Rotations
By Matthew Tate
Each Monday, groups start moving around. Group 2 joined Group 1 in bushcamp, where they learnt survival skills, shooting and trapping, building shelters, and so on. Their food was rationed in preparation for next week- survival but they did forage for some food - like the unfortunate porcupine which ended up on the braai and was apparently delicious. They spent the entire week isolated in Bushcamp, and only returned to the main campus on Friday afternoon. They also had a solo 'survival' night, where they had to spend 24 hours in solitude, but this night they had everything they needed - food, sleeping bag, backpack, even matches for a fire! The following week for them will not be so 'luxurious'.
Group 4 headed out to a campsite, Horns Up, on the Kariega River. Their days consisted mostly of fitness, with a session in the morning, then a long kayaking session with Jim after breakfast. After lunch was a shorter, more technical Kayaking session and then the last physical; either a run or sets of push-ups, burpies and lunges.
Group 3 and 5 stayed back at home camp, where things stayed relatively normal: physicals in the morning and afternoon, and teaching sessions in between.
Group 3's week consisted of "Life 101" with Sheila in the morning, working through their own lives and getting to know each-other in the group better. In the afternoon, they alternated between community work, and working in the wood-workshop with Cameron.
Group 5 were in the butchery from Monday to Wednesday, where they started off with butchering a waterbuck and processing it into venison biltong, boerewors (spiced sausage) and burger patties. The "A-Grade" meat went towards the Biltong, and the rest, including added fat (because fat = flavour!), was turned into mince, and after processing, the wors and patties. On Wednesday, they skinned and prepared a pig for the next week's group. On the Thursday and Friday, the group swapped between farming and learning about horse-riding.
Everyone returned back to home on Friday afternoon, for the second time trial, which really started to show how our fitness has improved, with some even shaving off 7 minutes from their previous time.
Room Inspection
By Echo Group
When Leo Sorenson stamped up our stairs, all of us were confident that we were going to pass inspection. He scanned the perfectly swept floors - spotless. He then checked the bedrooms and the neatly made beds - perfect. As he checked the bathroom all of us were smiling. There was no way that he could fail us now. But when I saw the smile on his face I knew that it was game over. His sharp eyes had spotted a blade of grass in the basin. He turned round with a grin and said, “Right, bush tonight boys’. We had to sleep around about 3kms away from the campus but luckily we were allowed to take our sleeping bags. Parade started at 5:30am the next morning which meant an early start to get back on time.
Unfortunately our group did not learn from our mistakes and that day we found ourselves failing room inspection once again. Sleeping two consecutive nights in the bush, not something I would like to do again, but certainly a great experience and a great incentive to keep our house spotless.
Our First Gook Chase
By Matthew Tate
Saturday was an Epic, although very different to last time. This week we did what is called a 'Gook Chase'. A 'Gook' was a bandit during the Rhodesian Bush War, and the term was used here for the 'bad guys' who - similarly to in Rhodesia, I expect - had to escape the chasers, while making it to key checkpoints to “destroy” them (take a photo of them). They then had to make it back to the office without being caught - a feat of note! The checkpoints were anything that 'supplied' our campsite, from Reservoirs, to borehole pumps, and so on. They had to take photos of the targets to prove how many they had “destroyed”.
The 'Gooks' scored according to how many checkpoints they made it to, as well as how many of them made it back uncaptured. The Chasers scored according to how many 'Gooks' they captured. You could capture someone by tackling them - rugby and wrestling rules only - and then securing their wrists and/or feet.
The game started at 9, when Group 1 & 2 (The 'Gooks'), were dropped off at different places on the farm, in groups of 4. They had until 1pm to make it back, free. The Chasers left the office at the same time, but obviously on foot. The first few hours were relatively calm, with only a few chases actually happening, and very few of them ending up in anyone being caught, as it really is difficult to track someone through a forest.
After those hours, however, things started heating up, as 'Gooks' made breaks for the cattle grid, which marked the start of the road back to safety, an important part to pass, and one that was difficult to do so, as it was heavily 'guarded'. It was soon figured out that capture didn't mean surrender, as people tied with zip-ties tried making breaks for it, most of which were futile, but some ended in 'freedom' for the odd 'Gook'.
When the game ended, all 'Gooks' that were in captivity were classed as 'captured', and so the people who had them scored points, but the few who were neither in captivity nor safely back by 1pm didn't gain any points for making it back. Luckily, there were no major injuries - besides the odd bruise - and the boys all thoroughly enjoyed this week's epic. Jim tallied up the points, and then everyone had lunch and disappeared for a much needed nap.