The 2014 school year at Seton Catholic College began with a group of eight Seton students sharing their experiences of their visit to Thailand at the close of the 2013 school year.
This was the second visit by Seton’s Year 10 students and staff. The inaugural trip took place in November 2012.
The village of Khlong Lan, north east of Bangkok, was the chosen destination; the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition work in this village, among others in Thailand – teaching and assisting with the welfare and the needs of the poorer families.
With a relationship established between Seton and the village, the 2013 visit saw the Seton students and staff members immersing themselves in the realities of life in the village, living in a hot climate with no air conditioning and each student being hosted for four days by a family who didn’t speak English.
The students involved themselves in the village school, but their major project in Khlong Lan was spending a weekend in building a house for a Cambodian refugee and his two children.
Their “home” was a meagre lean-to, a structure which afforded little shelter and less comfort. Villagers, sisters, school staff and Seton students lifted poles into place and set up the basics for the workers to build the main structure. This incredible community-inspired project was completed in two days.
It is hoped that in coming years, as the programme of annual visits continues, we will be able to further our efforts in assisting with housing.
The impact of these life-changing ten days was shared with the Seton community by student, Ciara Kerr who said she returned with a “new compassion, a new understanding, a new empathy for the lovely, friendly people that who had so little and yet gave us so much”.
“I remember them all: the smiles of pure happiness, of gratitude. Smiles that made each and every one of us cry,” she said.
“I will never forget that while we may not be able to change the entire world, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to make a little part of it better if we can.”