Make way for these girls ...

Tjaritje Meroro
Wilderness therapy is an adventure-based modality for behaviour modification and interpersonal self-improvement. It’s comprised of eight people it can be either female or male. To make it much simpler the wilderness therapy is a program that helps one find their personality traits as we tend to lose them as we grow old and get exposed to different personalities. This is where multi personality disorder kicks in. Why do we suffer from this disorder? Because we try so hard to be liked by the people we meet. We begin to take traits from their personalities. At the end of the day, we really don’t know we are.

The wilderness therapy was introduced to Augustineum in 2011 it started with the ‘Gusty Girls’ and it was passed onto the boys. As the years went by the girls got withdrew from the program. However, one thing about the year 2017 to Augustineum is a year where we’re taking a chance to meet new people and getting involved in all kinds of activities and clubs. The activities and clubs don’t necessarily involve academics.

Basically, they’re aiming at teaching us the narrow pathway that leads to life even though there’s a lot of destruction. Thus, they reintroduce the wilderness
therapy for the girls at Augustineum. The girls are back on track. They aren’t deterred by the withdrawal that happened years back. By the look of things, they are dedicated, bold, energetic and ready to conquer the struggles. They are going make sure that the withdrawal does not happen again.

All thanks to the Samaritan that fought for gender equality women are given the opportunity to prove themselves to the world that they can equally do what a man can do. Although the girls haven’t been to any trip yet. I still managed to get a brief background of what happens in the wilderness therapy since they got the bigger picture and they have been to Namib-Naukluft National Park.

Where they got taught the importance of nature and the impact of it. The night of the arrival they get food that they divide into eight plastics bags per person. When they go for hikes they carry whatever they need in their bag packs. Which symbolises life as a journey that you need to be prepared to overcome the obstacles ahead. In the evenings they are discussions were they are open up and share their life experiences based on the question they are asked by their mentor Mrs Pikkie Hoffman.were they are open up and share their life experiences based on the question they are asked by their mentor Mrs Pikkie Hoffman.

They described their mentor Mrs Pikkie Hoffman as a wonderful and an incredible person. She is down to earth but she can go out of the way if you take advantage of her.

Zinobia Joao said she can’t wait to meet their mentor and getting to know her/him on a personal level. She is also excited about the program and she is hoping that the excitement will be passed onto her life. Furthermore she says she would have liked to share her experiences, unfortunately she hasn’t experienced anything about the wild yet.unfortunately she hasn’t experienced anything about the wild yet.

Moreover Collin Katjingisiua an old participant of the wilderness therapy shared his experience. He says he has experienced the impact and meaning
of a man’s place is in nature and this has strengthen his personal, social responsibilities, emotional and spiritual growth.strengthen his personal, social responsibilities, emotional and spiritual growth.

The same wilderness therapy has taught him hard work because they walked a few kilometres on a daily basic. It has also taught him discipline to do
whatever he needs to do while there is still time and to cut the spirit of procrastination.

He shared the triple D’s:
1. Decision
2. Determination
3. Destination

Which simply means that every decision you make determines your destination. Therefore you should be very vigilant when making decisions because they
will determine your destination. Once a destination is reached it cannot be reversed back to the starting point.