World Challenge

World challenge are an organisation who provide the opportunity for secondary students in Years 11-13 to participate in spending 4 weeks in a low income country. The objective is for all students to raise their own funds to partake in the expedition which is achieved through part time employment and fund raising events.

The expeditions are split into four phases. An acclimatisation phase sees students complete a trek which allows them to adjust to the different climate and culture, the main trek is chosen by the students and is made as challenging as they require. The third phase consists of a community based project which allows the students to give something back to a local community through construction work or teaching. Finally, rest and relaxation, this is usually spread out across the four week trip and allows the students to partake in chosen activities, for example a safari.

A World Challenge expedition to South Africa was organised for the summer of 2008. Twenty-five students took part in the expedition and spent 4 weeks in South Africa. The students were split into two teams, visiting Swaziland, St Lucia Wetlands, Durban and Umtata, however, one team completed their trek along the Wild coast of the Eastern Cape and the other team in the Drakensburg mountains.

Both teams spent a week at Homewood’s link school – the Dimanda School, which is located close to Umtata. Whilst at the school the teams helped renovate the old classrooms, through replacing broken glass, painting exterior walls and doors, planting trees, laying concrete in the classrooms and plastering the classroom walls – all with the aim of improving the learning environment for the students at Dimanda.

In 2011 another group of 23 students will undertake their World Challenge expedition to Malawi. Four weeks will be spent in Malawi, again two teams have been created. One team will head north from Lilongwe whilst the other team will head south.

One team’s community based project is to renovate a health clinic in a remote rural area to improve the living conditions for the health workers who work and live at the clinic, whilst the other team are helping out a local orphanage.