Beaconhills College students Rachel Quagliani (left) and Sacha Boer in traditional Vietnamese dress after returning from a trip to Vietnam.Sarah Thompson
A RECENT trip to Vietnam left teenagers Rachel Quagliani and Sacha Boer with a life experience they will never forget.
The Beaconhills College students were part of a group of 13 that spent a month travelling through northern Vietnam under the guidance of World Challenge Expeditions, a company specialising in leadership, teamwork and personal development training for high school students.
“I’m already planning to go back after year 12,” year 11 student Sacha said. “It was an amazing country to see.”
The group fundraised and planned their trip, on which they hiked through Vietnamese jungle and helped out at Friendship Village, a farm for those effected by war chemical agent orange.
“We played with deaf, blind and retarded children and learnt to communicate with them,” year 10 student Rachel said. “It was my favourite experience.”
The students left Melbourne on 26 November and spent a month travelling through remote parts of the country, building up their leadership and communication skills.
“The idea was to do everything yourself,” Rachel said. “We planned the itinerary from a basic one to make sure we didn’t see other groups.”
The students stayed with different village families and sampled different foods and ways of life.
“Vietnam was amazing to see and it makes you realise how lucky we are to live in such a privileged place,” Sacha said. “It was memorable and I’d do it again.”
Rachel said she was greatly indebted to the people at Platypus Outdoors, who had supplied her with all the equipment for the expedition.
