Two silver linings this weekend

A second group of young Gibraltarians from the Open Award Centre left on Thursday to travel to the Spanish Sierra in order to complete their qualifying Silver Adventurous Journey.

The 14 participants, whose ages range from 16 to 17 years will be based in the ‘Serranía de Ronda’ and will be there until the Sunday, October 15 to complete the AJ, which for most participants is the most arduous part of the Award Programme.

The AJ entails travelling approximately 50 kilometres by foot over three days with two nights spent under canvas.

The participants will carry all their food, tents, stoves, fuel and other equipment in their rucksacks for these four days as they are expected to be self-sufficient during the venture.

As if that is not enough, they are expected to do this in unfamiliar wild country and do so by navigating their way along a pre-planned route, hopefully without deviating too much and definitely without getting lost.

But that is not all, the Award requires that participants undertake ‘a journey with a purpose"’ and to this end they will need to produce a written report of the venture. The topic is of their choosing and needs to be relevant to the area they are visiting.

During the AJ they aremonitored by independent Assessor, Kenneth Cardona, who will determine if the participants are observing the correct Country Code procedures, correctly navigating across the ‘Serranía’ and, meeting the conditions for a qualifying venture.

The participants are accompanied by adult leaders, Danielle Corso, Lianne Agius and William Danino, who are acting as supervisors and are responsible for the general safety and wellbeing of the participants whilst away from the Rock. Thank you also to the support drivers Ernest Corso and Nathan Montegriffo. The Award and the participants wish to thank them, and many others, for all the time they have spent over the years in getting the participants ready for the qualifying AJ and for accompanying them on this venture.

For more information about the AJ or the Open Award Centre please contact Mouetaz Ziani, OAC Chairman oacdukeschair@gmail.com or for more information about the Award in Gibraltar contact the National Director, Michael Pizzarello on 20051971 or email michael.pizzarello@thedukes.gi The Award is a youth development programme open to young people between the ages of 14 and 24. See more on: www.thedukes.gi