Family Challenge 2013

Me travelling to our next challenge!

The tents - where we ate our meal

Last weekend (on September 7th and 8th) I took part in the family challenge at Sanctuary Farm in Naivasha. This is an event that raises money for the Kamili organisation, helping those with mental disabilities.
We donated around 30,000 shillings to the cause, and this event has been growing larger each year, with more and more sponsors. The money will be used to build clinics, train nurses, and much more. It takes place over two days, and you camp overnight. Your team is your family (so I competed with my mom, dad and two brothers), and you participate in various "challenges" together - for example math, art and survival games. The challenges are designed to see how well you work as a team.
This year there were 48 teams, more than ever before! We were allowed to bring two bikes along, and throughout the challenges we were required to carry an egg and keep it intact (if it broke we would've been disqualified).

Sanctuary Farm - Wildebeest graze

Our team this year was called Team Star - an anagram of our last name (Matsaert). When we arrived we set up our tent and then headed over to the clubhouse area. There was a brief introduction to the challenge, and we all ate lunch. Afterwards we had a short break and then, at 3:30 or so, headed to our first challenge! The challenges on the first day were quite far away from each other, and so we had to run and bike very quickly to each spot in the fifteen minute break we had. We thoroughly enjoyed all of our challenges, but didn't quite appreciate the Plumbers Challenge, where you had to pour muddy lake water into a tube in order to get a ping pong ball to come out of the top.

When the events were finished we went and changed at the tent and then went down to the clubhouse for the barbeque, auction and disco! I really enjoyed the night because some of my closest friends were also competing. We had a lot of fun huddled around a campfire roasting marshmallows and looking at the stars.

Team Star at breakfast!

The Clubhouse

The next morning we ate breakfast at around 8:30. Six more challenges soon followed (like one where we had to taste different colored drinks and guess what they were, and one in which we crossed a small rope above the lake) and we were done by 12:00.

STAR TEAM!! - Max, Dad, and I

We had an hour to take down our tents after this, and we managed to pack everything into the landrover before lunch began. There was then an awards ceremony, which recongised teh people who had contributed most to the event and who had helped organise it, the challenge winners, best family team, the people who raised the most money, and the overall winning team. We won a medal for the Lost at Sea challenge (where you had to choose which items (in order of importance) you would take if you were shipwrecked), some tshirts, and beautiful mugs with '5 year challengers' written on them!

After eating lunch we all got into the car and drove back home, proud of what we had accomplished.

The campsite

When doing this I wanted to make a difference for the people of the Kamili trust while having fun and leaning about teamwork and responsibility at the same time. I learnt a lot about this organisation during these two days, and showed me that support and trust (from yourself and those around you) are crucial when striving to achieve your goals. This fundraising activity will help me with these skills, and allow me to spread the word and help this charity in the future.
This trip was something that I will always cherish as a memory. I didn't want to come home on Sunday! I honestly can't wait until we can go and participate again next year!!

(The Kamili Organisation : http://www.kamilimentalhealth.org/index.html )