Arts students promote aid agency’s work in Nepal
Braden Blyde
Communication officer
Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Australia
Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia
Stills serve greater purpose than holiday snaps: Photographs by Hayley Judd and Avondale College of Higher Education students will promote the work of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Nepal. Credit: Reuben Ennor
With camera in hand, it might have been easy to mistake the Avondale College of Higher Education staff members and arts students who travelled to Nepal in their holidays as tourists, but they left most of their photographs behind.
The stills and $10,000 worth of video production equipment donated by the Media Mission team will help the local office of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency produce promotional material and potentially form part of its local community development programs.
“ADRA Nepal’s health education training will now reach villages that may have been too difficult or expensive to reach,” says coordinator Jessica Ennor, a marketing and public relations assistant for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Australia.
A large percentage of Nepal’s population lives in remote and rugged mountain areas. The Media Mission team hiked to a community in one of these areas. The community, called Bhumisthan, can now access ADRA’s health education training, which means hundreds more lives will be saved, reports Jessica. Donors will also see the impact their support is making, she adds. “It’s really helped secure the sustainability of the project and the communities it helps.”
The Media Mission team will continue raising money, through student club One Mission, to support work in the country.
Hope in Ratadihi
A student’s perspective
Ketannah Hope
Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Teaching student
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
The village of Ratadihi is a small community of 19 families, but a large community of hope. ADRA has established a project called Leadership and Good Governance there. I spoke with the Bajgaien family about it.
Bhola, the father, revealed how crucial farming is to the village’s existence, how just one bad season could spell the end. The villagers used to pour money into ineffective pesticides to the detriment of their health. Now, thanks to the training they have received from ADRA, the villagers have more control of the process because they are farming organically.
Organic farming is a challenge for the villagers—their crops are not yet thriving. But they have hope and patience because they are now “satisfied and dignified.” Bhola’s humble words echo in my head: “We are always grateful to ADRA.”
I will be, too, because I learned two important lessons: sometimes it is not the seen but the unseen that makes the greatest difference; and to do something great, you have to give others the opportunity to find greatness for themselves. Humility is essential.
Ketannah visited Nepal as a member of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Australia and One Mission Media Mission team.