Indian immersion

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Tags: colleges, international, winter-2012

St Leo’s College students Oliver Boyd, Matthew Campbell, Matthias Falzon, Julian Raitelli and Samuel Lawton with Vice-Rector Brother Rob Callen (centre) in Agra

After four weeks of serving the poor, homeless and disabled in India late last year, UQ student Oliver Boyd was not in the mood for Christmas celebrations.

“Not only was it a huge culture shock coming from the street-stall traders to consumerist supermarkets, but also a gross insight into how over-indulgent and wasteful we are as a community,” he said.

Mr Boyd, a Bachelor of Arts student, was one of five St Leo’s College residents who took part in the inaugural India Immersion project run by Vice-Rector Brother Rob Callen.

Br Callen has accompanied groups of high school students to India for the past 23 years and said the experience fostered respect for the people, history and culture of India.

“It provides students with opportunities for real-life, community-based learning experiences,” Br Callen said.

“All of the boys were willing to be challenged personally by the stories, experiences and relationships encountered while on the trip.”

While the first part of the experience was spent taking in the tourist sites, the second half was no holiday.

The students spent two weeks in Kolkata, joining with other international volunteers at various homes run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

Each day began with 6am Mass, followed by a breakfast of bread, bananas and chai, then fanning out across the city to work at Prem Dan (a home for the dying destitute), Daya Dan (a home for orphans with severe disabilities), and Nabo Jibon (a home for boys with severe disabilities).

The students also spent a week in Chennai as volunteers at MITHRA Rehabilitation Centre for poor children with disabilities, founded by Mother Mary Theodore of Brisbane.

For Bachelor of Education (Primary) student Sam Lawton, having an opportunity to work with young people was the most rewarding part of the trip.

“Just to see them smile and laugh, even for a minute, showed me that they were now going to sleep knowing that something good had happened to them that day; that we had brought some sense of enjoyment to their lives,” he said.

Despite having to overcome an attack of reverse culture shock, the students agreed that the experience was worthwhile and would continue to impact their lives.

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