Cassie Dixon, Head of Teaching & Learning
For a number of years, we have taken our Senior students to Vanuatu on a Service Learning Experience. Trips like this aren’t about taking students on a holiday; it’s an opportunity for them to experience a different way of life and to serve those in need in various ways. Students step out of their comfort zones as they travel and do things they wouldn’t usually do.
On Thursday, 10 April, seventeen of our Senior students will travel to Vanuatu with staff and parents for eight days. We will stay in Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, and work with a school and other organisations to serve the ni-Vanuatu people. To be honest with you, I find that we are often more blessed by the experiences we have than those we seek to bless.
This will be the third year of Kuyper’s partnership with Child Care Centre, a Kindergarten to Year 8 Christian school in Port Vila. During our visit, students will teach three lessons to different grades. Over this term, our students have been working in small groups to plan the lessons that they will teach. Each lesson has three main components – Biblical Studies, literacy and Australiana.
We will also partner with Loaves & Fishes, an organisation that seeks to share the love of God with the ni-Vanuatu people while also serving them practically. While we are there, our students will learn to install water filters that help protect locals from bacteria and then put their new skills into practice in a small community on the island of Efate. With each water filter they install, they will also be sharing the gospel with ni-Vanuatu families.
Scripture Union Vanuatu will be hosting an Easter camp and need some help to prepare the campsite at Pango Point before this happens, so we will be doing what we can there as well.
The experience I am most looking forward to for our students is attending the Sunday morning service at Pango Point Presbyterian Church. In the past, it has been a great time for our staff and students to witness the faith of our ni-Vanuatu brothers and sisters and to experience the joy of focusing on worship and fellowship when there is nowhere else you need to be.
As we make the final preparations for this year’s Service Learning Experience, I would like to ask you to partner with us in prayer. Some things we would appreciate prayer for include:
- Health and safety during our travels
- Softness of heart as we see God at work through us
- Confidence for students as they teach lessons to classes with up to 45 students
- Strength in relationships between everyone on the trip.
The water filters we will be installing cost approximately $80 each. If you would like to donate towards the cost of these filters, please contact Tina in the Office.