GUST STUDENTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN NEPAL

Students volunteered to help renovate a local school and explore Nepalese traditions and culture.

Kuwait City, August XX, 2016: Students and staff from Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) joined forces with the Kuwait-based NGO, OXadventure, to undertake a two-week volunteer trip to Nepal between July 19 and August 2 as part of a university-sponsored internship. The goal of this trip was to help renovate a school building in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital and conduct educational outreach. In addition to volunteering, the students had the opportunity to hike the Himalayan Mountains and visit remote communities.

During the trip, students visited six villages, giving them first-hand experience with some of Nepal’s traditions and culture. The interns and staff who accompanied them stayed in modest local guesthouses, executed demanding physical labor and developed teamwork skills. The intent was to have them experience life as the local Nepalese do while also helping the communities. Since the students were representatives from the Mass Communication and Media (MCM) major at GUST, they also prepared media materials and documented their activities with photos, videos, and journals.

Dr. Fahad Al-Sumait, Head of the Mass Communication and Media Department, commented, “We encourage our students to undertake trips like this every year because it helps build their character while also providing them with opportunities to practice various media skills. So it benefits everyone involved: the students, the university and most importantly the local communities in which they work.”  

This trip is the third annual aid-work internship conducted by the MCM Department at GUST in partnership with OxAdventure, which is a local non-profit organization established by young Kuwaitis in 2013, with the aim of educating a younger generation about global citizenship and donating their time and energy to affected communities. The previous two trips had students build an orphanage for a school community in Bangalore, India and a community center with a computer-training lab in Sri Lanka.