From left to right, Betheli Calvert, Chloe Murcott, Hyung Myung Kim, at the awards dinner when the scholarships were announced.

Three NZ secondary students off to Mongolia

Three New Zealand high school students are on their way to Mongolia this Sunday September 25 for ten days, having won Sanitarium-funded travelling scholarships through World Vision. They will see first hand the work they have helped promote by organising the 40 Hour Famine in their schools.

The three students: Betheli Calvert, 16, Orewa; Chloe Murcott, 18, Hamilton; and Hyun Myung Kim, 17, Auckland; were selected from the top 40 Hour Famine fundraising schools around the country.

"I'm thoroughly interested in other cultures, so I think the trip will bring much personal satisfaction... I think many people think of the Mongolians with pity, but there's nothing like seeing things first hand," says Hyun Myung Kim of Westlake Boys' High School in Auckland.

"Without effort, it's no good to take pity on people. You have to get off your seat and do something, and that's what the Famine and life is all about," he says.

The students will be accompanied by Paul Ballantyne, a senior teacher at Wellington College and long-time school organiser of the 40 Hour Famine, and Sue Bryan, a New Zealander who worked with World Vision Mongolia for seven years with her husband Peter.

The students will visit the 40 Hour Famine-funded Mongolian Street Children project and The Community Care for Intellectually Disabled Children project, as well as the Area Development Programme in Ulaanbaatar. They will also sample traditional Mongolian culture by visiting Bogd Khaan's palace, the Natural History and Fine Arts museums and the Janraisig temple.

The whole trip is being sponsored by the Sanitarium Health Food Company, which has been sponsoring student trips to developing countries with World Vision for twenty-two years.

ENDS

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