By Amanda Wells
Five Presbyterian schools are set to visit Vanuatu next year, thanks to a relationship developed by the Global Mission Office.
Rangi Ruru Girls’ School, St Andrew’s College, St Oran’s College, and Turakina Maori Girls’ College have definite plans to spend time at Onesua Presbyterian College on Efate, with af trip by St Kentigern College also under consideration.
Global Mission Advisor the Rev Andrew Bell says positive discussions are underway with several other Presbyterian schools.
“All of a sudden, after three or four years of trying, the bug has bitten.”
While away, the students experience Vanuatu-style education, are matched with a ni-Van buddy and work on different mission projects.
St Oran’s College principal Dawn Ackroyd took four students to Vanuatu for the first time in 2008, with planning for a 2009 visit already well underway. St Oran’s students were joined on the trip by four students from Turakina Maori Girls’ College, and this partnership will be repeated this year.
Dawn says the “fantastic” trip was a life-changing experience for the students, especially the interaction they had with their buddies from Onesua College.
“The biggest thing was how much the students over there valued their education: they know they are lucky to go to school.” For Kiwi teenagers used to taking education for granted, this was eye-opening, Dawn says. One St Oran’s student has decided she wants to train as a teacher and return to Vanuatu.
The students organise their own fundraising for the trip, with sausage sizzles, car washes, baby sitting and a mufti day used to raise money.
Dawn says this didn’t cover all the costs, with each student also having to make a contribution.
The students on the 2009 trip will have more time for fundraising, having been selected in December 2008. Students had to apply, outlining why they should be selected and what they would be able to offer.
Dawn says more students applied than there were places available on the 10-day trip, which will be held at the end of June.
Dawn went on the trip herself last year but another staff member will have a turn this year so that the experience is shared around.
St Oran’s is a special character school and a sense of service to others unpins its philosophy, Dawn says.
After the trip, the students reported back to the student body, the board of trustees and board of proprietors, made a presentation to Wellington presbytery and also had the opportunity to speak about their experience on Radio New Zealand’s Pacific service.
Christchurch’s Rangi Ruru Girls’ School will make its third trip to Vanuatu in 2009.
The Rev Yvonne Smith, the school’s chaplain, says nine students have been on each trip, along with several adults.
Rangi Ruru became involved in Vanuatu through Emily Broughton, a past student who spent a year as an intern at the Global Mission Office in Auckland in 2007. Emily accompanied the students on the first trip.
Yvonne says the experience of “living ni-Van style as opposed to being a tourist was just amazing for them”. They spent a day in Vila and saw how both the rich and poor lived, then a week in Onesua, finishing with two days in a resort and some debriefing. Arriving in the resort and having ni-Van people carry their bags was something the students felt very uncomfortable with, Yvonne says, and the impact of that transition was something that stayed with them.
As well as having a ni-Van buddy, in 2008 the girls spent a couple of nights sleeping in the school boarding house, rather than in the better-equipped guest house where they stay the remainder of the time.
During their visit, the students ran art classes, which is a subject Onesua lacks. They had fundraised to bring with them art materials that they could leave behind in Vanuatu.
The Rangi Ruru students also spent time working at Takara school, which is a nearby village school for younger children, where they gave art, reading and music lessons.
Some of the students on the first trip have since finished secondary school and Yvonne says they still talk about their experiences in Vanuatu and their intentions to return in the long term. They don’t see the world in quite the same way now, she says.
There is huge interest within the school in going on the trip, Yvonne says, and those that get to go appreciate the opportunity. The next trip will be in September 2009.
“They might think they are going to give; they get given much more.”
Onesua principal Jonathon Tarip and his staff provide crucial support for the trips, Yvonne says, and the hosts are incredibly generous. “We would never want to give any sense that we take that for granted.”
The Global Mission Office has been promoting these trips to Presbyterian schools as part of a way to link them back to the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, Andrew says.
The GMO brought Jonathan to New Zealand to attend the Church Schools’ Conference in 2008, which gave him an opportunity to engage personally with principals.
Andrew says the trips give students a chance to participate in actual mission work, rather than merely donating to a cause. “It’s gone from sending donations to making real relationships. The beauty of this is that it puts flesh and bones to the recipients.”
The GMO usually gives schools a face-to-face briefing before trips, and provides some administrative support and advice.
“We’ve tried to mitigate the risks,” Andrew says, through practical action such as upgrading the electrical wiring of the guest house at Onesua.
“The beauty of Vanuatu is that it’s our closest neighbour but it offers such a contrast to New Zealand.” There are only two hours of electricity a day and students have to rise at five every morning.
Andrew’s two teenage children visited in 2008, and he says a highlight for them was the relationship formed with their Onesua buddy. “There were genuine tears when our teenagers left.”
“It’s an immersion experience in another place that’s as safe as possible, with English so they can communicate easily.”
“They also have something directly to compare it to, also being at secondary school.” Schooling in Vanuatu is very different, with teachers using the rote-learning model via a chalk board, and absolute silence in the classroom.
The visitor traffic has not only been one way. St Andrew’s in Christchurch had two students from Onesua visit in 2008, and the GMO is bringing over the Onesua librarian for two weeks’ training in a New Zealand library this year.
Andrew says a key concern is that Onesua’s hospitality is not abused. He’s in regular contact with the school and with the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu, and this year GMO will be sending a grant to the school to make sure all the hidden costs of visits are covered.