By Lauren Hichaaba and Romina Martiniello

Melbourne, Australia, March 11, 2016 - We at the Cagliero Project are incredibly excited to have a wonderful group of volunteers who departed earlier in the year. Included in our volunteers this year is our first family of volunteers. Kane and Renee Bowden and their children Ethan, Jedd and Yasmin will be spending the year at Don Bosco Technical School in Phnom Penh. The Bowden family will be joined by Madelaine Smith, a social work student, from New South Wales. Madi has been a very active youth mentor in her parish and beyond. David Fong and Elizabeth Waters will both be spending their volunteer period at Don Bosco Hotel School in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. David is an experienced teacher with over 30 years in the Catholic School system and Elizabeth (Lil) is in the midst of her Outdoor and Environmental education degree. Finally, Katie Sabel will be spending the year at Don Bosco Technical School in Alafua in Samoa. As part of our Province, Samoa is an area of priority for the Cagliero Project and it is wonderful to have Katie at the Tech School.

As part of our formation program for new Cagliero volunteers, we spend a great deal of time talking about culture. We know that it is comprised of many things such as art, beliefs, customs, institutions and other products of human work and thought. In preparing our volunteers to enter a new culture, we liken it to the image of an iceberg, where part of it is obvious and visible but most of it lies beneath the ocean surface.

The job of our Cagliero volunteers is not to uncover what lies beneath the surface, but to form relationships where this can happen organically, as if the volunteer was a part of and not a spectator to a particular culture. Where a tourist may only understand culture at a surface level, Cagliero volunteers are often able to appreciate culture much more deeply as they begin to understand both the unspoken rules and the unconscious ones.

Culture is a talking point, a source of joy, a positive explanation for differences and a basis for our own identities. For this reason, it plays a huge role in a Cagliero volunteers’ experience, being something that everyone, irrespective of age, qualifications or social background, can share.

The success of Cagliero volunteers lies in their ability to be present among the young people with whom they work, while walking in true solidarity with them. In order to do this authentically, they must fully immerse themselves into a new culture, which often proves the most challenging part of the experience, but also the most joyous. To share in the lives and culture of others is a real privilege that remains a core part of the Cagliero mission and experience.

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