The gift of doing hard things

In total, they covered about 80km of track over steep terrain – one day was 25,000 steps made up exclusively of up and down stairs. Along the way, the travelling party became an amazingly tight-knit, open-minded, caring and supportive group.

Mr Ric Van Wachem, Director of Sport and Co-Curricular Education, says there are many educational benefits to this sort of experience.

“The experience of travelling to other countries, especially where the culture is markedly different, gives students the opportunity to learn some of life’s most precious lessons – including humility, responsibility, compassion, tolerance, understanding and the acceptance of others,” he says.

The trip had two major components: the sheer challenge and character-building involved in walking the trek itself, and the work and community connection in the village of Lespar.

Each day involved up to eight hours of hiking in very difficult conditions. Students needed to navigate altitude and camp out in sub-zero temperatures in a test of mental and physical endurance. It was in that extreme environment students learned so much about themselves and grew through the experience. They faced the difficulties of the actual hike, missing home, and even pushing through sickness.

“The trip was a really pure moment of connection, resilience and growth and was too good to be a fluke of nature,” Mr. Wu says.

Leading the tour was Mr. Selwyn Wu Deputy Head of Junior School (Pastoral Care & Educational Admin) who has been teaching at St Andrew’s Cathedral School for 23 years.

One of the key changes in the group dynamic that Mr. Wu saw was the physical challenge of trekking broke down barriers of age and gender.

“When we first started, students tended to cluster in their different groups but by the end they were truly part of one group,” he says.

“They became less inhibited and this allowed them to reach out both to other students and kids in the village.

“It gave me a real sense of joy and hope that the students we are producing at St Andrew’s Cathedral School are of such good character.”

For Zoe Charles (Year 11 2024), the journey came at a difficult time in her life.  She says she went to Nepal just after her grandfather passed away.

“I left on the trip when everything had just happened,” she says. “I remember one day just crying my heart out. Everyone was so supportive and Mr Wu made it possible for me to call home and speak to my parents. It was a lot of mental growth.

“There’s a very clear moment that I remember: along the trail, we did a group meditation session and sat in a silence on a brick wall looking at the Annapurna Range. It felt like real self-discovery – I had only joined St Andrew’s Cathedral School mid-year and I realized then how far I’d come far in my studies and the people I’d met, especially through the COVID years.

“Times like this were also an opportunity to explore exactly what I was feeling and how I could work around it. Embracing this led to my own personal growth.” 

The second component was their time in the village of Lespar where they assisted making improvements to the local school by cleaning and painting. The company that coordinated the tour had a relationship with the village, which was in the vicinity of the trekking trail. So, there was a good basis for St Andrew’s Cathedral School to be introduced and also establish its own relationship to support the village.

All students were asked to raise money to support the work in the village. Zoe says she raised funds by doing a bake sale and umpiring at netball.

“I felt like I was contributing to something bigger than myself,” she says.

In the end, the St Andrew’s Cathedral School students raised enough to help with the refurbishment of five classrooms and the purchase of seeds and fertiliser for new vegetable patches. There was even money left over for the Lespar school leaders to put more resources into the school as a whole.

“We cleaned and painted classrooms, dug up and then cleaned up areas to plant potatoes and spent time playing with and befriending the students and staff,” Mr Wu says. “There was a cultural afternoon where the locals showed off their traditional dance and costumes (and our students then did the Macarena!). Underlying all of this was an appreciation of the country, history, culture, architecture and people of Nepal – a welcoming and emerging country with much to offer our students in appreciating the diversity and expanse of our world.”

“I felt like I contributed to something bigger than myself,” Zoe says. “Together we raised more money than was required for the work. It was satisfying that we were having long-term impacts.”

While it was the first opportunity for our trekkers to visit the village, Zoe says they certainly connected with people once they were there.

“I was talking to one of teachers of the Lespar school about differences in study techniques,” she says. “He tried so hard to overcome the language difference to let me know his thoughts on this topic that he was so passionate about. It was very rewarding because it was a small connection to a very different part of the world.”

She says the school welcomed the trekkers with a special assembly and they were provided with traditional hats and scarves and had their foreheads painted (pictured above), and the school children sang.

Zoe says she felt as if the trip opened her eyes to the differences in the world.

“This trip has also given me opportunities to embrace community service on a different level,” she says.

Zoe also says, “The people made it ‘SACS’ because we had people from different year groups and different walks of life, different personalities and interests (from theatre to sports). People with very different interests cemented together and formed a very wonderful experience and strengthened each other.”

Mr. Wu reflects that there was immense value in experiencing life in a developing country.

“There is something to be said for living in an area that is outside of your comfort zone,” he says.  

“There was a realisation among our group that creature comforts and possessions don’t equal happiness.”

So for all the hardship, what did it mean for Mr. Wu on a deeply personal level?

“It was a big responsibility to be looking after 18 young lives and I was alert to that responsibility every day and night,” he says. “But I loved it and I felt very honoured to be tasked with that.”

He reflects that the journey gave him a real sense of the presence of God.

“The trip was a really pure moment of connection, resilience and growth and was too good to be a fluke of nature,” he says.

“Sometimes in difficult moments, we can’t support ourselves and it’s great that God can be in those spaces, interested in the biggest and smallest moments of our lives. That was of great comfort to me.”