PRINCE WILLIAM has experienced unforgettable highs and
character-building lows during 10 weeks of voluntary work in Patagonia,
where he has earned admiration and respect for his hard work and easy-going
nature.
His most enjoyable moments included
kayaking in fjords, teaching English to
schoolchildren, tracking one of the world's
rarest animals, dancing the salsa into the
early hours and playing football in
wellingtons against salmon fishermen on a
beach.
His most demanding times, however,
included spending nearly a week in a
three-man tent on an isolated beach, where his belongings were drenched by
rain. The Prince, 18, who is nearing the end of his time in Chile with Raleigh
International, was praised by leaders and fellow volunteers for his tenacity and
ability to mix with others.
Speaking for the first time of his adventure, the Prince said that he had learnt
from the spectrum of people on the trip, where he was teased about his
background and earned nicknames such as "Little Princess". He said: "I'm
with a group of people I wouldn't normally be with and getting along with
them is great fun and educational. There are some real characters in the group
who don't hold back any words at all." From the first day, the Prince told his
fellow adventurers that they should call him William or Will. He said:"I didn't
want them to treat me differently to anyone else."
Prince William is one of 102 volunteers, or "venturers", and 44 staff on the
trip, which ends next weekend. Malcolm Sutherland, the expedition leader,
said Prince William was popular. "He's got a very personable approach to life
and has been happy to get stuck into everything and is very much a leading
force within the group. His leadership has been excellent for someone his
age."
Marie Wright, 29, Prince William's project manager in the remote village of
Tortel, said: "If there are any tensions he's the sort of person who will make a
joke and it all settles down again. He's a real peacemaker among the group if
it's needed. His star quality is that he's just completely human and normal and
one of the gang."
An assistant project manager who asked not to be named said: "To me, he's
just an example of a good teenager with a good education and a good sense
of humour. He's treated the same by me. I told him off within the first 10
minutes for being lazy, and after that he got on with it. You can trust him to do
a job. Half the time he doesn't need telling."
Fellow volunteers warmed to the Prince. One 17-year-old boy, homeless and
on drugs in Britain, said: "Everyone gets on really well and William fits right in.
I take the Mickey out of him all the time and call him 'Little Princess'. He
doesn't mind; he just laughs along with it." The Prince bonded with fellow
venturers when they intervened as he was confronted by Chilean newspaper
photographers in the early stages of the trip.
Prince William is currently in Tortel, where he has been teaching
schoolchildren English. Like his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, he is a
natural with youngsters. In front of 10 and 11-year-olds, the Prince had to
write his name on the board and then draw an animal starting with the letter
W. Struggling to think of one, he came up with wombat and wrote in clear
letters: "My name is William. I am a wombat." But he had difficulty drawing it
and regretted he had not written "wallaby".
Prince William has been helping villagers build wooden walkways to link their
homes and construct an extension to the fire station. To the sounds of Bob
Marley and the Wailers, Tom Jones and others, the Prince carried heavy
wooden supports on his own and sunk them in the marshland.
He said the community phase - as opposed to the adventure and environment
phases - had been his favourite. He said: "Here you are actually making a
difference to other people's lives. At the same time, they invite us into their
houses. It's the idea of getting along with someone even though there's a
language barrier. Everyone here is so friendly, we all get on so well, and you
don't need words."
Prince William glimpsed one of the world's rarest creatures when he ventured
to a remote corner of Patagonia. He was studying the huemul, a species of
deer whose numbers have fallen to fewer than 2,000. He said: "We were
sitting around when suddenly this huge buck huemul charged through the
camp. A few minutes later a few dogs followed on so we guessed it was
being chased."
Some experiences were less welcome. Prince William and other volunteers
successfully tackled a fire when a gust of wind ignited a camp shelter at the
Tamango national reserve wildlife park. The group's kit was rescued by the
Prince but he declined to discuss his role. Prince William had no hesitation in
singling out his most trying time as the five days and nights stranded in a tent
on a remote beach in howling winds and freezing rain. He said: "That was the
lowest point. I don't think I've ever been as low as that. The moment we got
there it started raining, and it didn't stop raining for five days. We were stuck
on the beach.
"We couldn't get off because of the weather. There was a howling wind, I
think force four or force five, and the waves were too big for the kayaks. It
was literally non-stop. You go to bed, you wake up, it's still raining. We were
all soaked through. You go to bed with wet clothes."
When the weather improved, the group spent two weeks exploring, paddling
up to 20 miles each day in their two-man kayaks. One day they met a group
of salmon fishermen who had made a football pitch on a beach using their nets
to line the goalposts. Prince William, an Aston Villa supporter, and his group
challenged the Chileans to a match. He said: "We were playing in our wellies
which was a bit of a sight, but we won the first game. Unfortunately, they won
the next 15 after that."
~*~
'You share things with everyone'(Electronic Telegraph)
By Andrew Alderson
PRINCE WILLIAM said the early days of his adventures in Patagonia were
difficult because he had to get used to sharing his life and his thoughts with
strangers.
He said: "I found it very difficult myself to start with because I am a very
private person. But I learnt to deal with it. You don't have any secrets. You
share everything with everyone."
For part of his 10-week adventure, the Prince slept either in the open air or
under canvas. At the moment he is staying in the village of Tortel, living with
15 others, crammed on mats and in sleeping bags on the cold floor of a drab
nursery classroom, which the group has dubbed "Hotel Tortel"
The Prince arrived in the village, 950 miles from the Chilean capital of
Santiago, after a two-day journey by road followed by a four-hour boat
journey along the River Baker. Tortel has no cars or roads and is flanked by
the snow-capped Andes on one side and the Pacific Ocean fjords on the
other.
At the "Hotel Tortel", Prince William's personal space is limited to barely
more than that covered by his padded mat. On one side is a grubby, white
wall while sleeping next to him on the other side is a 19-year-old, nicknamed
Shaggy because of his dishevelled appearance, who is on a gap year before
starting university. The group of volunteers is drawn from different
backgrounds. They include a 17-year-old youth who wanted to escape a life
of drugs and a 23-year-old Cambridge graduate who gave up her job at the
Government's communications headquarters, GCHQ.
They live, eat and sleep in the nursery where the only furniture is a wooden
table and four benches, a couple of children's slides and a play frame, with
volunteers' clothes draped all over them. The 16 share two lavatories: one has
neither a seat nor the ability to flush. The shower consists of a five-gallon
water bag dangling from a bamboo frame. The kitchen has a iron
wood-burning stove and a low, wobbly bench on which condiments are
balanced. The washing up is done on the porch in plastic tubs filled with cold
water.
The dining area is lined by cardboard boxes on the floor which contain
potatoes, carrots, onions and tins of powdered milk. On the walls are
children's drawings, a map of Patagonia and a rota assigning jobs and
projects to each member of the group. There is also a typed list of rules,
which bans alcohol except on special occasions. The "Hotel Tortel" is,
however, superior to the Prince's camping experiences.
He said: "This is pure luxury compared with what we had. The living
conditions here aren't exactly what I'm used to but they are definitely better
than I've had in the past six weeks." The Prince admires "the lack of pollution,
the air's really clean. Being next to the sea all the time, the scenery, the people
- there's so much to love about Chile." He said he had chosen to visit Chile
because he had never been to South America.
He said: "I wanted to get out and see a bit of the world at the same time, as
well as helping people. I did Raleigh International not because I wanted to
find myself or anything like that, but because it was different." ITN footage of
Prince William to be screened today shows him proving so popular that by
the end of an English lesson at least three girls are queueing to teach him how
to play pat-a-cake.
These reports were compiled from information supplied by the PA.