Work and Play

We spent most of Monday the 8th writing lesson plans for the program. We finally understand how our employment works. David Jenns has lots of experience in the education sector and has worked with the Abu Dhabi government on developing education. He understands the value of experiential educational programs. Paul owns and runs Absolute Adventure, a small adventure tourism company based in Dibba, Oman. Their website is www.adventure.ae. They have pretty amazing experiences to offer, but they mainly work with small groups of adults and aren’t equipped to deal with large numbers of kids. David and Paul are working together to form Absolute Adventure Education, for which we now work. Paul and his Absolute Adventure guides have figured out what activities are available in the area, have developed established routes for trips, and have developed a healthy relationship with the locals. The bright yellow 4x4s and trucks we all drive are well recognized. Neither he nor his guides are trained outdoor educators. David’s job was to find and develop a location to host large school groups, as well as a staff trained to work with them. When we arrived, the site (which we call the plantation) was not finished. It should be finished in the next day or so. David had given the schools a rough outline of a schedule and activities but no actual program had been developed. For the past few days, Jesi, Will, Micah and I have been writing programs, lesson plans, and a risk management plan. On the 9th, David drove to Dibba from Dubai to talk to us about our work. We headed to the plantation to check out the progress. The site is actually a date plantation. The plantation is an experiential education center in the winter and a date plantation during the summer. The kids and adults will be staying in large traditional style tents surrounding a large common area and fire pit. In the shade of the date trees (which look a lot like palm trees) there is a covered area with traditional carpets and seating, an outdoor buffet for meals (it even has a sink, storage and cooking areas!) and lots of benches for participants. The bath-house is much nicer than the one we had at Sea Base.