Seymour College principal Gail Hardman was humbled and proud to receive this positive correspondence about students and teacher Dean Lazzaro who attended the Borneo excursion in December 2018.
Seven students from Seymour College travelled to Borneo with Mr Lazzaro.
The students were Janaya Claydon, Connor Johnstone, Hannah Johnstone, Caitlyn Pascall, Katelyn Halse, Chantelle Washington and Emma Hogan.
Dear Ms Hardman,
After the safe return of Dean Lazzaro and your students from Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, we would like to take this opportunity to give you a brief overview of some of the highlights of their expedition.
What a blast! Through the sheer sweat (and sometimes) tears, your students have made a huge and lasting positive impact on the lives of many Sabahan rural communities.
Your teacher and students have been involved in mixing cement, plastering, painting and have helped to improve facilities for the local students, as well as being involved in environmental projects which will have a far reaching and lasting effect for years to come.
Not only have they worked hard at improving the lives of villagers, they have been digging and planting indigenous saplings, in order to redress the huge deforestation issue that is rampant in Borneo.
Interacting with the local children is always a highlight of all our expeditions, whether it be playing volleyball or football or sitting quietly, platting hair, singing songs and holding very animated ‘hand’ conversations with young students who are desperate to learn our language in order to improve their lives and future employment opportunities.
Being pushed to your limits and forced out of your comfort zone is not something we usually enjoy, but your students did both of these!
They slept on mattresses on bare boards, washed in cold water, shared their living spaces with bugs, spiders and survived.
They have eaten enough chicken and rice to last them a lifetime and still came back for more. We are so proud of them.
Living in or close to the local communities has enabled your students to really appreciate how tough daily life can be, but at the same time, how resilient and strong the human spirit is in order to overcome the adversities that life throws at us.
We hope they have learned many lessons from this and will carry them in their hearts, to pull out, dust down and use whenever they may need in the future.
From the deepest core of everything Camps International stand for, we would sincerely like to thank you, Seymour College, Dean and your students for their incredible hard work, dedication, joyous spirits and a whole bunch of great laughs and mind-blowing memories.
Kind regards,
Tanya Hunter-Robinson, Operations & Support Manager, Camps International Group Ethical Journeys With Impact