The Sunday Mail
At Littlerock International School we are “Brave Thinkers and Doers” who believe in education of the total person. We do not just concentrate on the academic part of education; we go further than that.
We believe in a wholesome education that provides practical skills that help our students to fit perfectly into society. As such, we have a range of activities and programmes that are specifically designed to deliver on our promise. One such programme is the Survival Camp which is held once every year.
The Survival Camp is a form of leadership training and team building outing programme that is held in the outskirts of town in a country setting where campers are isolated from the hustle and bustle of city life. This year’s event was held at Masimbiland Farm in Shamva about 60KMs out of Harare.
Our inaugural Survival Camp was attended by 40 students and a team of professional facilitators including medical doctors, master guides and tour guides. Our students were equipped with a range of essential survival, leadership and effective personal and interpersonal skills.
They learnt to connect with nature and to survive under difficult conditions; surviving outside the comfort of their homes and making do with the little resources that they took with them. For instance, each student took with them only 5 litres of water, two potatoes, watermelons and other limited supplies of food for the duration of their stay.
Being away from home helped the students to bond and learn to appreciate each other in their differences by sharing and caring for one another. Survival Camps are a form of team building opportunity for our learners. Most of the times the campers worked in small teams towards achieving a particular task against lmited time.
This developed mental alertness and effective management of scarce resources and time. “Treasure hunt” was one task our students will never forget as it was challenging in many fascinating ways. Other activities enjoyed by the campers include: tug of war, sack race, tent pitching, nature walk, fire making, cooking without use of conventional utensils, baking bread on sticks and other educational activities.
The campers were mandated to plan their own meals on a daily basis and this was a challenge considering they had limited food and no cooking utensils. After the camp all campers were awarded honours in the activities that they participated in.
Our students attest that their lives were changed by this encounter as they got to appreciate most of the God given gifts that we always take for granted. Over the three days one feels like they have gained 30 years of life experience.
