Just before lunchtime on a Friday in Hong Kong’s rural Sai Kung district, seven teenagers – wearing life jackets and chanting in unison to boost their spirits – are ready to launch themselves from a pier into the water three metres (nearly 10 feet) below. This is the Jetty Jump, a rite of passage on almost every course at the Outward Bound (OBHK) centre, which has been throwing Hongkongers gently but firmly into the deep end for the past 50 years. One by one, the girls edge forward, guided by the patient words and the tender hands of their instructor, Kaycee Chu Yan-lok, who stands just behind them. With a loud squeak followed by a noisier splash, the first to take the plunge is met with uproarious applause. She’s followed in moderately quick succession by five others. Then there’s a pause. Tears are rolling down number seven’s face. Crying turns to wailing. Can she? Will she? In the water below, six voices burst out singing in Cantonese “one more step and you can fly”, but the lyrics have little effect. After long minutes of comfort and attempts at persuasion, she shifts to a lower platform, swallows hard, and leaps. Everyone cheers. “I’d have been tempted to give her a short, sharp shove,” one spectator comments. “It has to be their own choice,” says Chu, summing up a central tenet of OBHK’s ethos in seven words. Wet through and with a grin stretching from ear to ear, 18-year-old Kary Ng Ka-wai, the first jumper, can barely contain her enthusiasm. “Jumping off that jetty was awesome,” she says. “We’ve been here for five days – kayaking , hiking, camping out – so much of it new and so much fun. It was scary-scary at times, but we’ve learned a lot; about working as a team, the environment and each other. We all really want to come back and do the 18-day course next year.” Outward Bound has occupied the same campus along Sai Kung’s Tai Mong Tsai Road – the kind of scenic seaside location that property developers drool over – since opening in 1970. Considering that in those days Hong Kong had some firm ideas about education belonging indoors, it was a radical concept. The suggestion that anyone should engage in “unusual” outdoor activities – climbing up a rock for no particular reason, sleeping outside in a tent rather than in bed at home – was outlandish. It’s all about taking people out of their comfort zone and giving them the confidence to tackle the sort of situation that they would not face normally Bizo Mbanjwa, Outward Bound instructor But thanks largely to the enthusiastic support of the late David Akers-Jones, who went on to become Hong Kong’s chief secretary, OBHK went from strength to strength almost from the moment it opened its doors. Outward Bound was the brainchild of a German Jew, Kurt Hahn, who had been forced to flee Nazi Germany in July 1933 after being imprisoned for criticising Adolf Hitler. Passionate about the benefits of all-round education, he set up boarding schools as well as Outward Bound in Britain, although some of his more trenchant views – such as that William Shakespeare’s work reads better in German than English – caused some staff to purse their lips. Hahn believed the solution to the decline in youthful standards lay in physical fitness, in tackling expeditions and projects that involved crafts and manual skills, and showing compassion for others by learning surf life saving, firefighting and first aid. Nearly everything he espoused is still evident at Outward Bound 80 years after Hahn, with Lawrence Holt, a shipping magnate with deep pockets, first established the organisation in Wales. Outward Bound gradually spread around the world, opening at Lumut in what is now Malaysia in 1954. Australia, the United States and New Zealand followed, and its Singapore school was opened in 1967. In Sai Kung, the Outward Bound campus sprawls gently across the hillside, a patchwork of government-style buildings along with climbing walls and piers built by British troops. Having negotiated the twin assault courses of protests and coronavirus over the past year, OBHK is flexing its muscles once again, pulling in schoolchildren, corporate teams and groups of friends and families. During the course of several days or weeks, these participants are likely to find them themselves dangling high above the ground suspended on a rope, and sleeping out under the stars – or possibly in the pouring rain. “It’s all about taking people out of their comfort zone and giving them the confidence to tackle the sort of situation that they would not face normally,” says Bizo Mbanjwa, an instructor on temporary attachment from Outward Bound South Africa. Over the past half-century, OBHK has welcomed more than 200,000 participants, and last year hosted 6,000, almost half of whom received sponsorship. The centre also actively encourages the disabled to take part. “I broke my right arm playing football when I was 12 years old and it had to be amputated after developing gas gangrene,” says Derek Ko Chi-kin, who has been a regular at OBHK over the years. “You can say that I was unlucky – or lucky that the doctors caught it before it reached my chest, which would have killed me. I took my first Outward Bound course in 1976. I was so excited, so many activities like kayaking packed into one week. Suddenly, my lacking a right arm didn’t seem like a handicap any more.” Ko has frequently worked with Outward Bound, helping to put together its “Adaptive Journeys”, which are specially tailored for the disabled. “Able-bodied students take part in the same courses, so they learn how to work together with disabled and understand their needs. It’s a win-win for both,” he says. OBHK’s wide-ranging, all-embracing approach to its goals is a source of pride for executive director Nick Cotton. “A study by Bain Consulting revealed that students who attend a course at Outward Bound contribute massively to society – because they are more confident, healthy and resilient. Every dollar spent on an Outward Bound course yields 13 in benefit to society,” says Cotton, who has been running OBHK for the past five years. “In Hong Kong, we put people into unfamiliar situations and they learn about their own abilities and how they can best interact with their teammates. Because our staff facilitate learning, participants – rather than just doing the ‘activity’ – gradually develop during their experience, returning to their daily lives more able to cope with the challenges they will inevitably face.” Camping in Hong Kong: 4 places to pitch a tent on islands near and far Cotton notes that OBHK specifically measures resilience , compassion and self-responsibility, and participants improve significantly in all three areas. “What’s more, we know that Hong Kong’s young people spend too little time exercising and are less and less connected with the natural environment. One benefit of our courses is that students spend time outdoors, visiting places they have not seen before, and gain an appreciation and understanding of the importance of our incredible environment.” If there’s a cloud on OBHK’s otherwise sunlit horizon, it’s the lurking spectre of a cash crisis. The centre has an annual budget of HK$30 million (US$3.9 million), which is raised via four main channels: high-profile events like abseiling down a skyscraper; contributions from foundations; government programmes; and corporate partners. The Hong Kong Jockey Club , for example, subsidises at-risk youth programmes on the 20-metre yacht Spirit of Outward Bound, and there are donations from supporters and trustees. A six-day, five-night explorer course aimed at 12- to 14-year-olds, for instance, is priced at HK$6,120. “This allows us to just about break even after we have provided funding for places on our courses, but large capital investment in buildings and equipment is not possible without additional funding,” Cotton says. Kayaking in Hong Kong: where to go and everything you need to know “We had to cancel our fundraising events last year because of the protests, and with the shutdown from February to June this year we have very little money remaining, and need to raise funds to provide more opportunities and set us up for the future.” Now, Hong Kong is looking at more pandemic restrictions and the future remains uncertain. “We’re living on our reserves now,” Cotton adds. “If it goes on like this might well be facing a crisis.”