13A's induction is over: now the hard work really begins!

Expedition 13A is now well under way - yesterday saw all of our teams deploy to their respective projects but not before a big day of packing and planning which all culminated in an amazing evening of inspirational talks from our Country Team of Julian, Pedro and Simon.

The evening ended with a wonderful slideshow of what our teams had done since arriving; an intensive period of learning and challenges for all but it is amazing what can be achieved with a lot of hard work and a go for it attitude from every member of expedition.

We thought you would love to see what everyone has been up to - so here is our Venturer Induction video, put together by our incredible and very talented photographer Liz:

Today is Day 1 of Phase 1 and Alpha's 1 to 10 will be beginning their projects across Costa Rica and Nicaragua - we will bring you lots more updates over the coming days and weeks from our Project Communications Officers, Venturers who have volunteered to be our bloggers on project. This will hopefully give you an idea about what it is like to be a Raleigh International Volunteer, the projects that are undertaken and how Raleigh ensures their sustainability, the themes we are discussing (for Phase 1 it is Social Justice leading upto UN World Social Justice Day on the 20th February) and furthermore the outcomes we hope to achieve.

Find out more about the Raleigh's Project Framework by clicking here >

Finally, a big thank you to everyone for the amazing support we have had so far and for your comments on the blog and just a quick reminder that if you are posting a comment for a volunteer on expedition just make sure you tell us their full name and team.

Pura Vida!

Way down deep in the middle of the jungle…

Yesterday you saw all of the Volunteer Managers set off on their first day trekking in Costa Rica, putting all of their training into practice. Day 2, and Whiskey 1 to 5 channelled Willie Nelson (on the road again!) awake at 4.30am packing up camp in order to set off at 6am. 

6.30am: stunning Costa Rica

We had a few hours of walking through beautiful scenery with our destination: a bit of training with Simon and Pedro, learning water safety and how to cross a river safely.

Water safety: our classroom for the morning

A great save, res-q disking

An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman huddled across a river

The line astern method, a bit of PM congestion in the river

We arrived after a full morning of trekking, river crossings and a bit more trekking to our jungle camp, to learn campcraft, including how to dig a long drop, and enjoy the first night sleep for many in the infamous Raleigh basher.

Pedro attempting to levitate the basher with his mind

Dav, Shane and Antonio learning the finer points of a bamboo basher bed

Greg ready for a good nights sleep in his basher hammock

Yes, Simon is squatting and demonstrating exactly what you think he is - I'll say no more 

Lou, Katharine and Vanessa taking afternoon tea

Zoe, slightly potty

Emma, Marie, Chris and Sara enjoying a cuppa after getting their camp up

Helena prepping for a three course dinner, undoubtedly a jus was included in the main

Whiskey 2 definitely won the prize for best camp

Our final day was another early 4am wake up and a short walk to Fieldbase which turned into a rather more stressful experience than first expected with our mock Casevac training - a 2km trek from where our 'patients' (all of the medics had a lovely time being carried back to Fieldbase in a stretcher) all jokes aside it is a brilliant exercise, where everyone put everything they had learnt into practice.

Marisa being tended to by our well trained Project Managers

Completed mission - Casevac training over and a short walk to Fieldbase

Home, clean and ready for allocations! Find out where our project managers will be based for their first phase tomorrow.

Trek by name, trek by nature

The Volunteer Managers have been training hard over the last few days and we thought you would like to see pictures of them trekking through the foothills of Turrialba, looking calm, collected and without a drop of sweat anywhere - oh the dream! Encompassing some challenging terrain, camping 4 to a tent and learning the finer points of cooking on trangias, it was a fantastic few days, although everyone was pretty glad of a nice cold shower upon return Fieldbase.

First of all we were put into our 5 teams, so here they are:

Whiskey 1: Rich, Liz, Sacha, Victoria, Angie, Claire, Marisa and Colin

Whiskey 2 (I think they were asked which way they unanimously decided to go?): Sally, Denise, Sarah, Shane, Alice, Dav, Antonio and Holly

Whiskey 3: Kate, Zoe, Lou, Lady Glynn, Gemma, Paul and Simon

Whiskey 4 (bloggers team - I have the power to say we were the best): Katharine, Gabby, Sarita, Greg, Emma, Chris and Marie 

Whiskey 5: Clive, James, Helena, Lena, Sarah, Jess and Pauline

So off we went trekking with our maps, tents, trangias, 3 bowls, spades, medical kits, radios, gadgets and gizmos a plenty.

Chilvalry at the stream

Dr Katharine, the height of stability

We were privileged to trek through stunning scenery

Risk assessment training - don't worry we didn't cross that rickety bridge

We put our radio training into practice with an evening sitrep and morning radio check back to Fieldbase:

Dr.Marisa making the evening sitrep radio call-in

We were taught navigation and how to read a map - we were sent off with our compasses and our end point. A few groups got a little lost, but all a learning curve!

Where to go?

Sarah, Holly learning navigation from expert Denise

Kate, Gemma and Zoe planning their next move

Tomorrow jungle camp - stay tuned for basher beds, basher hammocks and long drops...

Radios, Casevacs and Medical Training

We thought you would like to see what our fantastic staff team have been doing for their first full day of training. After a good nights rest in their new homes (sponge mattresses on the floor, hardcore PMs) the team were at Fieldbase for their induction. Radio training, Raleigh's Health & Safety, what to do in an emergency and how to employ a Casevac procedure were among the topics discussed.

However, before we show the Volunteer Managers (VMs) concentrating and being learned, we will start this blog as we start most of our days... with a Raleigh Energizer:

A game of Caballos

Training begun with how to set up and use Raleigh Comms - the radio. There was a lot of words like ionesphere, co-ax and waves flying around.

You can see here Pedro demonstrating how the T-junction for our di-poles works

Putting our theory into practice on a tree outside Fieldbase

We then had our Health & Safety briefing

A delicious lunch was followed by an afternoon of medical training by our Medic PMs James, Marisa, Sarah, Dav, Katharine, Zoe and Lena. Covering expedition and emergency medecine, the PMs are now trained and ready for every eventuality.

Marisa, Medic PM, helping our patient with his asthma

James, Medic PM, showing us how to use a sam-splint to deal with fractures and sprains

DrABC: Holly placing Katharine, Medic PM, in the recovery position

Our evening session was a discussion and briefing on Jungle Camp. Thursday, Friday and Saturday is spent training and trekking in and around the hills of Turrialba. Lukily we had a very informative session on how to pack your rucksack from the CEM Simon.  

Simon's essential trekking kit

All of the PMs are trekking for a few days but we will all be back and will update you on Sunday about our new jungle skills and our photographer Liz will be providing some brilliant trekking photos.

Pura Vida!