JULES L'ORTYE

After an exhausting journey of 25 hours, we finally landed at Mumbai Airport. Immediately we hurried to the bus, thanks to delays we were 3 hours late. Making our way through the parking lot of the airport, we were confronted with many, in our eyes, strange things. Beggers kept asking for some change, everybody turned their heads around while we passed and ofcourse the weather was so different then what we’re used to. Even after a short walk to bus, most of us were totally covered with sweat. Eventually, after some hectic moments, everyone stepped into the bus and we left towards Campion School.

The busride gave us our first views of Mumbai. We passed slums, extremely high skyscrapers, rivers and monuments. This bumpy ride gave me a very hectic impression of Mumbai.

As soon as we arrived at Campion, gates were opened and we were welcomed by the principal and his followers. Very sleepy, but with an gentle smile on our faces, we entered the main hall. After we all were seated, The principal and a student of Campion School gave us an official welcome. As soon as the official part was done, we interacted with the local students. At the time just other students, but later on became very close friends.

An hour later sleep got the better part of us, so we headed of to the YMCA to get some rest. 6 Hours later and totally freshened up, we headed back to Campion, to enjoy our first Indian dinner. Intergration was one of the aims we had and, although it was very hard, we talked with people with different nationalities. For the following three days, Campion School and the parents of the participating Mumbai students organized many trips to different in and around the city.

We saw the Gateway To India, Elephanta Island, Dharavi and much more...

On the early morning of 13 october, the whole group of students and teachers departed towards Panchgani. ‘‘Just 200 kilometers to be covered, piece of cake’’ we thought. Eventually the drive would take more then six hours, but atleast we knew our Indian colleagues a lot better now! We just got used to the hectic life in Mumbai, so the transition between urban and rural environment was rather big. Our luggage was dropped into a tractor, while we all slowly started with the climb to the camp. We entered the camp by an staircase, beautifully made out of stones, but rather clumsy to climb. After the formal introduction we all settled down in our tents. We barely started unpacking, or the first assembly came by. The Youth Summit officialy began!

Members of the Abel Foundation, one of the driving forces behind the Youth Summit, gave us an presentation about the goals of the week. After a week of research and other activities, we should be able to make a declaration about what we should do against Climate Change. After the speech, the serious part was done and we started dinner, which would contain some huge surprises for us! The rest of the week we would eat vegetarian. The way to eat something was different etc.

The next few days we filled our days with Nature Trails, doing project work, visiting villages, doing interviews with locals and the famous AOL sessions. AOL consisted out of several exercises to ‘upgrade’ your life. All of those sessions were given in the early morning, one of the reasons AOL wasn’t very popular. As the week progessed, AOL started to lose more and more participants, resulting in a mass-bunking of AOL on the last day. One of the members of Abel Foundation described this as an excellent example to show the ability of youth to change!

All the activities contributed something to our knowledge about Climate Change.

In one final session, which took till 12.30, we gathered all our information and made one declaration. This declaration doesn’t contain a whole list of solutions to save the world, but gives a impulse to change. Our main goal of the Youth Summit was completed now, so the night, what was left of it though, was used to have fun and nothing more!

The next day, even after a very exciting night, everyone was quite depressed. For me the day started with a brisk walk to a waterfall. The truck had broken down, so walking on slippers towards the waterfall wasn’t very comfortable. Once returned, we had our second breakfast at Mapro’s. While sitting there, we all realized this would be our last breakfast together.

We returned to the camp, where the first farewells toke place. The students from Campion School left first, followed by the students from Chowgule College, Goa. In the evening the rest of us departed by bus, heading towards the airport. This would be the start of another 25 hour journey. After a lot tears and passport checks later we were home again. Although physicly in Holland again, my heart was still in India.