Travel experiences shaping young people’s lives
Operation Reach is focussed on education. Experiencing a distinct heritage is about gaining cultural capital. Each expedition is based in a country with significant, and outstanding, cultural heritage. In addition, each expedition incorporates a visit to one of the most well-known World Heritage Sites, i.e. the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu or Angkor.
Completing a demanding physical challenge was the initial motivator for Operation Reach. One of the key differentiators between state and private schools is access to sport and outdoor activities more generally. This acknowledged disparity is evidenced through the number of charities and social enterprise schemes designed to give state educated students opportunities to take part in both sport and outdoor activities within the UK. The physical challenge is not technically demanding: achievable by anyone of decent fitness and, in the case of India and Peru, with adequate time to acclimatise. All the routes are on established trekking paths, and the groups are accompanied by two local, certified guides.
Operation Reach places great value on the empowering effect of overseas travel, and considers it to be a life-altering form of learning.
The purpose of such trips would be to enrich, inspire and thus educate. Overseas travel is a form of learning that students can carry with them long into the future, and the type of learning which can only be gained through experience, and exposure to the unique cultures and environments in other parts of the world.
All young people should have the opportunity to explore beyond their immediate surroundings.
A few days, anywhere from 4 to 7 depending on the itinerary, spent trekking through rural communities by day and camping in the evening is transformative. There is unlikely to be any mobile reception, certainly limited wifi, and very few opportunities to charge electronics. As such, the Reachers entertain themselves in a variety of creative ways. The physical challenge will also help build endurance and resilience: having to keep walking each day after an uncomfortable night’s sleep or learning to cope with no access to formal bathroom facilities!
“The most challenging part was the lack of facilities that we are so accustomed to… like toilets! and not washing your hair for five days… having to use bottled water to brush your teeth, and then forgetting and panicking”
Emma, Inaugural Reacher
