Sharing a message of hope with others is alive and well among Avondale’s nursing students.
In 2006 a Bachelor of Nursing graduate, Sarah Jantos, developed the student organisation One Mission, dedicated to inspire students for service and provide opportunities for mission in developing countries. One Mission operates in association with Adventist Volunteer Services of the South Pacific Division. Groups of nursing students have engaged in service projects in Kenya, the Philippines, Vanuatu, Thailand and Cambodia, taking a spiritual message and making improvements to the recipients’ quality of life that last long beyond the time of the visits.
Rajan Vinobha, sponsored by Avondale nursing students to study nursing in India.
Students on the Sydney campus have also sent a practical message of hope by sponsoring an Indian student, Rajan Vinobha, to study nursing at the Adventist operated Metas College of Nursing in Surat, India. Rajan has now graduated and is helping others through her work in nursing. The support the students gave has the potential to spread far wider. Rajan said, “If I get a chance to help anyone in the future, I will surely do so.”
Avondale’s nursing staff and students are now working in conjunction with Adventist Health Ministries of the South Pacific Division to develop a relationship with Atoifi Adventist Hospital in the Solomon Islands. The vision is to extend students’ spiritual growth and provide opportunities for cultural and professional interchange. “Nursing is an increasingly global profession with a great need for multicultural understanding,” said Dr Paul Race, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Health. “The project will support one of the Bachelor of Nursing course goals by developing graduates with these attributes,” he said. The relationship with Atoifi will also facilitate extension of the Faculty’s research activities as staff investigate best practice methods of operating such projects and identify the benefits more precisely than previously. The research has the potential to enhance similar activities across other faculties at Avondale.
Dr Paul Race/Dr John Cox
Dean, Faculty of Nursing and Health, Avondale College/Editor, Reflections
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