THE ADVENTURE
In April 2011, Elia Saikaly and his team will lead six selected Canadian youth from across the Ottawa region, aged 16 to 17 years, on an expedition to Kenya. Building on the success of previous expeditions where over 20,000 students participated in a journey to the top of the world, Saikaly and his team will guide these Canadian youth through a 20-day adventure. In Kenya, they will build a classroom, team up with six Kenyan students and summit Africa’s 2nd highest peak: Mount Kenya.
THE CAUSE
Gavin Bate, director of Adventure Alternative and founder of Moving Mountains Trust, responsible tourism of the year award recipient, has joined forces with Finding Life 2011 on a fundraising initiative around the expedition, where proceeds go towards supporting Moving Mountains and building classrooms for Kenyan children in a region called Solio. The journey will be broadcasted online in real-time to all participating schools, where students and teachers will have the opportunity to help the children in Solio.
THE TECHNOLOGY
The expedition will be using state-of-the-art technology including high-altitude laptops, satellite terminals, a variety of HD cameras and web-conferencing software. A professional camera crew will follow the students and document their journey—from the moment they arrive to Kenya, through to the moment they reach the top of Mt. Kenya. Throughout the journey, the team will be broadcasting back to the student-followers who will be actively participating in the journey and helping raise money to build classrooms support the children and community of Solio.
SUPPORTING EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
A very unique feature of the FindingLife 2011 Expedition is the involvement of education at all levels. From research to pedagogy to character building, education will be at the very core of the African experience.
The Garnier FindingLife Expedition to Africa is for students and about students of all ages. The expedition will involve a University of Ottawa professor Dr. Norm O’Reilly, a PhD student from Queens University, 2 university undergraduate student and 6 high schools students. Thousands of others will follow via social media.
