Story
Hello! I'm Jia Wei and I'm on my gap year!
As some of you might know, for the past year I've been:-
- Backpacking with my friends in Korea;
- Couchsurfing (staying in local's homes) & WWOOFing (helping farmers plant & harvest their crops in exchange for a home and food) in Japan for 40 days;
- Volunteering at the BSBCC (Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center) in Sandakan for 20 days;
- Backpacking, Couchsurfing & Climbing Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo for 40 days!
This year, for my next adventure, I'm going to go on a Raleigh Borneo expedition - again! This time, as Raleigh Borneo's FIRST EVER Senior Venturer (Senior Volunteer)!
Raleigh International is a sustainable development charity. They work in remote, rural areas to improve access to safe water and sanitation, build community resilience, to sustainably manage natural resources and to protect vulnerable environments.
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I went to Raleigh Borneo as a Venturer (Volunteer) back in 2014, after SPM.
Scroll down & check out the official 2014 Raleigh Borneo Blog posts below to see what I did! (If you see a venturer named 'Lee', that would be me! :D)
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Therefore, I have to fundraise RM3000 (About £541 pounds) to fund the costs of the development projects/phases listed below ^^
PERKS!: For any amount you donate, I will make a song for you. Scroll down to the end for the "menu"! This is going to be a long term process, so that means even after Raleigh ends, I will continue making songs for everyone who has donated! :D
Donating through this site is secure. Once you donate, JustGiving will send your money directly to the charity - yep it will go directly to Raleigh!
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Here's what you're funding for:-
A Raleigh expedition consists of 3 phases:- the community, environmental & adventure phases.
- Community
I'll get to work in community development projects that give me a unique opportunity to live and work alongside local people, working on a project that helps provide access to safe water and sanitation or health and education facilities as well as raising awareness of issues such as health & hygiene, gender equality or access to education.
In 2014 my team worked in a village called Kampung Nibang, where they had no water supply so we connected new pipes from a small dam built by previous Raleigh groups 3km away, to the village. Our team built 2 public toilets from scratch (septic tank, cement, zinc roofs and all, haha!) and in the afternoons we taught the kids about hygiene, and made 'tippy-taps' (rainwater filled bottles with a mechanism to tilt, so that they can wash their hands without dirtying the water inside).
Read more about what we did here!:- https://raleighinternational.org/blog/borneo/raleigh-borneo-14/
- Environment
For this phase I'll get to help protect vulnerable environments & conserve some of our oldest rainforests, helping humans and wildlife live peacefully side by side or carrying out surveys to support research into some of the world’s least explored areas. If my team is located close to a local community, we will also help raise awareness of issues relating to deforestation and the best ways of managing natural resources.
Back in 2014, our team went to Taliwas, in the heart of the Bornean jungle, where we built a boardwalk so that scientists and researchers can walk across a swampy area to research on the plants and animals there. We also made a nature walk so that visitors to Taliwas can learn more about the trees and animals they see as they walk along it.
During this phase, we were ambushed by elephants!! I took all the elephant pictures! Haha! Check out the post here! https://raleighinternational.org/blog/borneo/raleigh-borneo-11/
My friend Akaash also made a video about our experience! View it here:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoSCmOiUnrw - Adventure
I’ll take part in a 2 week-long trek; hiking through incredible landscapes, learning about wildlife and meeting rural communities. With only a hammock to sleep in, canned food & a rucksack, me and my team have only each other to depend on, through teamwork, resilience, communication and much problem solving! This phase is about getting back to basics. I will carry only everything me and my team needs with me, learning survival and camp craft skills by day and camping at night. It’s a crazy physical and mental challenge!
Read our adventure phase experience here in these blog posts:-
https://raleighinternational.org/blog/borneo/raleigh-borneo-7/
https://raleighinternational.org/blog/borneo/adventure-alphas-5-6-2/
Donations no matter how big or small are welcome! Just know that you'll receive a song in return! :D
MY MUSIC COMMISSIONS
- Make covers of any songs
- Make backing tracks (karaoke versions) of any song
- Make a piano version / guitar version / electric guitar version / synthesized version / 8 bit version of any song
- Change genres of songs (You want me to change OMFG's "Hello" into a sad piano version? Aye okay!!)
- Give me a story & I will write a song for you
- Give me your lyrics & I will write a melody for you
- Make an acapella version of any song
- Make an acoustic version of any song
- Collaborate with you and we'll make a cover together
You can choose anything from the list above (or even anything else you can imagine), and you'll get to hear your song on http://fb.com/Wingardiums!
Thank you in advance and keep dreaming big everyone!! :D