Queenslander Bernie Kelly is connecting students around the world, fighting poverty in Tanzania and opening the eyes of young Australians.
The energetic Global Immersion founder has just returned from his latest trip to Tanzania, where his organization is making a major difference at our school.
For more than five years, Bernie has brought groups of students to visit St Jude’s and meet students from poor families whose lives are being transformed by free education.
“Our emphasis is on the journey, as a whole,” Bernie explained.
“It’s African students, walking side-by-side our Australian kids, and they’re all sharing hut space and learning heaps. It’s really empowering and powerful.”
Bernie and his Global Immersion groups have enjoyed culturally immersive experiences in Tanzania with us over the past few years, fundraising thousands for us beforehand. This latest group of 98 students is the largest to date.
“(This trip) was probably my greatest piece of work, ever, in my career,” Bernie said.
“When you take away so many people the first priority is health and safety, but we went way beyond that – we created an atmosphere and environment in which nearly every student thrived and had an experience way beyond their expectations.”
The 98-strong group travelled through Tanzania for almost 3 weeks, in which they climbed Mt Kilimanjaro with St Jude’s students, spent a few days at our campuses in Arusha and enjoyed local experiences including visiting a Maasai boma, drumming and dance lessons and home visits with school families.
They were further immersed through community service projects at near-by Moshi and even went on safari!
This group of inspiring Global Immersion students came from all over Australia, and collectively raised more than $100,000 while also paying their own way.
Students, such as Fiona Stalker of Hunter Valley Grammar School who personally raised $8822, worked hard to fundraise through activities like chocolate drives, working with service clubs like Rotary and setting up GoFundraise pages.
No wonder Bernie is proud.
“Some kids don’t know when to stop, so you end up with the Fiona performances in which they raise an amazing amount of money,” he said.
His guidance has led participants in the right direction before, with just some of the money previously raised funding our Senior A-Level science block.
Bernie’s passion and enthusiasm in guiding high achievers was clear more than 25 years ago, when he drove his first major project, the not-for-profit Australian Youth Development Association.
It went so well he followed it up with yLead and now Global Immersion and was awarded the Pride of Australia Medal in 2009.
Bernie’s support for St Jude’s began with yLead in 2010, and it’s become a valuable partnership for everyone involved.
“I met Gemma in Brisbane, and immediately felt there was a synergy of interest in which we could both create exciting opportunities for each other,” he said.
“These students (assistant family leaders from St Jude’s) are getting an exposure to organisations like ours that is bringing them global attachments. Global Immersion is about respecting the leadership and respecting the participant, whereby we’re really comfortable to give them responsibility.
“It’s about accepting people as individuals. They went out there, not knowing most of the other kids, and felt for three weeks they could be themselves – the best possible beautiful, ugly, gutsy, vulnerable self. And they loved it.”
Know someone who might want to see the world and make a difference in the lives of Tanzania's poorest and brightest students? Visit Global Immersion to find out more.
Talented breakdancer and soon-to-be senior student Dorcas may yearn to hit the dance floor during school holidays, but instead she has decided to give up the last three months to help others.
“I like working, keeping myself busy and doing stuff that helps people,” she said, explaining why she signed up for St Jude’s annual Form 4 volunteering program.
“I was happy with any position because I really just wanted to do it.”
More than 15 volunteer roles in various departments were available from December to February, with Dorcas landing a spot in the Sponsor Relations team at our primary campus.
“I’ve learnt lots of skills like working with lots of different people,” she said, explaining that her role included helping students with their sponsor communications and organising photos.”
When she’s not volunteering at school or helping her mum, a single parent of four, Dorcas is getting her groove on at Via Via Café, a dance venue in Arusha.
“I like doing hip hop and I’m good at girls’ hip hop, which we call ‘chicky pop’, but I like breakdancing the most,” she said, explaining that most of the moves require power and balance.
“But I’m really busy now so I don’t have much time to train… Practice starts at 5pm, but when I get home I have to wash my clothes, do cleaning, fetch some water, help mum cook, and then time is up – no time for practice.
“I’ve got some mates from school who dance and we would practice every free time we would get – after school and on weekends and public holidays.”
Dorcas’ past few months have proven her appreciation for both the past 11 years of a free, high-quality education at St Jude’s, and the encouragement her supportive mother has given her.
“It’s been great having Docas with us the past few months,” Sponsor Relations’ long-serving employee and Dorcas’ mentor, Lucy Cole, said.
“She’s always ready to help, no matter what the task is, always gets it done, and is simply a nice person to have around.”
Dorcas will start her final two years of school later this year and after she graduates she plans on doing community service through Beyond St Jude’s before going to university, possibly to study medicine.
If you’d like to support a breakdancing, volunteering future doctor like Dorcas, find out about our sponsorship programs.
You don't consistently rank in the top 10% nationally without a serious focus on classroom education, but here at St Jude's we know that future leaders need more than just impressive exam results.
Our approach extends beyond the classroom and into every facet of St Jude's life, producing community-focused leaders with strong skills and values.
These photos from our boarding campuses at Moivaro and Usa River give you a sneak peak into every day life and show our holistic approach in action.
Those bright uniforms you see when you visit don't stay bright without regular cleaning - especially with all the running around our students do.
Both boarding campuses are equipped with washing stations so our students can wash their clothes, a valuable step in becoming mature, self-sufficient young adults.
Our students understand the importance of the finer details. That's why they spend time on the little things like shining their shoes.
Cleaning doesn't have to be a chore, especially when you're surrounded by friends who are happy to help.
At St Jude's, we believe you reap what you sow - and the garden is a perfect place to learn this lesson.
Gardening is an important Extra-Curricular Activity at St Jude's, especially with agriculture playing such a vital role in Tanzania's future.
Our budding green thumbs help look after the gardens, which help provide the food for their meals. And they have fun while they're doing it!
Cleaning up after 1400 boarding students could be a lot of work!
Thankfully, our students take an active role in cleaning up after themselves, learning responsibility and how to appreciate their surroundings.
Our boarding campuses have rooms where our students can revise and study under the supervision of helpful and experienced boarding parents.
All work and no play is never a good idea.
That's why our campuses are fitted with football fields, basketball courts, volleyball courts - and even a badminton court.
Not only is sport a great way to socialise and cultivate a spirit of teamwork, it keeps our students fit and healthy.
Football is a favourite for boys and girls (and they don't always stick to the field!).
We're fighting poverty through education - so it helps to be strong. That's why some of our secondary school students enjoy working out with cleverly-conceived gym equipment!
The result: not only are our students excelling in the classroom, our holistic approach is creating happy and healthy community-focused leaders with strong skills and values.
If you want to support these students, make a donation to an area you're passionate about.
