Camping under the stars

Once again the boarding students were invited to sleep out under the stars. All who were able, came to have a long night of fun, and in the end a little sleep. The first activity was to design and adapt a 3kg tin into a stove which is done in the afternoon before going off to find firewood. Some decided to 'steal' extra materials for their stove and so suffered disqualification at the contest. A pair of grade 12s no less!

Mwansa... I think

Having taken firewood to the site and run back for supper, a tasty pancake fajita type meal, the real business could start. The stove competition of "beauty and brains" was a close call between Asia and Naomi's bougainvillea adorned tin pot and Cholwe and Jackson's well banged out deep fat fryer. Philip and Taonga won a prize for innovation trying to incorporate a handle into the design with rubber coating to boot. However trials the following day showed rubber to be very combustible!

Getting ready for bed

First event on the cards was orienteering which even in daylight can be a challenge but at night can be very disorienting! The 'Expendables' did a 20 minute circle to find number 6, their first control point (supposedly an easy one) and ended back at the rock where they had started. The map reader having informed his team to cross a stream and then a river to reach 6 promptly did just that, but "Where O Cholwe, is the torrent?" However despite the poor start they managed to win in the end with 21 points. Hot on their heels were Take Off and Major Lazers who came very close to finding that elusive number 3. Thinking the disused road had ended they turned around not realising they were but 20 m from the big 6 pointer, which was just the other side of the encroaching heather. However to find 7 out of 8 points, in the dark, on your first orienteering exercise, is very good going and no team did poorly.

Rosemary busy stove building

Following those successes we ditched a 'Mission Impossible' game, due to time, and moved onto 'Capture the Flag'. As time was running out we did a small set up to encourage confrontation and attacking play. Sure enough, soon there were yelps and screams and cackles of laughter as raiding parties attacked and defenders ambushed one another. Small kids got picked off by three seniors without mercy, a 'Scarlet Pimpernel' emerged as Conglin walked his way into the opposition's camp unchecked, twice, and Mr Kapalaula's rhino charge was very amusing to follow as he bounced off saplings and bamboos in a bid to escape, blundering in the dark, till he was literally upended by a clothes lining vine! Great fun, even if no winner emerged, though the yellow team was later found to be cheating with a dummy flag! Probably Diana's idea.

I think the egg is supposed to be on the stove Mr K!

To finish off the night we sat round the fire with marshmallows and had a devotion on Luke's account of the sign of Jonah and the rejection of Christ. With the previous week packed with spiritual input the challenge to be 'hearers AND doers' was made again.

Time for breakfast! A very short 'sleep' later and it was time to get the stoves going. Fried eggs, bacon and toast was on the menu with some pancake mix for afters and some Coca-cola to wash it all down. Breakfast this way is very slow and a lot of maintenance is required to keep fires going but strangely satisfying when you are done. With heavy dew the challenge of starting a fire with one match can be tricky. Preparation is the key coupled with a lot of care and attention. Everyone did very well with many older timers showing refined skills.

Still smiling, can't be all that bad eh, Denise?

Sadly everything good ends very quickly and the next challenge was to be back a school ready for the Sunday service. Conglin's greatest challenge was to begin... could he stay awake?

My thanks to Mrs Haynes and Mrs Kaumba (girls dorm parents) for coming along so willingly and it was great to have some visitors with us who joined in.

Report by Mr Grove