{"id":154411,"date":"2016-08-24T00:38:17","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T14:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=154411"},"modified":"2020-10-06T17:16:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T07:16:38","slug":"project-changes-lives-in-two-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/08\/24\/project-changes-lives-in-two-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Changes Lives In Two Countries"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Teacher Ms Megan Binnie, centre, with the six students … from left, Sandy Parr, Natalie\u00a0Labuschewski, Tiarni Hill, Grace Bredhauer, Lucy Montgomery and Alle Almond<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Taking a well-earned rest on the three-day trek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

August 24, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

Six Kingaroy State High students have become trailblazers for a new type of excursion opportunity at the school … and along the way they changed their lives, and the lives of a poor Cambodian family.<\/p>\n

The students travelled with Health and PE teacher Megan Binnie to Cambodia during the June-July school holidays.<\/p>\n

It was a “technology detox” … no mobile phones allowed.<\/p>\n

They experienced the shock of a new country where everything is different … the smells, beggars in the street, garbage …<\/p>\n

They survived a challenging three-day trek, slipping and sliding along rainforest tracks and up and down a steep mountainside.<\/p>\n

And they visited some of Cambodia’s archaeological treasures, such as Angkor Wat.<\/p>\n

But the highlight was the stay at Sambor Prei Kuk village in Kampong Thom province.<\/p>\n

This is where the students demonstrated it wasn’t a holiday … they went to work building a toilet block, a vegetable garden and buying a month’s supplies for a local family.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“It was for one of the poorest families in the community, an ex-soldier,” Ms Binnie said.<\/p>\n

The elders in the village had decided which family needed the most help from the expedition.<\/p>\n

While staying there, the Kingaroy students also visited the local village school.<\/p>\n

And their reactions to experiencing another culture in-depth?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tiarni Hill: “I went just for the adventure part of it … going to another country, seeing how other people live but it made me feel grateful that I live in a country where I can get an education.”<\/p>\n

Grace Bredhauer: “The teachers don’t get paid there. People here take an education for granted.”<\/p>\n

Natalie Labuschewski: “They really appreciate the small things. You never hear them complaining. The little they have they are grateful for.”<\/p>\n

The six students were not really close\u00a0friends at the start of the expedition but, after three weeks living together in close quarters, they created a “family vibe”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We came together during the trek,” Tiarni said.<\/p>\n

Lucy Montgomery agreed: “We had to stay positive.”<\/p>\n

Natalie was also impressed by the English language skills of the Cambodian children in the village.<\/p>\n

“Their English was surprisingly well-spoken,” she said. “The children were fluent and they were just eight years old!”<\/p>\n

Ms Binnie said the expedition was the culmination of 12 months fundraising by the students.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The girls learned a lot out of it. I think they appreciate their families a lot more, and what they have here,” she said.<\/p>\n

She said it was the first student-led expedition from Kingaroy State High School, but she hoped it wouldn’t be the last … with planning already under way by a second group.<\/p>\n

“We have another team that is going on an expedition to India in December,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I have done student-led expeditions at other schools, and I have found the experience the students get from it is life-changing. It is a big passion of mine.”<\/p>\n

Natalie: “I feel like a whole new person.”<\/p>\n

Ms Binnie: “That’s exactly the reason I want to do it.”<\/p>\n

[Photos: Megan Binnie]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The students work on building the toilet … their fundraising paid for all the materials\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Kingaroy students with local villagers outside the completed building<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Working on setting up a new vegetable garden in the village<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Kingaroy students join in with Cambodian students at the local school<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six Kingaroy State High students have become trailblazers for a new type of excursion opportunity at the school … and along the way they changed their lives, and the lives of a poor Cambodian family. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":154412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3,395],"tags":[35],"yoast_head":"\nProject Changes Lives In Two Countries - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/08\/24\/project-changes-lives-in-two-countries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Project Changes Lives In Two Countries - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Six Kingaroy State High students have become trailblazers for a new type of excursion opportunity at the school ... and along the way they changed their lives, and the lives of a poor Cambodian family.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/08\/24\/project-changes-lives-in-two-countries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-23T14:38:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-06T07:16:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/20160811cambodia.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/08\/24\/project-changes-lives-in-two-countries\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/08\/24\/project-changes-lives-in-two-countries\/\",\"name\":\"Project Changes Lives In Two Countries - 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