Two years of fundraising and planning and will be put into action on Saturday when a group of 19 Riverside High School students fly out on a 28-day trip to Cambodia.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Accompanied by two teachers and a tour leader, the group of grade 10 students will help construct a house for a Siem Reap family and undertake two treks before returning to Launceston late next month.
Group member Olivia Street said it was “surreal” to finally be going away having spent so long preparing for the trip.
“We did a class last year that was a half-year subject and we did some of the culture, language and currency, and that’s helped us organise stuff for fundraising and the itinerary,” she said.
“Then back in October we had a weekend where we went to Gowrie Park and climbed a mountain as a practice run (for the two treks), but it's nowhere near as extreme as what it’s going to be like over there.
“Most of the preparation for that you have to do yourself, which is really good and I think is part of the challenge.”
Over the past two years the group has raised about $6500 by hosting barbecues, cocktail parties and working at Agfest.
Team member Georgia Ricketts said most of the funds would go towards building the house, with the remainder to give students the option of an extra meal or upgrading a night’s accommodation.
“One of the first questions we had to ask ourselves was how much we wanted to raise and we thought about $2000 or $3000 if we were lucky,” Georgia said.
“We’ve got to $6500 so we've just really shown what we can do and it's going to be awesome.”
The team is under no illusions that some parts of the trip will be difficult - especially a five-day trek in Vietnam.
But Georgia says the group is confident the trip will also spawn lifelong memories and friendships.
“When we all first found out we were in the team... a good half of the team I'd never even spoken to before and now we're this big family that's going away together - it’s going to be some awesome memories.”