A group of students, parents and teachers from Mount View High School have returned from an extraordinary excursion to Vietnam, where they had the privilege to attend the Anzac Day ceremony at Ho Chi Min City (Saigon).
Year 12 students Thomas Anderson, Emily Devine, Emma Jackson, Eloise McDonald and Ellen Radnidge, along with teachers Di Shaw and Paige Williams, and Emma’s father Ken, took part in the 14-day journey that started with a visit to an orphanage near Hanoi.
The group was registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs as protocol for travelling overseas, and Ms. Williams was contacted by a department representative a few days before Anzac Day, asking if they would like to attend Australian Consulate-organised ceremony.
Dignitaries from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, America and Canada attended the ceremony, and the Australian and New Zealand ambassadors both spoke of the forgiveness of the Vietnamese people.
The Mount View group, wearing shirts donated by the school’s P and C emblazoned with “MVHS Vietnam 2008”, were asked many times “Where is Mount View High?”
The excursion was the brainchild of Ms. Williams, who heard of young people having life-changing experiences while working as volunteers in Vietnam, and wanted to offer that experience to her students.
The school raised almost $2000 prior to the trip through an out-of-uniform day and collecting and cashing in old mobile phones, organised by Mrs. Karen Blandon and the senior leadership group.
This enabled them to buy fans, water purifiers, milk, a television set and about 150 books (in Vietnamese) ranging from baby books to the Harry Potter series for the orphanage.
They spent two days at the orphanage that houses 200 children as well as mental and aged care patients, delivering the goods as well as toys courtesy of Cessnock McDonald’s, which Ms. Shaw said were a hit with the children.
They also painted an outside wall and the kitchen with an Australian-themed mural.
After their hard work the group enjoyed a relaxing trip aboard a junk in the world-heritage area of Halong Bay, and then travelled to the imperial capital of Hue for a cultural tour.
Other stops included Da Nang, where they visited a school and Ms. Shaw dazzled the children with some science lessons, and the ancient town of Hoi An, where the highlight was a cycling tour of the countryside and then a boat ride to an island for a barbecue lunch. The Anzac Day ceremony was the last stop of the tour.
Ms. Shaw paid tribute to their tour guide Hanh, saying he was “an excellent source of information and help and embodied what is the best thing about Vietnam – the people.”
She commended the students for their maturity, sense of adventure, hard work and willingness to try anything.
“At times it felt like we ate out way through Vietnam,” she said. “I don’t think we found a food we didn’t like; Tom even enjoyed his avocado milkshake.”