Highview Trip to Vietnam

For the second time a group of Highview students went to Vietnam in April for their humanitarian / cultural visit.

The three representatives who spoke to Rotarians last week, attested to the life-changing nature of the trip.

Joanna Leech, Sophie Williams and Chelsea Deason, together with teacher Terry Payne, spoke of the emotional rollercoaster they endured as the country and its people washed over them.

They built a house!... of two rooms for a family of four.

Laying bricks, mixing mortar, moving bricks, levelling land, carting soil away – the real deal!

They bought some tools, as shovels tended to disappear, and also developed a makeshift carrying system, made with bags and wood, until their “hand-carry wheel-less barrows” disintegrated.

They worked with local builders, whose quality standards would not pass Martin’s inspection!

Later they were welcomed at a school, Ward 25, for street kids, set up by  a local teacher.   

By the time the 12 Aussie teenagers left, there was not a dry eye anywhere.

Each student has  now re-evaluated her life and goals as a result of the trip. One comment involved the school’s current Mission Month. The travellers were now much more committed to selling the fundraising cause to the rest of the school, now they had a clearer appreciation of the needs in Vietnam.

 The school proposes to repeat the trip every second year.

 

I wonder if the question is – Is this the alternative Schoolies project we have been discussing?