School visitation | Doonside NSW

Wednesday: 19 March 8am – 3pm 

School visitation | Doonside NSW

We had an early start on Wednesday, as we needed to relocate our base seeing we were now heading toward the south of Sydney. Arising early, we had breakfast, packed up the van and personal belongings and loaded them into the vehicles and set off at 6.45 am. We had a good run through the suburbs to Doonside and arrived just before 8.00 am and were able to park the caravan out of the way near the multi-purpose centre.
We unloaded Bubsie into the area designated for the display and parked the car and trailer along the grass verge of the road into the school. After signing in, we set up the display while Kevin prepared for the Junior School chapel. The school was celebrating Harmony Day and all the students had come in their ethnic attire for the day. What a colourful array of cultures were on display as the children learned how special it is to come from different cultures but to work together in harmony to bring blessing to all. There were also a number of parents present for the chapels through the morning. Glen also attended the chapel presentation. The children were greeted as they came in by one of the chaplains, Craig Vanas with a stop/slow sign. They had to obey the instruction on the sign. The sign also came in handy when he wanted the children to stop talking.
While the chapel was running, Glenda had some of the middle school classes come to the display and highlighted the unique features of the vehicle and related the stories of how Nevill coped with difficulties that arose. Glen came down and took over at one point as the chaplain had requested that Glenda go up to the chapel to receive a special gift of appreciation for our visit on behalf of the team.
Craig Vanas had purchased three Lego sets of a small model red car. One he gave to our team as a memento of the trip to thew college in Doonside and in case we were bored along the way with nothing to do! (That is not possible!) One model had been hidden in the junior school section of the school and the student who found it would be given a copy of the children’s story book by Amanda Bews – “Blazing the Trail – The Story of Nevill Westwood and Bubsie” as a resource for their classroom. We also added the reward of being allowed to sit in the driver’s seat in the car. The third model had been made up and hidden in the Kindy classroom for one of their children to find as well.
Following the chapel, we returned to the Bubsie display and it wasn’t long before the finders of the models appeared with their rewards and were able to sit in the car and have their pictures taken. Many more of the classes came with their teachers and enjoyed learning about the car and the stories of the journey.
Middle School chapel also took place during the morning, and we were impressed by the thoughts expressed by the students who lead out in the acknowledgement to country, welcome and prayer for Harmony Day. Kevin also gave a presentation to that group. Teachers were given class copies of “The Overlander” and the activity sheet was provided for the classes.
The Senior School had organised a special Harmony Day chapel with a panel of people from various cultures who had related to the College in Doonside either as students or now teaching there. They shared their experiences growing up as a person from a different culture, the challenges that had brought, the richness it had given to their lives, and wisdom on how to deal with racial or other prejudices and overcome obstacles to make a difference in our multi-cultural country. All have high influence in their roles in society and work and had great impact on the audience. As the senior students left the chapel, they were given a copy of “The Overlander” book and an Incredible Journey QR code card to various programs available on YouTube.
Classes continued to come throughout the afternoon to see the vehicle and at the end of the school day, the men loaded Bubsie and moved the trailer and caravan down near the amenities. Glen set up his swag and Kevin connected the van to the power to bed down for the night in Doonside. Glenda had a Zoom meeting with the TIJ media team to finalise some advertising initiatives for our trip. It had been a busy day, but well worth the visit and we thank to the principal – Irwin Steyn, his staff and the chaplains for their efforts in making the day a success and for their prayers on our behalf as we continue our journey.