International Program Review for OB Sabah

The program review is a mandatory process undertaken by Outward Bound centers to gauge the standard and quality of services to the highest level. This process must be done every two years interval and it is conducted by two appointed senior staff members from other Outward Bound center.

The criteria and standards of assessment is produced by Outward Bound International based on some of the best quality award framework such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the European Quality Award, the Japan's Quality Award, Singapore Quality Award etc.

Recently Outward Bound Sabah organised its 7th Program Review since the idea was first brought to Sabah in 1997. The reviewers were Malcom Hughes; the Safety Manager of OB New Zealand and Rob Chatfield; the Associate Director of Outward Bound International. The review was held from 2nd March to 7th March 2013. 

  

The process involved the entire management team and staff of OB Sabah. The review looked at the standard practices and offered a different perspectives for improvement. It did not cover only standard practices but also the strategic planning of the organisation.

Obviously there have been plenty of learning opportunities happened during the review. From the staff perspective, it was an opportunity to share and learn from other experts.

Written by;

Benjamin Benedict 

Program for American International School Dhaka

On the 21^st February 2013, the American International School Dhaka, arrived in Sabah to take part in a 7 Days course at Outward Bound Sabah. 50 students with over 10 different nationalities ages between 13 and 14 years were accompanied by 5 teachers.

In the early part of the course, the group completed the ropes course challenge which include tree climbing, rock climbing, flying fox and the Giant’s ladder.

The school then split into 4 teams whereby 2 groups tackled a two day one night jungle trek - a very different experience to the busy streets of Dhaka; whilst the other groups went on a sea expedition, sailing and rowing to Dinawan Island. The groups later swapped to complete the other challenge.

In the middle of this exhilarating fun-filled adventure course, the group took part in community service together with locals from the surrounding area to help plant trees and carry out a beach clean-up. It was a rewarding afternoon where 29 bags filled and 37 trees planted, all in aid of keeping Sabah a natural wildlife paradise.

The ‘Adventure Course’ designed to develop the participants leadership skills, basic survival skills and ability to work in a team proved a great success with one student saying: “This course was an enlightening experience, something I will never forget”.

This course was both a challenge for the instructors and participants with the great array of cultures and nationalities mixing together. The closing ceremony attended by OBS Chairman, YM Tengku Adlin, OBS Executive Director YBhg Datuk Gabriel William and OBS Assistant Director Benjamin Benedict was a great round up to a very happening and vibrant week.

Written by Jennifer Stewart
Edited by Benjamin Benedict

OB Sabah brings smile to the children

This event was organised by Outward Bound Sabah (OBS) before the staff went for a break late last year! I thought it would be wonderful to write something about this event as OBS intends to organize another one this year and maybe much bigger scale!

Twenty children from Kinarut area were sponsored by OBS to attend this awesome party. A lots of games and gifts were presented to the children. The event started at 3 pm and finished at 7pm just right after sunset. 

   
The event were supposed to be held at OBS beach but due to rain, we have to transfer everything to the boathouse. OBS Executive Director Datuk Gabriel William was present to present the gifts to the children.

It is great to see the smiles of the children as they played with "newly found friend". Their parents watched from the corner thinking what a wonderful world it is to have a genuine friendship among people.

By 
Benjamin Benedict

OB Sabah welcomes group from Hong Kong

Hello and how are you all? It is the new beginning of another journey for OB Sabah. Last year was a year to remember for OB Sabah as we surpassed the 28th year of existence. As  an independent organisation, it is probably a good thing because we can have a lots of freedom to steer our direction.

The operations at OB Sabah reopens soon after the new year celebration. About 20 youths from Hong Kong Baptist University attended a 4 day adventure leadership program. Their program never missed out going into the rain forest of Borneo! Perhaps this is one of our main attraction for international clients to come to OB Sabah apart from our friendly and well trained staff.

This year OB Sabah plans to implement various strategies to improve the centre's facilities. No doubt that without financial backing from anybody, it is extremely difficult to raised the funds for capital improvement as the revenue is hardly enough to cover the operations cost. 

Our commitment to the local students and youths remains priority as we continue to offer a highly subsidized rate for them. Many schools have started booking their programme with us as programme from overseas are also starting to fill our small capacity. All the best OBS!

By Benjamin Benedict  

       

December is always nice!

Hello there! Thank you for visiting our blog. It's been a while we have not been able to publish new event, the centre has been hectic and most staff are out in the field helping each other to run programmes.

Five of the industrial practical students have completed their attachment with OBS at the end of November. They have been lovely addition to the existing team of energetic OBS staff, although lots of training were spent to fit them in the team but worth it. Certainly they have acquired valuable experience with us but most importantly they also has contributed to the organisation in a form of helping hands in many areas.

It is debatable actually to ask how much does the students contribute to the organisation. But we believe the students really need this opportunity that we feel we have responsibility to be part of the society. Further as a training organisation, OBS is an ideal location and exposure for these novices to gain some experience! 

Students coming on a short attachment i.e two months cannot gain much because the time will be too short. Some people may think that it is enough for them to see and observe but this is against our philosophy. Our student must be given the opportunity to do it 'hands on' that to do this we have to spend ample time to prepare them properly.  Here at OBS, we are training our students to become instructors, supervisors and managers! Therefore they need to be exposed on many matters i.e orientation, group dynamics, confidence building, policies & procedures, skills training, leadership training etc.   

Anyway OBS will continue this effort and to provide opportunity for those who continues to support our training philosophy. Our best wishes to those who had gained their experience at OBS to have a wonderful future ahead. This could be our last write-up for December as most of us will go for our year end break. The centre will be closed until 3rd January 2013. Today the 10-Day Global Programmes is returning back to Singapore, this evening we have the OBS Christmas Beach Party for children and tomorrow is the big day 'THE OBS ANNUAL DINNER GATHERING'. 

Again thank you and we will be back next year!

        

Asia Pacific Smart School (29 Oct - 04 Nov 2012)

Another new group :) yayyy...! Outward bound Sabah delivered a 6 days programme called the Voyager Course for students aged between 15 to 16 years old from a private school of Asia Pacific Smart School from Peninsular Malaysia (formerly known SAPURA Smart School).

At the beginning of the course, the students embarked on a 2-day 1-night sea expedition paddling and rowing to Dinawan Island. We were blessed with good weather during that day but the paddling on a strong sea current wasn't that easy. After striving for 3 hours we finally made to Dinawan island and rewarded ourselves with swimming and dipping in the clear blue shallow sea water.....!

Upon reaching the campsite... the participants were taught to set up their tents and started fire using firewood for bush cooking. The group's teamwork was fantastic and the group leader managed the activity effectively.

Beautiful scenery at Dinawan Island 

The REWARD....! Dip in the clear blue water...!

The second expedition was the 3 days 2 nights Jungle Expedition in the Crocker Range! The group was given with map and compass to navigates their way to the checkpoints and to find their campsite. It was so nice to see the team supporting and encouraging each other when climbing up the slope. We reached the campsite at around 4pm and the team managed to pitch their tents and cooked their meals just before dark. It was really great to see the group performed all the camp craft skills and bush cooking skills that were taught to them earlier on.

Jungle rice has always been the best.....!
 Cause u'll eat it anyway:)

The Campsite

The next day, the group was in high spirit and reached the 2nd campsite early. With so much spare time, the group took the opportunity to have a nice dip in the stream which they called it "The Jungle Spa". The have a lots fun time splashing water and of course sometimes you can hear loud scream from them " Leeeeech....! leeeeeech......!" Most of them have never experienced showering in the middle of the jungle in a crystal clear stream water... again.... its was rewarding.

At about 5pm, we heard the roaring thunder from far so everyone started securing their tents including the instructors. The rain started to pour heavily and it continued for about two hours. The clear stream water earlier on started to get milky color and the stream water level started to raise. And then a few minutes later we heard a loud whistle blown by the students...(when the whistle is blown it is actually a sign of emergency!)... So we (the instructors) quickly changed into our wet clothes (oh! we were comfortably in our dry clothes already!) and hurried to the group's campsite. We heard them shouting "Move...! move...! hurry up...! safe all you can...! cepat...!". We could see torch lights moving up and down the slope. We found out that the group panicked as they saw the stream water near their camp site has risen so they decided to move up to a higher ground.

From our assessment, we can see that the situation was manageable and decided to let the group to experience the situation. We asked the group to calm down and here are our conversation with the group:-

Student: We're not panicking....we are excited....!

Instructor : Oowwhh.... well okaaay..... (confused) so what's the plan.....?

Student: We need to relocate our tents but we need to save the girls first.......

Instructor : Okaaaay...... (awww so sweet....!)

What we saw that night was actually a rewarding experience for them as the group help one another and really work hard together to rebuild their  jungle house (tents) in the dark and in the middle of the rain. It was great to see that nobody was sitting around waiting for help to come during a disaster. 

So...they survived the night as they called it "the rain disaster". We, as their instructors were really proud of them....:)! High credits to all the students because with their backgrounds we know it was not easy for them. They have successfully overcame a huge obstacle as a final challenge in this programme.

At the end of the 7-day programme, the group shared their great experiences, completing a great Outward Bound course with great pride on their face. For us the instructors.....we also shared the joy, seeing another individual's life improved through an Outward Bound experience is rewarding :)....! This is what we called an experience that will last a lifetime......

Written from the Instructor's point of view,

Ira:)

Lawatan ke Air Terjun Mahua

Pada 24 Oktober yang lalu, seramai 32 orang kakitangan Outward Bound Sabah (OBS) telah mengikuti lawatan ke Air Terjun Mahua yang bertempat di Tambunan, Sabah. Saya, Cecilia sebagai pengerusi penganjur bagi lawatan ini merasa amat bangga kerana dapat membawa kakitangan OBS datang ke kampung halaman saya. Semuanya kelihatan sungguh gembira dan teruja untuk datang menikmati keindahan semulajadi yang ada di Air Terjun Mahua. Sememangnya lawatan seumpama ini merupakan satu inisiatif yang baik untuk kakitangan OBS kerana ianya dapat merapatkan lagi hubungan silatuhrahim dan semangat setia kawan antara satu sama lain.

Walaupun keadaan air terjun pada ketika itu amat sejuk sehingga mencengkam tulang namun semuanya nampak berpuas hati dan gembira kerana akhirnya berpeluang merasai keindahan alam semulajadi di air terjun Mahua. Dalam kesempatan ini, saya ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada semua kakitangan OBS yang begitu 'sporting' dalam menjayakan lawatan ini. :) 

By

Cecilia Cyril
UiTM Practical Student

Local School Groups at OB Sabah

    When Outward Bound first set foot in Sabah in 1985, perhaps the early leaders in the Government in those days see Outward Bound training as an important tool to develop the nation especially the youths. Today after 27 years in existence, it is so great to see that our own young students continue to benefit from Outward Bound programme! 

    Operating as a non-profit organisation and always limited in funding, we are struggling to keep the course fee affordable for our youths. OBS does not receive any grant from the Government, surprisingly a lot of people think we do. The operations is solely funded by the participants' course fee. However we are thankful to corporate partners and overseas clients, with their support we were able to offer a subsidized programme for our local youths.

   From end of August until mid October, we have organised programme for SJK(C) Chung Hwa Likas (60 students) , SJK(C) Chung Hwa Sipitang (46 students)  and SK Likas (100 students); SJK(C) Kin Kiau Kinarut (46 students), Interact Club members from SM All Saints Kota Kinabalu, SM Lok Yuk Kota Kinabalu, SM La Salle Kota Kinabalu, Maktab Sabah, SM St Francis Convent Kota Kinabalu (50 students).

By Benjamin Benedict

Best Training Before University?

When I reflected upon my own experience while pursuing my studies at universities, I can imagine back all the hardships and challenges that a student must face in an entirely different environment. Most of the time I was left to solve problems on my own and trying best to be independent.

I was not prepared for it at all but as a young poor village boy, perhaps my earlier experience may have helped. My precious learning in determination and patience living as farmer, I completed my studies. 

I can now imagine some fresh students are like flying kite with a broken string! Although it may not be the same with everybody, I guess the foundation of many families nowadays are much stronger.  And leaving this comfort zone and protection, the result can be devastating sometimes if they take the wrong decision.     

A lot of people take this seriously to be better prepared. In other parts of the world people take gap semester before they go to the university. 

And exactly this is the reason these two young ladies from Scotland; Clea and Jenny are here with OBS for one year attachment. Both are only 17 years old but they are thousand of miles from home to search for new experience.   

By Benjamin Benedict 

OBS Team A and Team B

You don't have to look far for inspiration, it could right next to you. You just need to open your mind and start to appreciate things around you. If there is something you did today that you have actually enjoyed it, perhaps that is the inspiration. Perhaps it could lead to a positive output later. 

A lot of people search very far for inspiration. It is nothing wrong with that but sometimes we pity ourselves for not being able to do like others. Anything can be an inspiration, you just need to be yourself. And if you decide to learn and make changes after, that is even meaningful. 

OBS has divided the Operations staff, volunteers and practical students into 2 teams. Each team has a leader.

 Team A - Johnny Suti 

Team B - Rosli Abdullah.

By Benjamin Benedict

Abseiling on Natural Rock

Hi folks, my name is Johnny Suti. I am in-charged of the Programme Delivery Unit at OBS. Recently OBS embarked on a new project at the top of the ridge to develop new abseiling site on a natural rock site.

In fact OBS Assistant Director has been constantly pushing for this project; finally myself and another Senior Instructor Pius Jaimin went to recce the place and subsequently on 1st October 2012 all the operations staff including the Marketing officer went up to have a feel about the new OBS activity. 

By Johnny Suti