Hennessy Catholic College sent 27 students and seven teachers to Cambodia in July as part of the 2016 Cambodian Immersion Program.
“We had the privilege to embark on an experience like no other,” Year 11 student Sarah Robert said.
“It was an experience that allowed us to travel to Cambodia in order to build two houses for underprivileged villages.”
Fundraisers saw the students raise more than $11,000 prior to travelling to Cambodia.
They were overwhelmed by the generosity of regional communities who supported their fundraisers.
This money was used to buy the materials to construct the two houses and to assist by way of a sizable donation to the Sisters of Mercy orphanage.
Hennessy would particularly like to thank Mitre 10 Young for their donation of tools and to Connelly’s Office National for their donation of stationery.
“It was fantastic to have been able to help the people in the villages who were the poorest of the poor in Cambodia, they had nothing,” Year 11 student Lucy Donges said.
The students experienced some of the culture of Cambodia as they visited a number of temples, attended Khmer cooking classes and visited the S-21 prison and the Killing Fields.
S-21 was a high school until 1976 when it was turned into a torture, interrogation and execution centre as part of the Khmer Rouge regime.
“Seeing the Killing Fields allowed us to understand the immensity and the impact the Khmer Rouge regime had on the population of Cambodia with 1.7 million Cambodians, or 21% of the population killed,” Jack O’Dwyer said.
