Two Very Important People

This is me with Miss Beverley Salmon and Rosli. The 'crack team' of professionals who headed up Alpha 2 with the able assistance of Tourettes Tom who joined us in Phase 2.

Tom will get a post all to himself later on.

Bev was my fellow Project Manager. My partner, colleague, wife, best friend, partner-in-crime, confidante, advice-giver, motivator, supporter. She was my rock. I love that girl. We hit it off instantly at the Staff Development weekend so long ago, and during the induction fortnight in KK before expedition we continued to bond. I think we both seemed to sense that we may end up working together. To Rory and Laura who headed up Raleigh Malaysia - a huge debt of thanks for the foresight to know we'd make a very strong team.

We complimented each other so well, we could seemingly 'read' each other, and by the end of expedition could almost communicate just by eye contact alone. Working with Norsalleh, another much-loved Mescot member who was deaf/mute meant that we often tended to chat in Malay sign language as well. Strange but true and it was handy to get one over on the parps when we needed to talk about them, not to them.

Sharing expedition life with Bev was special, and even though we were on the go pretty much 24-7, we never stopped communicating, and always kept each other in mind. We trusted each other, respected each other and always discussed decisions before addressing the parps. This kept us strong in the face of any adversity which dared to show us its face.

Another very important person to me was Rosli. Head of Mescot, Rosli is a shy, gentle man with a wonderful sense of fun. Patient with the continuous demands of Raleigh, meeting all our requests with a big grin and the refrain 'buleh bah, kalau kau' - which roughly translates as 'yeah, cool, no worries'.

When I first met him, he was fasting. It was the month of Ramadan, and the strict Muslim community was quiet to the point of deserted. We scheduled a meeting with him on our Project Planning Visit and I had very big reservations on how that working relationship might go as well. Distracted and mumbling I found it hard to understand what he was saying and I struggled to follow the thread of conversation, we weren't getting any answers.

Later I realised he was just starving and struggling in the heat without fuel. Yet he'd come to the meeting, anxious to meet the next Raleigh crew, even though inside he probably felt dreadful.

As I fell in love with Rosli, it became clear to me that Raleigh was also very dear to his heart, and personally I found him the hardest person to say goodbye to at the end of our time there - we shared so many experiences, spent so much time, worked so hard alongside each other.

Testament to how well Bev, myself and Rosli got on, he decided that one of the important fortnightly Mescot meetings be rescheduled so that the entire team could share a day off with us. Every Monday we gave Team Alpha 2 a day's rest from work and organised a trip instead. Rosli excitedly told us that this one particular Monday, leave everything to them, they would arrange the day.

So it was with unabashed joy that the day in question, 3 boats full of shouting, laughing and singing Mescot members and Raleigh-ers scooted off up stream for a trek to some bat caves and a huge communal picnic. Happy days.

Rosli, you're a legend. I hope to see you again very soon.