THREE young Queenslanders are about to embark on a trip of a lifetime.
Daniel Galligan and Tom Coulter from Downlands College, Toowoomba and Tom De Ridder from Ravenshoe in far north Queensland will spend a year learning about life and meeting people from around Australia and the Pacific Islands.
The trio will be joining the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in their MSC Experience.
The program, which has been running for just over a year, saw three young men from Queensland, ACT and northern NSW come together last year for the first MSC Experience.
They travelled around Australia with the missionaries, worked with homeless people in inner Sydney, visited Aboriginal groups in the Northern Territory and taught in schools in Papua New Guinea.
Br Paul Brooks who organises the MSC Experience and accompanies the boys said this year’s program would be just as exciting.
‘Because the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart work in more than 44 countries around the world, we have the opportunity to visit Fiji and Kiribati this year,’ he said.
‘In Fiji, the boys will work with street kids, and in Kiribati, they will get the chance to teach in the schools.’
The MSC Experience is perfect for school leavers who don’t want to launch themselves into full-time study straight away.
‘What we’re trying to do is give young people who have just left school but don’t have any skills, the opportunity to engage in ministry in a variety of situations,’ said Br Brooks.
‘There’s no long-term commitment and we try to give young people an exposure after Year 12 to a wide variety of experiences, both in Australia and overseas.’
Br Brooks said the three boys who had participated in last year’s program grew spiritually and emotionally.
‘The experience contributed so much to their personal development,’ he said.
‘Working where they did exploded their stereotypes of Aboriginal and native people and people on the streets.
‘It blew their minds. They were less judgmental.’
This year, the boys will undertake work in inner city Sydney in schools, on the streets and with welfare groups such as St Vincent de Paul.
They will also visit Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.
