Cambodia
In January 2010, seven students and two staff went to Cambodia to take part in another house-building project under the auspices of the Tabitha Foundation. The group, and others, had been involved in raising the money throughout the previous year by sales of chocolates, and other items, notably noodles (with some 2,000 packets sold in Cuthbertson House alone). On our first day in the country we had a brief insight into Cambodian history when we visited Tuol Sleng and Ek Choeung, which had a great impact on all of us. Then we went to a village near Saang, south of Phnom Penh, where we worked on six houses, nailing down the floors and then the tin walls. During that time we also met with the local people and were able to see some aspects of village life. On our second day, there was a rain storm, and one of the more memorable incidents was us having to push our bus up a muddy hill. Around Phnom Penh, we were able to learn more about the country’s politics with local MP Son Chhay showing us around the new parliament building. Senator Kong Korm invited us to his farm, and then arranged for us to go on a boat ride down the Mekong, followed by a lunch at Kien Svay. We also went to the United Nations Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) where some of the Khmer Rouge leaders are on trial. One of the highlights of the visit was going to two orphanages. The first was the Sunrise Children’s Village, run by Geraldine Cox. It
was great to see the new developments there and the students were able to practice on the new tennis court with the local children. We also visited the orphanage of Son Soubert, a former politician, following up a kind invitation during the 2009 trip to Cambodia. There the local children welcomed us with a cultural show – we then had to perform ourselves, with a fairly good (but unrehearsed) Waltzing Matilda. After that we had dinner which the children had prepared for us. On another evening we went to a fundraising evening for the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary where we managed to win the trivia quiz, with Justin Choo also winning the raffle and donating back the prize for the elephants at the sanctuary. We ended the trip by travelling to Siemreap, where we were able to see Angkor Wat and the nearby region, which allowed us to ride horses and elephants. On the last day we left Angkor riding down the Phnom Bakheng hill by elephant, a fitting way of ending the visit.
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Sam Rainsy and Prince Norodom Ranariddh who have both been supporters of our fundraising were both out of the country during this year’s visit, but they did send their best wishes and we thank them both for their continued encouragement. We must also thank Mr Meek, Mr Scudamore, and the many people who contributed to our fundraising through 2009. Dr Justin Corfield Teacher of History and International Studies
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Overseas
Student Orientation
The Overseas Students’ Orientation Programme is designed to assist new students settle in quickly and to make the most of the many opportunities available at the School. This programme is compulsory for all non-Australian students and optional for Australian students who live overseas. During the time at the School’s Corio campus the students are introduced to living as a boarder at GGS. They are given the opportunity to live and work with current students and are also introduced to some features of the Geelong region, Australian culture, and more specifically, life at GGS. The programme enables students to meet fellow new students and, most importantly, gain confidence so that they feel more comfortable and adapt quickly to life as a boarder. The camp begins as a daunting challenge and always finishes with a group of happy young people looking forward to life ahead at GGS. Sally-Anne Ashton 20
3 “I feel confident about the year to come. I know there will be hardship but I feel that afterwards I will be glad I did every bit and didn’t miss anything out.” Olivia Thomson (Yr9 New Zealand) “My feelings are excitement and nervousness at the same time. I’m excited about going to Timbertop and meeting new friends, but I’m also nervous about going to a new community.” Napat Suputhipongse (Yr9 Thailand) “I hope that I will be able to make friends for life. Also, I want (and I bet my Dad does too) to become more responsible, organised and independent.” Rebecca Lim (Yr10 Malaysia)
“At first, the thought of making new friends scared me to death. Yet, here at the Overseas Orientation Programme, I have already become good friends with many people going into Year 9. I now know that this school is like a community, and making friends is the easiest thing to achieve.” Jojo Mahoney (Yr9 USA) 1. Robert Hasegawa (Yr12 FB) helping build houses for villagers south of Phnom Penh 2. Camilla Studd (Yr12 Ga) at the Sunrise Children’s Village orphanage 3. Lasting friendships were quickly formed during the Overseas Students’ Orientation Programme