Survivor man teaches life skills
Jungle adventurer shares tales at Christian School
By Linda Wegner
Students in every classroom know that Math, English, Social Studies are just part of a regular school day. Parents also know and, hopefully, appreciate the dedicated teachers who fill those classrooms.
But in any classroom, there's nothing like a thrilling adventure story to light up the day -- especially when the story is true. When there's an opportunity to learn how to build traps and cook food if you're lost in the jungle, it's even better. When those skills are taught by a genuine "survivor man " it's even more exciting. And if the adventure really happened to someone you know, students will sit up and pay attention to every single detail. That's exactly what happened in an elective "Exploratories" class offered at the Powell River Christian School.
"The survival class that we did at school this year was amazing! It was so exciting learning how to survive out in the wilderness," wrote Grade 7 student, Eli Hanson.
For Greg Chapple, knowing how to survive is a lesson he's learned more from experience than theory. A herpetologist by profession, he specializes in the study of reptiles and amphibians.
"I've focused my research on snake venom and enzymes. When I finished my studies in the Netherlands I began making trips to South America. I found myself going further and further and spending more time in the jungle in order to catch, identify and extract venom from snakes," he explained.
In his own words, one day things went wrong. He and an engineer embarked on a project to plan an eco-tourist lodge in the rain forest of Guyana. Through a series of mishaps in the life of the funding sponsor and a series of missteps by those entrusted with handling those funds, Chapple and his co-worker didn't receive a promised supply drop-off. They were on their own.
According to Chapple, readily available food in the jungle is a myth. Survival became a day-to-day ordeal; danger from animals ranging from ants and bees to disease-bearing armadillos and caimans, a constant threat. Finding food became their sole focus.
"My experiences in the military and previous travel meant that I had a knowledge base of what could be done but after a while we became more creative and set up to 19 traps in front of our camp. We caught some lizards. They're very aggressive but they taste good," Chapple continued.
While students were fascinated by the story from its beginning to the account of the nearly miraculous rescue, it was the trip to Principal Matt Duggan's farm where they learned to make traps and cook food that captivated them.
"We learned how to make traps to get our food, how to create help signals, how to cook our food and what to do once you have caught your food," Cheyenne Adrian says.
Classmate Jarrett Bleaney agrees: "It was an amazing experience! I'm ready for anything life can throw at me and more!"
Chapple knows that life is about more than survival though, and he and his wife, Carla, want their children to be well equipped with spiritual values as well. They believe that enrolling their children in the Powell River Christian School is an important tool in reaching that goal.
"We consider the Christian faith as important and we chose to put our kids in a system that is faith-based, supported and taught. When we moved here in 2010 we went to the school for an interview and the thing I noticed right away was that the children were happy and that made an impression on me," he says.
Greg, Carla and their three children moved to Powell River from Haida Gwaii. Now happily settled into the community, the Powell River Reformed Church and the Powell River Christian School, they're looking forward to watching their children reach their potential as individuals and faith-filled life survivors.
