SIXTEEN Year 11 students from Edmund Rice and Franciscan colleges across Queensland will travel to South Africa in November.
However, it will not be all sightseeing and tourist destinations for the students from St Edmund’s College, Ipswich; St Patrick’s College, Shorncliffe; St James College, Brisbane; St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace; Mt Alvernia College, Kedron; St Brendan’s College, Yeppoon; Ignatius Park College, Cranbrook and Nudgee College, Boondall.
The students will also help at an Edmund Rice Camp for children from refugee backgrounds with HIV/AIDS, take part in an environmental project with a township school in Johannesburg, learn about the apartheid system and the movement towards reconciliation, visit community development projects aimed at alleviating poverty and building capacity, and learn about leadership at the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre.
The 16 students were formally inducted into South Africa/Australia Alive!, a global social justice and spirituality experience for Year 11 students, at a ceremony in the Christian Brothers’ St Francis Xavier Province Centre, Indooroopilly on June 10.
They will undergo a formation and training program before they leave, focusing on preparing them for the experience, Catholic social teaching, justice and reconciliation, cross-cultural understanding and solidarity and relationship building.
When the students return home they will commit themselves to sharing the experiences for a year with other young people in Brisbane schools, encouraging their peers to take a global view in their lives.
Edmund Rice primary schools will also raise money and collect books and games for an orphanage and school the group will visit.
