On the 23rd October 2009 BEACA students attends a talk from the 1st Bruneian girl that has the chances to go to the South Pole. Era, 23 years old an ordinary girl and working with the government at the ministry of foreign affairs and trade. Not to forget that she is also one of the ‘BARA” member who likes to involve with adventure and extreme challenges. The talk was held at the CLT in UBD where MPP of UBD, lecturers, BEACA students, and RTB, Borneo Bulletins and Brunei Times reporters came to explore and understand the role on her trip at the South Pole.

she also brief that the journey will be about 900km within 40 to 50 days which the expedition will consist of 8 selected commonwealth nations’ women; Brunei, India, Cyprus, Ghana, Jamaica, Singapore, New Zealand and the UK. Era also talk about when the expedition was advertised, within 100 women applied from Brunei 2 women were selected: Niza and Era. However, Era earned the place. Training was done in Norway due to the cold weather and in New Zealand as to adapt South Pole conditions and environments, like a wise men once said “practice make perfect” , so in this case they do a lot of training to prevent any injuries and be prepare if there is one.


The most interesting thing here is that the way she talks and the way she delivers her speech was so inspiring and very encouraging, the way people look at her saying that she does deserve it. Era’s experience made us contemplate on the many extraordinary and adventure there is in life. Another thing I had ascertained from this experience was that Bruneians needed to clean their records from being labeled under the “Janji Melayu” concept, meaning punctuality is very important. We Bruneians must also train ourselves to keep track of time and be punctual to benefit ourselves and the society, and never do things at the very last minutes.

The aim of the expedition was to unify 8 nations where this encourages teamwork and makes situations merrier, whilst we boost mutual understanding. Living in a group is very important as to ease any problems and living as a family aka teamwork, by doing so that particular individual can understand others and at the same time can improve one’s personality and knowledge.
When talking about financial matters, Brunei Polar girl project is very expensive but Era was so lucky that she was supported by Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD), Royal Brunei Airline (RBA) and other private community for her training. Everyone knows that expenses are the hardest obstacles when it comes to achieving what we want, but if we don’t try it won’t happen and always keep in mind that praying and efforts are the key to everything. She also said that it was a bless when one of her teammate from Singapore manage to get a huge sponsorship from Kaspersky, when this big computer company sponsored the Polar expedition as a whole. Era taught us to endure the hardship whilst doing our tasks, as good will come our way once we have overcome the barriers.


Talking about cold, Antarctica can reach up to -60 degrees Celsius. At that state anything can happen; frost bite that may leads to loss of body parts, hypothermia due to extreme cold and dehydration because of the cold temperature and dry air. Antarctica is like the Sahara desert where anywhere you go it will be white everywhere and absolutely nil vegetation.
Era also told us that as to maintain the natural habitat even though nothing living there excepts the “cold resistance animal”- the penguins and polar bear, so they have bring back their solid waste. “Take nothing but photograph, leave nothing but footprint”- always practice this!!
Foods on the other hand, all are dehydrated meaning in dry form; dried cooked fish, chocolate bars, dry biscuits and etc (everything is high in carbohydrate) and they need it for their energy and since they are in the extreme cold, their metabolism are high for maintaining their body heat and energy for their journey. They can make water by warming the ice around them. The women had to wear 3 layers of clothes, one of which is made from Marino wool, obtained from Australian sheep. The attire and tent materials are water proof (to prevent from getting frost bite) and wind proof, well designed for the harsh environment.

The expedition was very well prepared since everything has been planned for more than a year. The training consists of 13 hours of skiing per day, 7 hours of sleep and 4 hours overall tent set-up, dinner and etc (everything is well schedule and managed). The girls are also distributed into different post of work (inside and outside) as to ensure everything is going as it is. The most important thing Era emphasis at the talk is “time management” and last minute planning is a very bad habit and so not her style. Other than that are “teamwork”- This is ensure the expedition run smoothly.

All I can say here is Era’s situation required her to undergo an immense amount of patience and faith in God. Praying for something without putting any effort is pointless so both must b balanced. Always put faith in myself in anything I’m doing and always do the best for excellence. Era has taught me to chase after my dreams because that dream will make me gained the greatest thing that I have never felt in my life. Lastly but not least, always remember the environment no matter where we are and what we do, be friend with it because good things always come in the end.