The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) is a youth programme that was founded in 1956 with the aim of building self-confidence and resilience among young people.
On Saturday, April 17 – the day of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral service – 11 boys from the Drakensberg Boys Choir School (DBCS), nearing the completion of the Bronze Level of the award, undertook the fourth component of the award, namely ‘The Adventurous Journey’.
Over the course of the Saturday and Sunday, the boys hiked more than 27km, making camp high up in the Central Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Mountains.
Over the years, the DofE has developed into a global international youth programme, with well over a million participants in 130 countries.
The programme was introduced to South Africa in 1983, with the award known as the Gold Shield Award and Dr Ian Player as the first chairman. In 1994, it was re-branded as the President’s Award, with President Nelson Mandela as the first patron-in-chief.
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