World Challenge - how challenging is it really?

WORLD CHALLENGE - how much of a challenge is it really?

Last summer, a group of 15 girls flew to Kuala Lumpur, spending three and a half weeks travelling through Malaysia and Borneo. It was, undoubtedly, an unforgettable experience, with many new friendships and memories made. But, what were the real challenges - the parts you don’t see on instagram? Molly McPhillips (LVI) takes us through her trip: the good and the bad...

In the summer following my GCSEs I decided to undertake a challenge. World Challenge. To many, including myself, it sounded daunting, however, following a very colourful and cogent assembly, it seemed ludicrous to not even consider it. Sold to all as a rugged yet beautiful holiday of once in a lifetime proportions, I signed up. But there are aspects to this experience that you aren’t always told.

They certainly do not exaggerate. It is a challenge. In many more ways than they warned me, it was a challenge of unparalleled proportions. There are multiple categories which I considered the most “challenging”, we’ll with the build up. The first challenge they present you with is the choice of whether or not to even agree to this vigorous, all-consuming programme. After all, it is the ‘summer of a lifetime’, following the treachery of GCSE exams. Do you really want to spend it on what is effectively a school trip? The obvious, and most popular answer is no. I was one of the few thrill seekers who were willing to give up a month out of my longest summer to embark on this trip. In the first meeting, I realised my challenge had only just begun. I had to raise over £3000 just to pay for the trip - the next year of my life would be consumed by fundraising and living in a West Londoner’s idea of poverty as I had to save my money rather than spend it on the essential clothes, makeup and food that defined my lifestyle. At this point I entered a stage of absolute, irreversible denial. I recall my mum threatening me in some way or another and I begrudgingly agreed to save my money and see where I got.

Fast-forward a year, and we were sent on a training weekend of camping in the British Countryside (not exactly the Malaysian jungle I had been promised), and, in typical British fashion, it was about 5 degrees and poured with rain for the entire weekend. I had specifically chosen to do World Challenge instead of DofE with the assumption that I could avoid such horrors by getting as far away from rural England as possible. Admittedly, I have blocked most of that treacherous weekend from my memory, but I distinctly remember our World Challenge leader getting us lost in a field somewhere and, whilst we felt sorry for her, our patience was limited by the freezing temperatures and fear felt within all of us at what we had signed up for (thankfully she was replaced at the last minute by a 26 year old Australian who bore a striking resemblance to Jesus). It was the freezing temperatures, and our lack of ability to put up a hammock with numb hands and dripping hair, was the last straw for many. Our group decreased in size by nearly half after that weekend as people realised that this was more of a challenge than they had signed up for. Whilst I was tempted to admit defeat, I also acknowledged that it was called World challenge, and I had certainly not yet faced the challenges of the world, but merely those of autumnal English weather.

During GCSE’s my trip fell to the back of my mind. This meant that after my exams were finished I was hit with a tsunami of panic. At this point I hadn’t even glanced at the packing list. To top it off, all of my friends but one had already pulled out of the trip along the way, and two weeks before we were set to depart, my last remaining comrade in my group informed me that she had decided not to go. This was when the stress really set in. I was already dubious about the excessive number of needles, waterproofs and laxatives (!?) required, but now I also had to worry about making friends. I honestly could not see myself going through with it and getting on that plane. I did, admittedly, consider whether a broken arm or leg would be enough to cancel my ticket. To exacerbate the situation further, I realised at this point that I wasn’t even allowed to take my phone on the trip, meaning that if I didn’t have any friends or anyone to talk to it would be a very miserable three and a half weeks. Luckily, it was too late to back out, so I accepted my fate and went on the trip, where I would learn that my fears were unfounded.

The first challenge I encountered on our actual expedition was that of exhaustion. As a frequent flier and being half Australian, I had expected to find the flight easy enough. Due to my nerves, and maybe the fact that I was wedged in next to a stranger who did not speak English, I did not get a single moment of shut eye and I was absolutely shattered on arriving in Kuala Lumpur. This sleepless plane journey turned out to be the least of our worries, as we slept in various (questionable) places. Some nights it was comfortable bunk beds, other nights we were in large, pink ‘houses’ with birds flying above us all night. The night before our trek we were staying in what looked from the outside like a Barbie dreamhouse. It was anything but a dream inside. There was not a single piece of infrastructure or furniture in the place, the toilet was just a small pipe which was found in the middle of the ‘bathroom’ floor and went from inside the bathroom to a small patch of grass directly below the house. We slept on the floor in sleeping bags with, as I mentioned before, birds flying in and out of the roof as there was a large hole in the wall facilitating their entry and exit. And yet, the home cooked meals that our hosts in Bario provided (where we slept in the ‘dream house’) and the rainbow and local children running up to hug us that we came back to after our trek made it all worth it. But a lack of sleep was a continuing theme, as our turtle conservation project required us to patrol the beach (for predators, and so that we could scoop up the baby turtles as they hatched to take them to the ocean!) from 9 o’clock at night, often until 7 am. Some people were strong enough to endure this pain, but I was certainly not one of them. I fell asleep about half way through my shift every single night on the swing beds down by the beach. I think I managed to complete one whole shift, and after that I was so exhausted that I would just pass out without even making it to my room. In the mornings, we would snooze on the beach and try not to burn in the process!

Something that concerned the entire group on planning our trip was illness. Getting sick was probably one of the biggest challenges faced by the entire group. I was patient zero, as I fell ill on my sixteenth birthday (not the best birthday I’ve had). I’m still not entirely sure whether I was actually ill or overdosed on cough medicine... If I think about it too much, I can still taste the dioralyte lingering in my throat as my friends forced me to drink it (also not the best birthday present I’ve received). We were in a taxi travelling 20 minutes from the hotel to our next accommodation. So I got in the taxi and tried to get on with my day, reassured by others that it was probably just homesickness. Let’s just say, I disposed of my stomach contents in the taxi, but in a plastic bag thankfully. I was happy to hold it until I could find a bin, however, the bag had a small hole which caused it to begin leaking in the car. The driver then frantically rolled down the window and I threw it out as quickly as I could! I, of course, was not the only one to get sick as, weeks later, the rest of the group came down with a similar bug. This bout hit when we were staying at the tropical escape known as Bubbles Dive Resort. Seemingly immune to the illness, I was one of the only people to enjoy my entire time at this paradise, and three quarters of the group was stuck in bed for a day, which resulted in The Bin Incident (I won’t get into it). However, I feel that I must inform you that other groups went on the same exact trip and did not have a single sickness the entire time, so this is a potential challenge but not a definite battle you have to deal with on World Challenge.

Another challenge we faced was the division of leadership roles. As soon as we reached Malaysia, we had to divide up our money, organise our budget and assign people to certain roles. You can imagine, in a group of 15, how difficult this task alone would have been. We had not quite realised until this point how independent we had to be; it was entirely up to us to get from place to place, ensure we could pay for everyone’s meals and meet everyone’s dietary requirements, as well as organising accommodation and transport we could afford and book on such short notice. There were initially some obvious leaders in the group but, at first, we were pretty much a complete mess. This struggle for leadership was not really an issue for most of the trip, however, there were some incidents over budgeting (which nearly resulted in our starvation) and people arguing over who had to be group leader on some days as it was easier at some times than others. This was tough, but as a group we worked together to overcome it. Those who liked to have the power learnt to relinquish it, and those who never thought they could lead a group of 15 smelly, shouting girls found that they were stronger than they realised.

The food available to us was a definite shock. Whilst we were obviously expecting different cuisine in this unknown culture, we were not really prepared for what Malaysian food often entailed. Our first experience with food in Malaysia was in the airport. As we were all hungry from the flight, we decided to get something to eat. Due to our traumatic experiences on the plane, we decided to treat ourselves to Starbucks. Cultural, I know. However, we soon realised that Starbucks, by Malaysian standards, was extremely expensive, and could not fit into our group budget, so we paid for it out of our own personal money we brought with us. After spending what seemed like a small fortune on something as mundane as Starbucks, we found, to our dismay, it did not nearly meet the standards of British Starbucks, as shown by their version of ‘sausages’, in the picture. We did not make this mistake again and steered clear of both Starbucks and sausages for the rest of the trip. On to actual Malaysian food, many of us were unsure what to eat and what to avoid at first, wary of getting food poisoning. Luckily, we had a food-specialist among us, who knew what to order. Roti canai is a must-try for anyone who hasn’t already. Despite eating it about 100000 times on our trip, after a week back in London our Whatsapp chat was full of people desperate to learn where they could find roti in Hammersmith.

Our first stop was a city called Kuching (which translates to something to do with cats, I can’t remember exactly). I was in the bigger room, with eight other girls. The heat was the first thing that struck us. The first day, we arrived at the hostel and changed into slightly cooler clothes (but were urged to cover up by the teachers). It was 35 degrees and 100% humidity, and every local that we passed was wearing jeans and some were in jumpers, long boots and wooly hats. I had never seen anything like it. We were all dripping with sweat within seconds, and these people were dressed fit for a London winter. Desperate to escape the heat, with no clue about where to go for dinner, a few of us ran into the air conditioned lobby of the nearest Hilton Hotel and asked the receptionist for the cheapest, nearest restaurant they knew. We went to the hotel lobby bathrooms and washed ourselves with cold water, used the clean toilets and sat in the lobby for twenty minutes before going back out to face reality. This selfish act was needed, and we were in high spirits for the rest of the day. I think that my group mates would agree that the heat and humidity in Malaysia was one of the biggest challenges we faced on our expedition.

There were cultural barriers to consider as well. On our second night in Kuching, a few of us in the shared room were unable to sleep and stayed up talking late. This caused a dispute in our group as others wanted to get some rest. We caved and decided to leave the room and go and talk in the toilets, which were opposite our room. It was two o’clock in the morning and we did not expect anyone to be awake, but when we opened the door, we were greeted by a family having a barbecue in the middle of the hostel. There were small children in school uniforms running around, and grown men and women having a barbecue. This was a moment of realisation for us as we could not imagine this scenario ever occurring in our lives. This culture shock was a definite struggle and small things like going to Mingh’s cafe for dinner before the trek and having a meal of burgers and chips were welcomed with open arms after weeks of roti, or chicken and rice. As much as we loved experiencing the local culture, our longing for familiar food and drink was reflected in our daily 7/11 trips. We became nothing short of obsessed with this convenience store as we were able to buy all kinds of exciting things like ice-cream, Lipton lychee and green tea iced tea and ‘dip and lick’ lollipops. Although getting to know Malaysian culture was incredible, those small reminders of home (and the sugar rushes) really got us through the trip.

I can not even think of what specific category to put this disaster of a day (and one of the funniest) under, so I will just include it alone as a fun anecdote. A few days into our trip, everything was going smoothly. We were all getting along, and in general everyone was having a good time. We left our first location and headed to our next stop - our practice trek in Similajau National Park. The logistics of our travel were complex to say the least (not helped by the fact that Hollie was our group leader that day - the least organised person I have ever met) and we had to organise a boat trip and a long bus journey. The boat was about 5 hours, so in order to enjoy the sunshine, everyone decided to sit on the top deck. Some made the mistake of falling asleep in the sun wearing shorts, causing severe burns for a few, which later peeled (yes it was very gross). Little did we know that this was an easy start to a horrific day to come. On disembarking the boat, we sent the rest of the group to the market, as a few of us had to find food for the next few days. We searched up the nearest supermarket and headed there immediately. When we walked in we realised this was not a supermarket but a meat market, and there was nothing we could buy here. So we did the selfless thing, and sent the rest of the group to get lunch whilst we had two hours to find a supermarket and buy food for the entire group, and somehow get lunch as well. The nearest supermarket we found was a 40 minute walk away. I don’t know if you have ever been to Malaysia, or any humid, hot city, but walking through a city centre in 40 degree heat with a bag that is half your body weight on your back, and another rucksack on your front, is something of a challenge. By the time we reached the supermarket, we were dripping in sweat, crying actual tears, and one member of our group was on the verge of collapse. We had hit rock bottom. Once in the air-conditioning of the shopping mall, we grabbed four shopping trolleys for our backpacks and began to search for the food on our list. We soon realised that we could not find anything we had hoped for, and ended up assembling a make-shift assortment of what was available. Two of us then went in search of food, as it was way past lunchtime and we had to meet the group soon. We had been given group money to spend on food, however, as our shopping was so unsuccessful, we had plenty of money left over… Enough for MacDonald’s. Usually, we think of MacDonald’s as a normal, if sub-standard, food supplier, and a member of our group was even a ‘MacDonald’s virgin’, however, I have never craved anything as much as I craved Mcnuggets and a diet coke at that moment.

What we did was immoral, but we had been through a lot that afternoon, so I confess, we did spend a large portion of group money on the most expensive food in Malaysia. We bought a mountain of food and took it back to our starving friends. It was exactly what we needed. We sat on the floor of the air-conditioned shopping mall and salivated over fast food. It was all gone in two seconds flat. Then, as if by an act of God, a random man then came over and offered us free popcorn. At the same time, the security guards came to try and remove us from the floor of the mall, but the shop assistants told them to let us be. These were such kind acts, we are all eternally grateful. We met up with the rest of the group shortly after, who were infuriated that we had not bought what was on the shopping list. We wisely did not admit that we had eaten MacDonald’s as well, because they proceeded to tell us that they were unable to find any food to eat and were running off of ‘a few skittles’ each. That was when the shame kicked in. We made a pact not to confess to anyone what we had done. Of course, they found out eventually anyway, but that is besides the point. This was the first day where I really felt challenged on the expedition. I think we all realised for the first time that the challenges had not yet truly begun, as on our third day we felt like we could not sink any lower. Due to our errors in food purchasing, our dinner that night was bread rolls filled with artificial cheese, and our lunch for the next few days was limited to raw carrots and raw cabbage on white bread with sweet chilli sauce. Needless to say we messed up, but I would like to think that this was justified considering the circumstances, and to be honest, that MacDonald’s made the whole thing worth it.

Another element which we all dreaded from the start was the trekking. Our acclimatisation treks were water-side trails and, despite the crocodile warnings, we all went swimming in the middle of the hikes. The walking was made the most difficult by the heat and the weight of the bags. This was felt throughout the group, as we all struggled to varying degrees. The problem of travelling in a large group is that everyone had different levels of fitness, understandably, making it impossible for everyone to walk at the same pace. This made it frustratingly slow for some, and impossibly fast for others. This was a point of conflict and arguments between the group, and it was very challenging to complete the walking in itself, and also to decide on the most fair way to set the pace and distance. When we got to the actual trek, we solved this issue by some people carrying more weight than others, and taking more breaks so that those who fell behind had more time to catch up. The walking actually turned out to be extremely fun, and a definite highlight. Despite the leeches and constant attack of insects, it was one of the best parts of the entire expedition in my opinion.

We had been warned about the leeches prior to our expedition, however, we had no idea how bad they would be. For the first few days, we barely noticed any, however, on the third day, I took off my shoe to find 5 huge leeches in the bottom of my shoes, and my socks dripping in blood. I then forced other people to remove the remaining leeches from my feet and dispose of the ones in my shoes still. It still makes me feel ill to even think about it. One of the funniest moments was when one of the girls in the group went to the bush to go to the bathroom and screamed at the top of her lungs. She came running out of the jungle saying she had a leech on her bum and had to pull it off. Although it was disgusting and scary, it was all part of the challenge, and we had to laugh these things off. Other wildlife-related highlights included one member of the group being attacked by stinging ants, the persistent bees and multiple stings, and various large lizards and spiders that would not leave our room at night. Some of the insects and animals were terrifying, but others were fascinating - Rice Noodle, for example, was the name that we gave to a fluffy white bug which hopped onto all of our hands, and we later found out was extremely poisonous.

Ok, so another challenge I think you don’t really consider before embarking on the expedition is all of the different people and their personalities being stuck together for weeks on end. Luckily, I made some very close friendships on the trip, and I think that everyone found a place in the group. In general, we all got along very well and it really could have been a lot worse, however, we did have small yet dramatic disputes over paddle boards, Mosques and the legendary group phone. Small things like our daily squat challenges and playing intense games of cards helped us to stay friendly, however, Godolphin girls are always taught to have strong opinions and to vocalise them. There were a few instances of conflict over leadership and responsibilities. Whilst we did allocate a specific person to be group leader every day, there were always issues in the eyes of someone else in the group, which usually resulted in that person taking over completely as they fundamentally disagreed with the approach of the allocated leader. Dramatic, I know. Despite our childish disagreements, we all worked hard for the three weeks to get along as well as possible. Probably our largest group disagreement occurred during the final few days. We finished our trip in the cultural hub of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. The problem was that the teachers, and some of the group wanted to visit a traditional mosque in order to experience the religious culture that we had not really encountered so far. However, other members of the group wanted to experience different aspects of the culture, get some supplies for Bubbles and therefore refused to go to the religious site. This resulted in a significant disagreement between the teachers, group members and even our guide. Some words were said as our patience ran low, but in the end, everyone got to do what they wanted to. My point here is that it is impossible that everyone will agree on everything, and people will inevitably grow tired of each other, but if you learn to compromise and be amicable then disagreements will ultimately lead to a stronger team.

So I will leave you with a final and, for some, the most daunting challenge of the entire trip. In order to travel into remote locations for our trek, we had no option but to endure a short flight, on a very small plane. Our group was split in two, and my half of the group were sent first. The first flight was not bad at all, but it was already apparent from this smooth journey that there were some very nervous fliers among us. This made us all more anxious for the second flight, as our schoolmates in a different group disembarked our plane as we were about to get on it. They informed us that there was a lot of turbulence, which excited some and terrified others. The first five minutes were easy enough and some hoped that the turbulence would not be experienced by us. It did not take long for the bouncing and shaking to begin. Whilst I did find it unnerving, I refused to express my discomfort and kept my mouth shut. There was a vast range of reactions to the disturbance. One of the girls was terrified and sobbing which was the polar opposite to some of the others who were laughing and begging for more turbulence. I would say that if you are looking to confront your fear of flying, then World Challenge will allow you to do so. (*editor’s note: I can confirm I was terrified of the small plane at first, but on the way back it was actually enjoyable*)

Overall, World Challenge was what it says on the tin - a challenge. I have infinitely more stories of peculiar bathrooms, indescribably heavy bags, befriending Jubilee the orangutan and so many conversations and games of Would You Rather that I can not describe in this piece in case impressionable Year 7s are reading. I have never laughed or cried so much in three weeks, and whilst we experienced the lowest lows, it was worth it for the highs.

Not only were there innumerable positives, such as the stunning water at Bubbles, delicious street food and our famous trip to the movies to see Spiderman, it was also the vast challenges and seemingly impossible struggles that now provide us with memories that will last a lifetime. For me personally, and I think for many others in our group, it is the best thing I have ever done. We were all so excited and ready to come home, but now all we can talk about is how we wish we could go back. I hope that someday I can experience something like that again, but even if I don’t I will still be satisfied that I had the time of my life and I will always be grateful for the opportunity. In other words, if you are offered the chance to do something similar, please take it. I promise you won’t have any regrets.

By Molly McPhillips (LVI)