The November 2008 Journey of Understanding!

The international ‘Journey of Understanding’ programme in November 2008 saw Encompass return to the Loch Eil Outward Bound® centre in Scotland for an intense and extremely varied programme which gave the participants the opportunity to gain a whole host of new experiences, from scaling the legendary ‘Boy George’ tree tied to 14 other people (apparently one group was up there for 2 weeks!), hiking to a secluded beach on the rugged west coast of Scotland, and rock-climbing and abseiling on snow-covered mountains, while exploring each others’ cultures, religions and societies, as well as learning about themselves.

The participants arrived from their various locations across the UK, US, Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Indonesia to Glasgow on Sunday 23rd November before travelling to the Glasgow Youth Hostel for a very enthusiastic and fun-filled introduction to the programme which involved tying themselves in knots before retiring to bed for a good night’s sleep before the journey up to Loch Eil the following morning.

Winding along the beautiful route north west and through Glencoe, the uppermost thing on the minds of the Palestinian and Indonesian participants was whether they would be snow, never having seen it before. Needless to say, on arriving at the Outward Bound® centre and seeing Ben Nevis topped with white in the distance, they were already well on their way to this and many other new experiences!

For both the Encompass and Outward Bound® staff, having a group so diverse yet so enthusiastic to jump in and get involved in all the challenges presented before them, both in the outdoors and in the meeting room in the evenings, was fantastic. And with opinions and emotions flying high during discussions, the reconciliatory ability of the outdoor activities once again came into play. Even if the participants came head-to-head with their opposing views over often controversial and very personal subjects, the following day the members of the group were again reunited as they worked together to achieve their shared goals, whether that was building a raft to launch onto the freezing Loch or supporting one another to climb to the top of the cliff.

With plenty of ups and down during the week (involving one resulting in a dislocated knee! Well done Charlie for sticking with the programme until the end!), the group formed bonds which will continue into the future. And with the members of this group already networking on the Encompass ‘Facebook’ page where they are sharing photos, experiences and keeping in touch, we are all very positive that these friendships will last and continue to grow.

On returning to Glasgow at the end of the programme, the group was joined by two of the participants from the October ‘Diversity in Scotland’ programme who were keen to find out how the international group had got on. As well as having a unique opportunity to watch the intercultural evening, in which each of the groups presented a song, dance or sketch to represent their cultural backgrounds, Darren and Ahmed acted as tour guides for the group and showed them some of the sights and sounds of Glasgow! A big thank you to them!

During the programme there was a session dedicated to thinking about ways in which all the participants could take their experiences further, and we’re looking forward to supporting the newest additions to our worldwide network of Encompass ambassadors in putting these into action!