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USC students swap holidays for charity work
University of the Sunshine Coast student Rei Joseph and a small band of tertiary students recently swapped their spare time for “care time” to make a big difference to a poor community in Nepal.
Rei, 42, of Palmwoods, established Students With A Purpose (SWAP) last March to give university students and other members of the community the chance to travel overseas during their summer holidays to work with the less fortunate.
The Bachelor of Social Science (Community Work) student said SWAP’s first trip to Nepal last November and December went well and would provide lasting benefits for families with children who have muscular dystrophy.
Supported by an interpreter, Rei and four other students spent five weeks in the township of Banepa, providing knowledge, wheelchairs and other materials like hand rails, to improve the quality of life for children with the degenerative disease.
“The most rewarding part of the whole trip was coming away knowing that the parents now have the knowledge to take care of these kids,” he said.
“It’s not about changing the world. It’s about helping the world change itself.”
Rei said his studies at USC had provided him with valuable skills and knowledge to tackle the challenges of working within the community of Banepa in Nepal.
“Since studying Community Work at the University and receiving assistance from my lecturer, Narayan Golpalkrishnan, I’ve learnt that there is a lot involved with getting to work both within a community and for a community,” he said.
Rei plans to guide a bigger group of 20 people to Nepal next summer to assist in building a community hospital and to educate families in how to help their children. He can be contacted on 0400 299 063.
— Claire Bruynius