Immersion 2009

ABBEY GRAMMAR SCHOOL - 2009 - Zambian Immersian Project 'New Seed Is Planted'

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Click To View Larger Image of 2009 participants

On the 25th March 2009, a group of ten students and four teachers from the Abbey Grammar had the life-changing experience of the Zambian Immersion Project, the single most important aspect of the school’s efforts to raise awareness of and combat the problems of the Developing World.

Since the first, groundbreaking immersion in 2002, the Christian Brothers have linked the generosity and compassion of the Abbey with the potential and the need of Christian Brothers schools in Zambia. The Brothers, with four decades of experience in education and charity work in the region, are in a unique position to realise the hopes of those on both sides of the project.

Altogether, a total of twenty five students and ten teachers have been to Livingstone. The difference this has made to lives, both of privileged and of the needy, cannot be completely appreciated by anyone without first-hand experience of the project’s effects - in fact, the importance of first-hand experience is a fundamental feature of the concept. The hope that the experience of life for the world’s most disadvantaged people will change the outlook of everyone fortunate enough to be involved is the cornerstone of the Immersion. The students return with a renewed energy to work for change (many hope to re-visit Africa in their adult lives), with a deeper understanding of what must be done to bring justice to developing nations, and, in the furthest-reaching effect of the experience, bring their enthusiasm and knowledge into the school and local community. The fundraising efforts for the project meant that the work for the group began months before their journey to Zambia. The team’s key financial aim is to donate at least as much money to local, specific projects in southern Zambia as what was spent on flights and accommodation for them to work there. In this manner, the group are able to provide the most direct possible link between where the money is raised and where the money is needed most. As education is a central aspect of the aims of the Immersion, the community school in Livingstone will hopefully receive significant help.

Some reflections on the Zambian Immersion Experience from the students of the Abbey Grammar School, Newry who were there in March / April, 2009.

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