Newsletter

On the 23rd August, my classmate Heidi Trollope, teacher Lauren Marquet, and I, along with eighteen other students and teachers from fellow mercy schools, the Academy of Mary Immaculate and Our Lady of Mercy, flew to Cambodia on an Immersion trip.

We landed in Phnom Penh where we visited Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing feilds, Choeung Ek. We learnt about the Khmer Rouge, a genocide that took place from 1975-1979 that ended the lives of approximately 1.7 - 2 million people.

Following that we drove to Kampong Cham where we worked with an NGO to help build a house for a family living in rural areas. It was a fulfilling and beautiful experience, followed by a Buddhist blessing of the house by a monk. We then drove six hours to Siem Reap and explored temples, Angkor Wat, Bayon Temple and Ta Prohm, all of which are nearly one thousand years old and Angkor Wat being the largest religious monument in the world.

Following that we travelled to Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and met Sr. Denise Coglan, a Sister of Mercy working to support refugees and displaced communities through aid, education, advocacy, mental health and many other life saving pursuits. We met Tun Channareth who in 1997 accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. We helped to build wheelchairs with him and later constructed a toilet block. It was a marvelous, once in a lifetime expedition we were so grateful to be given the opportunity to experience.

Lila Dymott-Khuong
Year 11