World Challenge 2018

Some participants shared their experience at the Welcome Assembly

 

We went to Nepal for World Challenge in December last year. We took on the responsibility of fundraising and organising our trip with help from the rest of our team. We had to organise accommodation, our budget and our activities for each day, without the help of teachers.

 

Through World Challenge we developed crucial life skills, such as leadership, teamwork, self-awareness and compassion, and developed many new amazing friendships with the people around us in our team and in country. We were involved in many amazing opportunities such as trekking through the Himalayas and seeing some beautiful views and Mount Everest, white water rafting, visiting a local school in Pokhara and learning about their culture and everyday life.

 

We got to give back to their community by helping to build a canteen in their school for the students and locals to purchase food. We participated in a cultural dance ceremony with the locals and some of the students and teachers and played with some of the local kids after school had finished for the day.

 

Lastly we went on a Jeep safari in Chitwan. We learnt some of the Nepalese language and culture and were kindly welcomed by everyone we met.  We attended an amazing craft workshop with the Seven Women Organisation who empower and support women living in Nepal to find education and employment. By the end of the trip our amazing team had become our second family as we shared unforgettable experiences with each other.

 

Although there were some challenges we had to face we worked through them as a team and it  made the good moments more worthwhile and made us truly appreciate hard work.

 

So to any future students thinking of going on world challenge we highly recommend it as it’s an opportunity of a lifetime !

 

Natasha Toliopoulos (Year 11)  & Lauren Pitman (Year 12) 

From 31 November until 22 December 2018, four groups of Mentone Girls' Secondary students ventured to Nepal for three weeks on a World Challenge Expedition. The first phase of our group’s trip was a five day trek to Namche Bazaar, a small village at 3,440 metres above sea level. 

 

Throughout the course of our trek we were exposed to, and welcomed into, the unique and warm Nepalese culture - eating the local cuisine in small roadside tea houses and interacting with locals as we walked through the villages. While many of us were definitely out of our comfort zones it was the warmth of the Nepalese people and the patience of our team members that helped us to achieve our greatest goals. At our highest peaks we witnessed the most beautiful and serene views of the Himalayan ranges and made memories we will all keep forever. 

 

After the amazing trekking experience we travelled from Kathmandu to Pokhara and then to a small remote village for the project phase. The project was an extremely eye-opening experience, sleeping in tents at a primary school and eating food cooked for us by chefs in a classroom without power. We worked everyday on building a classroom for the school and painting a mural in one of the pre-existing rooms. We were all astounded at the efforts the community put into helping all of us without anyone asking them. Every morning they would all come together to help us carry rocks and dig for the foundation of the classroom. It was amazing to see how they lived and how, with so little, they were the most happy and caring people. We bonded with the children and community. As well as bonding closely with the kids we all formed very strong friendships within the group and the two year levels became very close.

 

We were devastated to leave after the six days in the community. This opportunity to travel to a distant and culturally different country with our teachers and school friends is one we urge the younger year levels to take on with World Challenge.

 

Maddy Geist  (Year 11) & Gracie Bradbury (Year 11)