Guest Speaker Wendy De Luca

Posted by Doug Sutton on Oct 19, 2017
Guest Speaker Wendy De Luca

The Country of Nepal was Wendy's topic today. 
 
Wendy was introduced to the Club by Rotarian Bob Willis who told us that Wendy is a lecturer in Adult and Vocational Education at CSU. She is also a former Rotarian being the Charter President of the Murrumbidgee Club.
 
Wendy was an Education Officer in the regular Army for 15 years and serves in the Army Reserve as the Regional Manager of the Defence Services Support Council - a body that offers support to employers of the Defence Reservists.
 
In her role at CSU, Wendy has led two trips to Nepal and is currently preparing for her third Professional Student Placement trip which will leave in November.
Wendy, who is extremely passionate about Nepal started by talking about the Geography of the country which is set in the Himalayas. It is about the same distance North of the Equator as Brisbane is South of the Equator.
 
Nepal has three distinct Geographic regions: Plains; Elevated flatlands and hills; The Mountain Region. The Himalayas, the highest Mountain range in the world can be seen from all over Nepal. In one picture that Wendy showed, the Himalayas and Everest could be seen from 500 kilometres distant!
 
The Nepalaese are a very proud of the fact that they have never been colonised.
 
The Regional Town that Wendy visits is Sindhuli which is about 140 kilometres from Kathmandu the capital. The journey by car takes 6 hours. The "main" road traverses very rugged country and the side roads to the various villages along the way are mainly for foot traffic and comprise many suspension bridges over the deep gorges. 
 
Nepal has a population slightly greater than Australia with about 28 million people located in area about the size of Victoria.
 
There are sights of the Himalayas from every high point in the country.
Sindhuli is a commercial hub equivalent to Wagga. The community has some issues around educating their children and providing health care. A RAWCS project initiated through a local men's group, built a community college for technical training. Rotarian Bruce Duffy from Wagga has been heavily involved.
 
The college has 120 students of whom 35 are young women. Work Place Health and Safety and First Aid are important topics in the curriculum.
 
Wendy said she has never felt so embraced by a community of strangers as when she is in Nepal. Nepalese children are most treasured and family life is paramount although sadly, as in our community, domestic violence is an issue.
 
Wendy has seen what Rotary in action can do on the other side of the world and is proud of what can be achieved. Her wisdom advice is to embrace a community in a holistic manner. There is another RAWCS team proposed for Sindhuli in March and Wendy would welcome anyone who can swing a hammer.
 
President Paul thanked Wendy on behalf of members who showed their appreciation by warm applause.