Dubai pupils learn to lend a helping hand abroad

Jumeirah College students spent a week helping build accommodation for teachers of a school in Cambodia.

School pupils help out in a community project at Camp Tsavo in Kenya. Courtesy Camps International

DUBAI // Max Palmans, 15, helped to break rocks, mix cement and teach English for a week at a school in Cambodia.

The Grade 10 student from Jumeirah College volunteered so children in the South-East Asian country would have a better chance at getting an education.

“We were helping build accommodation for the teachers who live far away,” said Max, after returning last month to Dubai.

“They find it hard to get to school because it is far. The accommodation will help the teachers live close by and will keep the children educated.

“It was a lot of hard work but it is a nice experience. It feels good that I could give my time to help people. We also got to see how the kids live.”

He was among a group of 31 students from his school that took an eight-day trip to Cambodia.

This is not his first volunteering role overseas. Last year he spent 10 days in Tanzania.

Along with other fellow students, he helped to fix school walls, paint and draw world-map murals. He also carried water as part of a trip arranged by UK-based Camps International, which recently opened an office in Dubai.

The adventure and expedition company regularly organises field trips for UAE students to its permanent camps in 13 countries, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Borneo and Peru.

“We build camps with local communities typically living on between US$1 [Dh3.67] and $2 a day as a family,” said Stuart Rees Jones, founder and chief executive of Camps International.

“We build in rural areas but in very unusual, spectacular locations and staff it with people from local communities. The purpose of each camp is to deliver a range of social, environmental and wildlife conservation objectives. Before we build the camp, we sit with the communities and we agree on what the key needs are and we do it in partnership.”

The company aids local communities in these countries by building schools, providing water supplies, feeding children and offering micro-financing to women’s groups. It has also initiated environmental conservation programmes.

More than 1,500 students from mainly international and Indian schools in the UAE have stayed at the camps to work with local communities and their children.

“The reason we are here is to take students from the UAE to our camps,” Mr Jones said. “They typically come from eight days to two weeks and travel during term-time. Teachers use our locations to deliver learning outside the classrooms.”

East Africa and South-East Asia are popular choices for students from the Emirates. Costs vary from Dh8,000 to Dh10,000 depending on the location and the number of days.

The firm hopes its camps help to broaden students’ perspectives.

“A lot of it is team work,” said Rhys Jones, managing editor of the firm. “The activities they do lets them challenge themselves physically more than they would living here. They are living a comfortable life here. If they can hike across the hills to get to a village school like in Nepal, where they don’t have cars or electricity or internet, then it is a bit of an eye-opener for them.”

Abigail Mason, a Grade 12 student from Dubai British School who returned recently from Kenya, agreed.

“It was a good experience because it was a completely different lifestyle from how we live here in Dubai. We realised how lucky we were,” said Abigail, who helped to repair student toilets and dug holes to plant trees.

Camps International hopes to expand its programmes to students in public schools.

“We have to work out the costs and look at their needs. But it is in our DNA to accommodate school needs, parental needs and manage risks.”