thebahamasweekly.com - GGYA participants head to Dominica

Trek to Boiling Lake is the ultimate test of strength

Nassau, Bahamas - Ten participants in the Governor General Youth Award will depart The Bahamas Thursday (July 28) to join some 150 youths from the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and the United States to complete their qualifying expedition, undertake a community project and participate in leadership and disaster management training.

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Dominica in collaboration with the Caribbean Award Sub-regional Council (CASC) will host the 2011 Annual Expedition/Adventurous Journey, under the theme "Exploring Wai'tukubuli," a 114-mile walking trail which spans the length of Dominica.

CASC is one of the sub-regions of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Programme, which is known world-wide as The International Award for Young People of which the GGYA is a member.

This year marks CASC's 31st annual expedition. It's Dominica's fifth time hosting the event. The Bahamas is slated to host next year's expedition.

The GGYA is a challenging and rewarding programme of personal development for persons age 14 to 25.

The programme has three levels - Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Each level is comprised of four sections: community service, skills, physical recreation and adventurous journeys. There's a fifth component that all Gold Award participants must undertake - a residential (worthwhile community service) project abroad.

Gold Award candidates must first be nominated in order to be eligible for this trip, said the GGYA's national director, Denise Mortimer.

"They must also demonstrate confidence, self-reliance and resilience," she explained.

Thanks to the G.O.L.D. Initiative - a financial partnership between the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the GGYA - four youths from Grand Bahama are embarking on this adventurous journey.

While in Dominica, participants will have three days to prepare for the expedition. They will undergo jungle training and first-aid review, among other things.

However, GGYA participants began their physical preparation six weeks ago with training hikes over Sears and Hawkins Hill, along Collin's Avenue and across both Paradise Island bridges.

"Fitness training was a must," said Maria Knowles, a 17-year-old graduate of St. Augustine's College who is going for the Gold Award.

"I'm super excited about this trip," said Knowles. "We get to meet new people from other countries and make new friends".

Knowles' schoolmate, Cynthia Rahming is just as eager to embark on this latest adventure.

"I will see parts of Dominica that many tourists won't," said Rahming.

Monique Cooper, a unit leader and teacher at Government High School, expressed a similar sentiment.

"Being in an unfamiliar land on foreign terrain is exciting," she said.

The group's goal is to reach Boiling Lake situated in Dominica's World Heritage Park. It is the second largest hot spring in the world, covering several miles of mountainous terrain.

A trek to Boiling Lake is said to be the ultimate test of strength.

"It's best to expect the worst and hope for the best," said contingent leader Jacquetta Lightbourne Maycock. "That way when they encounter different situations they would see that it's not so bad."

Other participants making the trip are Reedel Dames, Jaide Williams, Keith Saunders and Clifton Francis

from Freeport, and Howard Williams and Jason Curry from Nassau.

The group returns August 14.