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A group of 12 teachers from the Port Pirie Diocese in South Australia have recently returned from a 12-day outreach experience in Kiribati.
Known as the “Kiribati Commitment”, the programme aims to provide young teachers in the Port Pirie Diocese with an opportunity to live and work alongside the Good Samaritan Sisters in Kiribati and to be immersed in broader community life.
Brenda Keenan, Director of Catholic Education in the Port Pirie Diocese, who has been instrumental in making the “Kiribati Commitment” a reality, said the emphasis is on mutual learning and enrichment for all involved.
She described this year’s inaugural outreach experience to the village of Abaokoro, where a community of three i-Kiribati sisters run the Good Samaritan Early Learning Childhood Centre, as “an outstanding success”.
“From the outset I knew that it was going to be very good, but my expectations were met one-hundred-times-fold – and I had extremely high expectations,” she said.
“The outreach experience, on so many different levels, was fantastic.”
The 12 teachers all conveyed similar sentiments.
Keenan said the Kiribati outreach program will continue to evolve over the coming years.
“There will be future and ongoing opportunities for staff from across our diocesan schools to travel and witness this amazing Pacific country and its people, and there will be opportunities for the i-Kiribati Good Samaritan Sisters to visit our diocese and schools,”
she said.
“Our partnership is two-ways (both ways), as we continue to cultivate and grow our cross-cultural learnings, friendships and understandings.”
Source
- goodsams.org.au
- Image: goodsams.org.au
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News category: Asia Pacific.
