Twenty two students and three BAA staff from around Heathrow returned home safely on 1 August from a life changing experience renovating a Himalayan primary school in the remote village of Kurek in the Spiti Valley in India. With them, they brought back heart warming stories and captivating images of friends they will never forget, whilst also adopting leadership skills for life.
The two week trip for the year 12 and 13 students – aged 17 and 18 – was organised by the charity Fulcrum Challenge and sponsored for the third year by the BAA Communities Trust, who donated £25,000 towards the challenge. This was the culmination of a nine month leadership programme for the students, who had each raised £2000 through their own fundraising activities such as a sponsored leg wax for one of the boys and a ‘battle of the bands’ event organised by three of the students.
Three BAA representatives went to Himachal Pradesh state alongside the students to support and mentor them with the aim of each student achieving an ASDAN Certificate in Personal Effectiveness, the equivalent of an A grade AS level. This qualification will not only help them when applying to university but will assist them throughout their careers and equip them with the skills to become future leaders.
“Our activities will make a significant difference, not only to the residents of the Spiti Valley, but broadening the horizons and increasing the skills and experience of the local Heathrow-area students who were able to complete the trip. ” Sarah Porretta, BAA’s Head of Community Relations and a group mentor said.
During the visit, the students managed the project under their own steam, designing and planning the renovations, haggling for building materials in the town of Manali, liaising with the teachers at the school and managing aspects such as healthy and safety on site and welfare and hygiene in the camp. BAA donated health and safety equipment such as eye protection and strong work gloves and these were donated to the villagers at the end of the project - the gloves being a particular hit with the ladies who work in the fields.
Gurpreet Bhogal, a Fulcrum participant from Langley Grammar School said ”The culture, lifestyle and experience of the region amazed me so much, it will stay with me forever. Fulcrum truly gave us an opportunity of a lifetime and I am so glad that I seized the opportunity. Also, it was great to help the children and to see their chuffed and proud faces when they saw the school finished. They performed dances for us as a celebration and we taught them the Hokey Cokey. It truly was an experience of a lifetime.”
During the visit the students also trekked to Chandratal, also known as the ‘Moon Lake’ set on a large meadow between two mountain ranges. The region experiences heavy snowfall and is usually cut off from the rest of India for eight months of the year.
Notes to editors
- The BAA Communities Trust was established 10 years ago. Since then it has contributed grants of over £4 million for projects in the communities local to the company’s seven UK airports, to support chartable initiatives by staff ton global projects linked to youth development.
- BAA Heathrow supports a wide variety of local charities, donating over £1.5 million to local good causes during 2006/7. Nearly 200 staff volunteered over 3,000 hours of company time in that period.
