The Great Learning Tree Pty Ltd

(Ramneek Madahar, RMA# 0428459)

For appointments, please call 02 9745 3106 or 0412 764 660 or email: enquiries@tglt.com.au

UNIT 6, 24-26 Marwick St., Strathfield, NSW 2135 (5 min. walk from Strathfield Station. Opp. Strathfield Recreational Club/fennis Courts)

* Provision of complimentary advice &/or assessment for our eligible students &/or their employers is at our sole discretion.

Volunteering and travelling to make a difference to the less fortunate can be a life changing experience

Think about a paid travel experience to volunteer and be the change in rural parts of [nclia and Kenya. From hel ping communities to building toilets in schoo ls, planting trees, learning arts and crafts to tmderstanding their basic needs, and living in their shoes for a period of rwo weeks. It is bound to be a life changing experience.

''T be lieve travel and volun teering are the m ost amaz ing ways co open people's eyes m new perspectives and to see what really matters in thei r life ," says Kristy Moore of Hand U p Australia, a social enterprise that provides a unique opportuniLy for Australians co connect and e.'Xperience l.ife in rural India.

Hand Up A L1stralia was founded in December 2012, w ith over 4,000 people partic ipating in their international programs from UK, Ca nada and USA over the past 10 years, through Hand Up Australia's international partner Jv[e to We. For the first time, these volm1teer travel adve ntures have been made available co J\ustral ia n s, with rwo trips ah:ead y made to India.

" Hand U p A Ltstralia believes in providing a hand Lip, rather than a hand our," says Kristy "\Ve believe lasting positive change is best achieved through seJfacmalisation" The organisation connects Australian volunteers with Free the Chi ldren, an internatio nal charity which works in North West 1ndia around the villages o f U daipur w ith the communities of Lai, Berna, Barind, to name a few.

The most recent trip to India in September 2013 saw a group of six Melbourne teenagers visiting the community of Barind. ' This trip confirmed my belief that people who have a better understanding o f gratitude and empathy are the happ iest people in the world," says Hugh Van Cuylen burg, who connects Hand Up Australia in secondary school s". He further s ays that while building a toiletin the school for the girls in particular,

INDIAN LINK they realised that fifty percent of the girls had stopped coming to school once they hit puberty, as there were no proper hygiene facilities available to them. The voltrnteers often joined the boys at the schoo l during their games sessions, or helped them in their herb garden. "Wl ith this project we hoped drnt m ore girls would attend scboo l," says Hugh So w h o can apply? "Our programs ate open to J\ustraliai1 families, business teams, adults and teenagers who are looking for a meaningful and sustainable way to make a difference in the world, and also in their own work or family life," says Kristy. " Our team of passionate t ravellers, volunteers and business professionals are happy m make it easier for Australians to vo lunteer overseas". You can e ither app ly online, attend an information session, or invite the Hand U p Australia team co speak at your company, group or school. Their onetime fee covers all ground cost5, including transport, accommodation, meals, facili tation and safecy for 5 -20 days. ltineraries are handed o u t before each trip, with activities ranging from beiJ1g welcomed into the homes of local comnmnity members, learning their local language, customs and traditions, exercising at the breal, of dawn, learning and gaining an insight abom m icrofinances, or helping chem in getting cle an drinking water.

" Purpose built living areas ate provided fo r guests of these programs, surrounded b y stunning sce n ery and n ear the communities with which they meet and work," says Kristy. "Wor king alongside community members enables volumeers to be part of solutions chat break the cycles of poverty, without feeling l i ke the y are impos ing in any way".

Kristy further states chat parents of teenagers from the last India trip said they feel chat their children appreciate their education much more than before.

The next Hand Up Ausrralia trip has been organised for Januar y 2014, a n d interested advenmrers will be advised about wbich community they will be wockingwid1 from the eight villages on d1e list.