(feature image taken by Mr. Duncan)

Day 1: Wednesday 28th August – Depart from OSC Gym Parking Lot 6:30 am

Arrive at OSC before 6:30 dressed in “wet” river clothing and river shoes

Intro/ tea and snacks at Kitulgala rafting point after arrival at about 8:45 am.

Safety briefing, equipment use and training

Rafting, buses continue to camp with luggage and valuables

Packed Lunch by the river

Canyoning

Float down the river into camp

Camp intro, do’s and don’ts/ tent allocations

Regroup in long house by 17.30 hrs

Debrief/ teacher session/ planning ahead/ journal reflection time

Dinner

22:00 Tent inspections and lights out

Day 2: Thursday 29th August

6:30 Wake up – Morning stretches, exercise and river swim 

Breakfast

Hike to Belilena Cave for Theory of Knowledge (TOK) workshop with teachers

Hike to Sandun Ella Waterfall

Pack Lunch

Safety briefing and rope abseil down waterfall or second canyoning (dependent on weather)

Hike back to camp and showers

Regroup by 18:00hrs for debrief of the day

Dinner

Teacher session/ planning ahead/ journal reflection time

22:00 Tent inspections and lights out

Day 3: Friday 30th August

6:30 Wake up – Morning stretches, exercise and river swim 

Breakfast

Service learning skill building through oral histories of selected neighbors to Borderlands

Final debrief, reflections and journal entries

Lunch

Departure and OSC Arrival approximately 4:00 pm

 

Overview

This year’s DP orientation trip was a flurry of events filled with abundant opportunities unique only to this event. Going into this once in a lifetime experience, I understood this to be one of the few chances I could have to create stronger bonds with my peers, especially those of whom I do not often see or talk to in school. I knew I didn’t want to waste such a valuable opportunity so I entered with an open mind and heart to welcome whatever occurred in a positive mentality. I took risks that I wouldn’t usually take under normal circumstances in the hopes of enriching my experience to the fullest extent. The decisions I made and the things I did, however minor, I underwent with the intention to get the most out of it.

(picture taken by Dr. Leigh) – Ashvini, Ayush, Anargi, Kenji, Rika in a stream during the canyoning

On the first day, after we arrived in Kithulaga at the dam under construction, we hiked our way through the rainforest to reach the beginning of the canyoning course where we swam, crouched, slid, and jumped our way down the stream. After the long walk in the hot, humid weather, it was a great refreshment to get into the cool water where we could slide down with the rushing water. But after a while it did become quite cold as we were standing in the water waiting for everyone to get through.

After the canyoning we went back into the forest to go to another spot down the river where we had a crash-course on rafting. After a long exposition, we were finally allowed to move on to the actual rafting down the stream. Though it was tiresome, it was rather uneventful for my boat since everything seemed to go so smoothly and we had no troubles at all with the rapids. However, it was quite amusing to watch as other rafts got stuck in the rocks or had people fall off. After a while, the river settled out and all of us got off the rafts and swam/floated down the river for a good distance. The best part of all of this was the human interaction we experienced with each other especially in such situations as we were faced with. When we got to the camp where we stayed, all of us had plenty to talk about and laugh over what had played out throughout the day.

(picture taken by Mr. Duncan) – Kenji abseiling down the waterfall

The second day played out quite differently from the first in the sense that it was geared more towards a Theory of Knowledge adventure style rather than the physical activities in the previous day. For half the day we spent hiking up a tea plantation and into the mountain to get to a cave that had been used as a temple for hundreds of years. In there, we were able to reflect on way we perceived our journey to get to that particular spot since the morning. We did this by drawing what we saw as the trip. Right next to this cave there was another one behind a waterfall where we had another lesson about perspectives as we thought about how our view of the world can often merely be the shadows of reality. It was an interesting topic to think about as we stared into the blackness of the insides of the cave and we turned around to see what’s actually outside in all its light and glory.

The second part of the day involved a very long hike through the terrain to get to the top of another waterfall where we could do some abseiling. This may have been the most rigorous parts of the trips we had to endure as the hike was long and steep under an unrelenting sun. What was worse, though, was that it began to rain heavily by the time we got up there. I even discovered I had several leeches on me. I was quite disgusted. Shivering in the cold as I sat on the slippery rocks, waiting for my turn to go down the waterfall, I was saved by a trip to the lunch truck where I warmed myself with hot, delicious food and I felt a lot better. When I got back to the abseil, I was a little nervous about the prospect of having to walk down a cliff horizontally with a waterfall falling onto me. I was surprised at how easily I was able to overcome my fears since it ended up being quite fun anyways. Nevertheless, I was relieved I got through the day without too much to worry about.

(picture taken by Mr. Lockwood) – Kenji and group interviewing tailor

The final day, again, took a different turn in terms of what we achieved. As a service-oriented day, our project was to devise a plan to interview people in the local community about how their lives were affected by the dam that was being built. My group’s interviewee was a tailor so we had to tailor our questions to fit her context specifically. This meant talking to her more about how the shift to urbanization in the area had affected her life. When we arrived at her tailor shop we were immediately welcomed by her with her broad smile and light atmosphere. It was quite a pleasure to have the opportunity to interview her and learn about her life since she was so open about it. She talked on a range of topics including how her job involved going to Colombo to gather materials for making clothes and how she viewed the urbanization to be good in the way that education is available for her children but she misses being closer to nature as she had been in her upbringing.

All in all, the trip concluded with much to think about with the experiences we had been through and the things we had learned during the trip.