From October 7th to 18th an Erasmus+ training course took place in the mountains of Tsemi, Georgia. Youth workers from Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Estonia, North Macedonia, the Netherlands and Spain came together to learn about and gain hands-on experience in outdoor education and non-formal education methods at the “Wilderness Wonders” project. Gaining new soft and hard skills in a seminar setting was combined with a four-day hiking expedition in the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park to combine theoretical knowledge with experiential learning.
DAY 1: The first day of the training course was all about our group and making it more of a team that can work together efficiently and productively over the next couple of days. After introducing ourselves and trying to connect the many new faces with names, various team and trust building exercises helped us to grow closer together. Some activities were more physical, for example leaning on a partner while traversing two diverging slacklines, and some more psychological, for example trying to reproduce a partner’s drawing while sitting back to back. Finally, we did a lot of expectation management and drew up a common “learning contract” that manifested how and what we want to learn during this project.
DAY 2: On day two we used the group’s combined experiences to reflect on the current challenges of young people throughout our home countries. After creating short theater plays in country groups, the whole group worked together to find the best response of youth workers to young people’s daily problems in school, at home and during their free time. Through this experience, we reflected on the role, opportunities and limits of youth work. Additionally, we focused on the potential of outdoor education and experiential learning as well as non-formal education methods in youth work. To this end, we traced the history and development of outdoor education, focusing on its core principles and how to apply them today.
DAY 3: This day was all about practical hard skills. How do you survive in the wild? How will you keep yourself warm and protect yourself from the environment? We started by examining the various kinds of modern outdoor equipment and learned about the importance of packing effectively and efficiently by differentiating between “comfort” and “minimal” packing. Soon, we hit the outsides to get accustomed to outdoor maps, GPS systems and compasses in exercises of navigating the terrain around our hotel. To really spark off the group’s enthusiasm for experiential outdoor education, we then continued to learn how to start a fire with only natural materials and a fire striker. Finally, the group learned how to efficiently set up a tent and which knots and materials are needed to set up a tarp that can protect you from wind and rain.
DAY 4: Now stuff is getting serious! Putting all that we learned in the past three days into use, today the participants had to plan the whole outdoor expedition that would start the next day and last for four days, consisting of three days hiking and one day relaxing in nature. To this end, the group was divided into three separate planning teams: one for the programme, one for food and one for the materials needed. The programme team had the task to decide the route that the whole group would hike during the expedition, taking into account time planning as well as suitable camping spots, water sources and of course the length and elevation of each day’s hike. The food team had the important task of planning every meal (as well as snacks) during the expedition, buying the supplies in the supermarket and dividing it up into equal shares for the participants to carry.
DAY 5: After catching a last pre-prepared breakfast at the hotel, we were off to the beautiful Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park which reaches up to 2642 meters. After the bus dropped us off close to the village of Atskuri, we started hiking up a continuously narrowing valley. Today was perhaps the most challenging day as we had to climb up 1200 meters over a stretch of 13 kilometers with heavy backpacks – but luckily we had three horses to carry our tents and cooking equipment. The weather was definitely doing its part, giving us sunny and warm vibes after leaving the beautiful forest and making the view atop the mountain ridge evermore stunning. Finally, we arrived at our campsite at about 2000 meters elevation, put up the tents and started relaxing in front of the campfire.
DAY 6: While waking up early to get ready for hiking was surely a challenge for some, the amazing views from our campsite made up for it. From up here, we could see all the way down to the big valley we started in. Today though, the weather wouldn’t be as good as before. As per the programme team’s plan, we would leave the tents and heavy backpacks at camp and climb the nearby Meghruki mountain peak of 2475 meters. Even though today was a shorter hike of 7km length and 450m elevation, the rain and at parts heavy wind made it a rather challenging one. Thus, the programme team took the decision to split the group and have a small, quick group go back to camp to prepare a fire in the shelter. This would prove incredibly valuable as the whole group gathered there in the evening to warm up and dry themselves and their clothes.
DAY 7: One thing this expedition experience definitely taught the group was being flexible and adapting to changing circumstances. Back in the hotel, we planned to hike back towards civilization on this third day of the expedition, but taking into account the quickly changing weather forecast we decided the night before to move the day of hanging out and enjoying nature forward. In the well prepared tents and shelters it was a lot easier to escape the rain and relax in our amazingly remote location. Luckily, a few participants were willing to offer some workshops in their areas of expertise and we learned how to give Thai massages and express ourselves through acting. In the rain breaks we enjoyed the camo fire and stunning mountain views.
DAY 8: One day later than initially planned, we could now start the long descent into the valley close to the street. In rather cloudy and sometimes drizzling weather the group had to hike 18 kilometers, including 400 meters of ascent and 1400 meters of descent. But to compensate, our trail, the “panorama trail” offered a sublime mix of lush forests, valley views and grand outlooks over the national park’s rugged peaks piercing the clouds. Despite the steep descent, slippery ground and a river crossing presenting serious challenges, the group surprised itself by arriving before the planned time (and more importantly before nightfall). Now we were able to truly relax and enjoy the excellent dinner the instructors prepared for us.
DAY 9: After some morning reflection in the forest and connecting with the wild nature for the last time in a bit, today we packed up camp and moved towards the street to catch our ride back to the hotel. After some well deserved showers, unpacking loads of dirty clothes and eating as much as our stomachs fit, we could now start reviewing and reflecting on the expedition. Enjoying a diashow with the highlights of the hike, we created a colorful collage of drawings, words, post its and other reminders of each of the expedition’s days.
DAY 10: Waking up well rested from proper beds, now the more serious reflection could start. Even though we had brief morning reflection during the entire expedition, now there was more space to talk about what went well, what could have been better and how we can use the experience gained in this expedition for our future in youth work back home. We also circled back to our learning contract to review in how far it helped us and if we stuck to the rules we set for ourselves. Doing the “egg-drop challenge” in small groups further helped us to put our freshly improved communication and planning skills to use. Much to soon it was now time to say goodbye to the first participants leaving and come to terms with the inevitable end of this inspiring project.
