BY OLIVER MURRAY
Village Voice (Sydney)
A VISIT TO PAPUA NEW GUINEA inspired Strathfield teenager Matthew Nicholl to continue to help Australia’s nearest neighbour.
The 18-year-old was named Strathfield Council’s Young Citizen of the Year at Australia Day celebrations last week.
The former St Patrick’s College student led a group that raised $96,500 to build a library for children in PNG.
Last Saturday Matthew flew back to East New Britain where he will spend six months teaching English and helping build the new library.
When he first visited Papua New Guinea it was part of a St Patrick’s College program where old school computers were donated to local schools.
“It was a big eye-opener when I went there last time,” Matthew said.
“St Pat’s had a program where they collected old computers from schools in Sydney and fixed them so they can be re-used over there.
“Going there made me aware of what schools can do to help. We can be so wasteful over here and we don’t know how lucky we are as well.”
When Matthew returns from the South Pacific nation, he plans to study advanced science at University of NSW.
Let's hope more Australian Year 12s will decide to visit PNG during their schoolies week.
Here's something for Sir Paulias Matane to work at developing.
He is back in his Jungle Haus out the back of Kokopo doing a great job trying to get everyone interested in education and village development and the development of the local tourism industry.
He is also broadcasting talks with numerous local identities - all to get the minds of PNGians back to where they should be - thinking of the villagers and their chance at development.
Posted by: Mrs Barbara Short | 04 February 2012 at 11:55 AM
Good on you Matthew. You and the reporter have highlighted just how lucky some of us are and how we should be assisting those less fortunate.
It also presents a good case for all those who can afford it to travel to other less fortunate countries. 'Travel broadens the mind', they say.
Matthew also seems to have caught the PNG bug that often infects those who visit PNG. Once you visit, part of you is irrevocably converted.
Posted by: Paul Oates | 04 February 2012 at 08:42 AM