A group of year 11 and 12 students from Red Bend Catholic College recently embarked on a 10 day trip to Vietnam and Cambodia as part of their Modern History unit.
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This is the third time Red Bend has organised an overseas trip to Vietnam and Cambodia as part of the senior modern history syllabus on Peace and Conflict in Indochina.
Eighteen students and three teachers, including Kate Norrie, Anthony O’Connell and Gillian McMillan, travelled overseas during the April school holidays for the adventure which saw them visit four cities in two countries over 10 days.
Modern history teacher Kate Norrie said going to Vietnam and Cambodia greatly assists the students’ studies.
“It’s an invaluable experience as it provides students with first hand experience and relates directly to their HSC syllabus,” she said.
“Our itinerary is designed to visit all the key historical sites in Vietnam and Cambodia and provides students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the history and culture.”
First stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh City where they visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, the War Remnants Museum, Presidential Palace and the Mekong Delta river system.
They also went to Hoi An, which is a little village, where they went on a unique farming tour, visited Marble Mountain and China Beach where the US landed in Vietnam.
Hanoi was another stop in Vietnam where the students got up close and personal with Ho Chi Minh’s preserved body and his house museum, as well as visiting the Hilton Prison.
In Cambodia, the students visited Penong Pen where they went to the S-21 Prison, these days known as the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
Here they also visited the Killing Fields, which was an interesting experience.
“It was an old prison and there was blood on the floor, so it was pretty eye-opening,” year 12 student Vince Umbers said.
While in Cambodia the students also visited a Marist school, which helps educate disabled children, who were affected by Agent Orange in the war.
They donated $1,000 to the school which they raised through fundraisers before they went such as hosting a trivia night, car wash, selling chocolates and holding a Footy with Friends night.
They also sold the Cambodian students’ handmade gifts that they had sent over.
When the Red Bend students met them, they were all given handmade scarves and had fun dancing with the students.
The students said they would definitely recommend going on the trip as it gave them a more rounded view of what they were studying and made them a great deal more interested in the topic, having experienced it first-hand.
“We were learning about it in the textbook the week before and then experiencing it first hand, which really puts it into perspective,” Vince Umbers said.
“It puts a literal interpretation on everything we’ve been learning,” Amelia Davis said.
“It’s just good to experience another culture because it’s so different to ours – the culture and the food,” Declan Martin said.
“We were learning while we were there too, so we know more about it than we could from just a textbook.”
“It gives you a lot of perspective – we got an international, wholesome look at the world,” Tamra Heinzel said.
Red Bend would like to thank all of the sponsors who made the trip possible including
141 On Main Parkes; Adele’s Beauty Salon Parkes; AGn VET Services Eugowra; Bellas Café Parkes; Bob and Shirley Heinzel of Eugowra; Body Express Parkes; Capelli on Main; Central West Diesel Forbes; Clarke and Bayley families of Forbes; Condobolin Swiss Watch Centre; Cunninghams IGA Parkes; Dwyers Butchery Parkes; Esme’s Coffe Shop Forbes; Flannery’s Pharmacy; Florist La Fleur Condobolin; Forbes Health and Fitness; Fran and Patrick Anderson of Eugowra; Heart of Peace Therapies; Kevin Miller, Whitty, Lennon and Co; La Bella Medispa Parkes; Leading Appliances Condobolin; Leading Edge Parkes; M&D Steel; McDonalds Forbes & Parkes; McMillan Agricultural Contracting; Nash Tanks & Pipes Parkes; Nash’s Newsagency Parkes; Odeon 5 Cinemas; Orange Ten Pin Bowl; Peter Woods & Associates; RJ’s Hairdressing Salon Condobolin; Royal Hotel Parkes; Shead and Nicholson; Shortis and Timmins Pharmacy Condobolin; Still Waters Book Shop Parkes; Travel Managers Parkes; Trundle AGn VET; TTT Signs Parkes; and the Young family.
“We received such a huge amount of support which assisted the students once they were over there and the running of the excursion,” Ms Norrie said.