"Babati Tested Us!" - The Qualifying Journey - International Award

“When I was your age, I would walk 27km to school every day with no complaint. This is more or less what we as children hear our parents or grandparents say when they lecture us for taking things for granted. Now that I've completed the Duke of Edinburgh International Award Qualifying Journey, I’m definitely not taking cars for granted. Before I elaborate on that, let me explain what this award is all about!

The Duke Of Edinburgh International Award Qualifying Journey is a 4-day camping trip where you hike around the scenery of Babati, having to complete different tasks, including navigating (by a physical map) and sightseeing (which usually involves climbing a small mountain). However, that’s not all you have to do to accomplish this rigorous journey. Duties will be distributed in groups, and people will be assigned to either breakfast, dinner, packed lunch or washing-up duty. Keep in mind that this isn’t just a “breeze” because a lot of the time you are doing this right after you’ve climbed a steep mountain or walked 27 treacherous kilometres.

Nevertheless, the trip isn’t just physically stimulating but also helps you develop your attention to detail skills since you will need to observe the terrain you are walking through to write notes on the journey’s purpose. Our purpose was to observe the socio-economic activities of the community in Babati, so we’d take short notes every time we walked past fishermen, workers transporting things by bike or people turning off their motorcycles to save gas.

All in all, the International Award Qualifying Journey was challenging but worth the hassle. You learn skills in communication, respect, diligence, determination, teamwork and patience. You learn to communicate about tasks in your duty groups; you learn to respect when people take longer using the shower: you learn to be diligent and determined to reach an end goal; you will learn how to have a sense of direction; and finally you learn how to be patient and open-minded with people that don’t share the same views as you do. You get to roast marshmallows, make jokes on your friend’s smelly feet, sleep under a starry night, unplug from your phone and enjoy beautiful views. Not only does it stand out in your university applications and CVs, but now you get to tell your parents that you know what it’s like to walk 27km when they try to give you a lecture!

Written by Tamari Kilonzo

Member of the Academic Prefect Team of 2025