Mees is participating in the Duke of Edinburg (DofE) Awards. A very English school thing to do and a program established by the Duke of Edinburg in the 1950's. It has evolved into a program to get kids more socially involved and develop skills.
The Bronze certificate is the first one and the one Mees is doing now. It has 4 sections: Volunteering, Physical, Skills and Expedition, with a minimum of 3 months activity for each of the Volunteering, Physical and Skills sections. The expedition is a 2 day (1 night) outdoor hike.
As a result Mees has been volunteering on Sunday's at a local charity shop and took on an extra sport. For the skills section she expanded her Chinese lessons with a private tutor. But as you can imagine, the pinnacle and main attraction is of course the expedition!
Last weekend she went on a training expedition ahead of the real one. Gone for 2 days into the wild with 4 other girls. No adults! No phones! You can imagine I was a bit apprehensive... But I swear she came back 5 inches taller and so much more confident.
They had to bring everything from tent to cooking gear, food and water. So all had a pretty heavy backpack. Her feet hurt and she slept for a full day after (this in-door city child is not used to the great outdoors) but she loved it and cannot wait to go on the real one.
Dirk and I are happy because this means there are no more excuses not to go on a walking holiday with the family :-)
