom fitted grill as our contribution to the area. On our final night, we inaugurated the completed grill by cheffing up an incredible feast of freshly caught fish, rice and veggies. The whole experience was magical, as the trips name suggested (Magic Malang). Spending a week, completely cut off from most of society, living on the beach was something I would do again any day. The simple lifestyle had something special to it.

Finally, on the bus ride back to Bali, we stopped off at mount Bromo, an insane volcanic mountain with one of the most beautiful sunrise views I've ever experienced. It was the best way to end one of the best trips I've been on in my life.

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