Nepal adventure inspires Bunbury students

Spending two weeks in a remote, poverty stricken village in a foreign country would be a daunting prospect for most 16-year-olds, but not for four courageous Bunbury Cathedral Grammar students.

Jenny Kelly, Moni Vychytilova, Jessica McKee and 2017 head girl, Amber Anderson, were part of the Round Square project where students from countries including India, America, Africa and Germany teamed up to help rebuild parts of Nepal that were destroyed by an earthquake in 2015.

Along with 46 other students, the adventurers called a campsite nestled among a local community home from December 9 to 23.

They admitted their expectations were exceeded when they realised living arrangements were marginally better than what they had experienced on their Outward Bound camp the year prior.

Broadening their horizons and integrating with different cultures provided the motivation for the girls to embark on the adventure and they said the experience had given them a new perspective and taught them to appreciate their life at home a lot more.

“It was more about the gratitude after you got back, they had nothing and were so poor so it felt like you had to do something with what you have now,” Moni said.

Interacting with the local children was what Amber found particularly rewarding and she said she was surprised to find how well they spoke English.

Jenny said she was motivated to work harder after seeing how little the people had and yet how much they were willing to give.