The 18 volunteers and their leaders in a jovial mood at the Sunflower Centre.
MIRI: It was a fantastic adventure for 18 Australian students when they embarked on a charity mission to clean Sunflower Centre recently.
The students also felt they had done their country proud via the ‘gotong royong’ project, which they described as challenging but exciting.
They spent three days scrubbing floors, painting, clearing the rubbish and debris and many more at the centre.
“We had real fun mingling with the locals and the special children at the centre, learning their culture, their customs, character, and experiencing the environment.
“It’s a meaningful experience anyway, and a good memory to bring back home,” they told volunteer Jennie Soh, who shared the story with The Borneo Post yesterday.
The 18 Sacred Heart College Geelong students involved were Marjori Adit Mbabazi, Geosgia Atheston King, Alexandra Afkinson, Meg Batson, Merryn Bergin Leighton, Emily Bourke, Emily Bowker, Grace Bridson, Erin De Burgh O’Brien, Meg De Grandi, Natalia Filipovski, Alana Gray, Nadine Hancock, Tess Henderson, Emily Jones, Amelia McDonald, Rhiarne Maloney and Mackenzie Ryan.
They were selected by World Challenge to be in Miri for a charitable activity and jungle tracking in the Kelabit Highlands.
The students would embark on a jungle-tracking adventure in Bario and Ba’ Kelalan tomorrow, and stay on until July 5.
World Challenge is a personal programme managed by a pioneering educational organisation with more than 20 years of experience in delivering personal expeditions for students.
Among others, the programme is aimed at developing the participants through travelling overseas and supporting the people via community projects.
Sending students to various parts of the world is an annual ritual of World Challenge to enable the participants to learn about the cultures of the country they were posted to, and to experience local lifestyles through charitable activities.
Soh explained that the expedition to Borneo was preceded by a training and preparation programmes, during which the students played a major role that included community projects and challenging jungle trekking.
“The expedition teaches life skills and expands their mind to what life is all about outside their classroom,” she said, adding that the group had been to more than 50 destinations in Africa, Asia, South East Asia, Pacific, South America and Central America.
They had greatly benefitted from the amazing yet exciting adventures, something to cherish forever.
Soh said the team usually spent between 21 and 28 days in a developing country to allow each and everyone to be fully engaged in the planning process, from researching their destination, fund-raising and participating in training expeditions.
Participation is the second component of the whole process, where the students would lead the trip themselves with the assistance of a facilitator from the World Challenge.
“This means they will organise the project and arrange for accommodation, transports and locations of eateries within the country.” Bringing back photographs and memories of the communities they visit after volunteering and supporting local tourist spots are compulsory.