A group of school students from Canberra, Australia visited the Solomon Islands from 9 July to 18 July to engage with local communities and schools.
About 17 people – 14 students and 3 teachers from Marist College in Canberra and 13 people -10 students and 3 teachers from Canberra Girls Grammar school visited Honiara.
And they loved every minute of their experience!
While in Honiara they stayed at the King Solomon Hotel and Sanalae Apartments, as well as having a night staying at the B17 Dive and Beach Bungalows and sleeping at the Sisters of the Church convent.
On their first morning in Honiara a visit to the American War Memorial was enhanced with the attendance of Australian military personal and Travel Solomons WW2 experts.
Afterwards the group was warmly welcomed by the Matariau community in West Kola and loved getting to spend time with the kids playing football, drawing, reading and learning new games.
Despite the mud due to the night’s rain, our group was welcomed with big smiles and were so moved by the local kids warm welcome and genuine interest in talking to everyone about Australia.
The group then travelled to Aruligo and spent two days with the San Isidro School for the Deaf community.
They loved getting a chance to learn Auslan, learn how to climb a coconut tree and spend a few hours working together to plant a cassava garden.
For our Australian students this was their first experience of cutting cassava sticks with a bush knife and working in the garden under the hot sun.
A highlight of the trip was attending Sunday Mass at Holy Cross Church and listening to the wonderful signing and hymns of the congregation.
The students were also privileged enough to undergo a training session with the Solomon Islands National Floorball Association.
Being introduced to this sport was a fun and exciting moment for our sporty students who had never held a floorball stick before.
Returning to Honiara the two schools went their separate ways to engage with local school communities.
The Canberra Girls Grammar group went to the Sisters of the Church at TNK and spent two days working with the students of Amoana Christian Academy at Rifle Range.
The Marist College students spend time at St Joseph’s College in Tenaru and Mercy School in Burns Creek, East Honiara.
Our students were emotionally moved by the generous welcome and hospitality at each community that they visited.
St Joseph’s, Tenaru facilitated a ‘buddy’ program so each student had a partner to show them around the school and spend time with them discussing life in the Solomon Islands for a teenager.
Time was spent in classes, hanging out in dorms, playing a lot of sport and making great new friends.
Our Australian students also loved the local ‘kastom’ performances presented on our last day and even joined in by sharing an Australian ‘party dance’ – the Nutbush.
Our last day was spent enjoying lunch with the wonderful teachers at Mercy School in Burns’ Creek.
Our students engaged in free sports, musical sing alongs and exchanged pen-pal letters from Australia.
Every student and teacher had an incredible experience visiting the Solomon Islands and look forward to continuing the connections and friendships made from this trip.
Both schools from Canberra plan on taking over student groups again in 2026 and will start planning for their return to the Hapi Isles!
A huge thank you to the schools that welcomed us into their communities (St Joseph’s and the Laumanasa Brother’s Community, San Isidro, Amoana, Mercy School, Sisters of the Church), Matariau Village, The Floorball Association, all of the hotels and restaurants for their incredible hospitality and to Lionel Rifasia of Fake White Transport for coordinating our transport and drivers during the 10 days.
By Leigh Southwell
Lead teacher of Marist College Immersion and Director of ‘Make A Mark Australia’ charity.
