African Adventure: Day 1

We arrived safely here in Africa, after a long journey, at 10:00am local time. The UN team gave us our briefing; we have been brought in as an emergency relief team to provide much needed aid to Karyango village. Our first task was to get to know our fellow team mates, in a series of activities which required us to work closely together to achieve our goals.

Next we had to get the lay of the land by exploring our immediate surroundings. We set off to find out more about the situation we had been flown into. It soon became clear that there were a number of problems facing the village. Inside the village compound we discovered shell casings, indicating the presence of soldiers in the recent past. The huts were deserted, but had clearly been left in a hurry. Beside the village a minefield was roped off. We found a graveyard a few hundred yards from the compound, with graves of adults and children, the youngest just one month old.

We used maps of the area to further understand where we are.

Following our explorations we produced our own maps of the site, using natural materials.

A UN helicopter dropped an aid package, which contained a DVD produced by Abraham, a resident of the village. He told of the plight of his family and fellow villagers and asked for help to rid the area of mines, bring back water to the village and hunt for food.