Students exhibiting the Christmas spirit

AS the cash registers jingle their merry Christmas tunes, one small group of young Australians have earned admiration by truly contributing to the spirit of Christianity.

These boys from St Augustine's, Brookvale, have raised money to send themselves and a handful of teachers to the Philippines where, in the village of Bulacan, north of Manila, they built a small house to supplement an orphanage run by a local order of nuns. I learnt about this accidentally during a conversation with a charming young waitress serving the 7am coffees at Church Point's Waterfront Cafe this week. Her brother Damien, she said with some pride, was one of the pupils who volunteered for the project after completing Year 10. A little later I spoke with Damien Macri, a quiet young man, who told me about an experience that had been life changing for him and his friends. "I don't think we realised how well off we are in comparison with so many other people in other countries," he said. "The orphanage is in an area that is like a slum. "The village is on the edge of rice paddies and the local people have to make their own hand tools from whatever materials are available." Working with local builders Bert and Bebeng, who helped them erect the walls and roof trusses, the boys built the kitchen and bedrooms and laid out and planted a vegetable garden. As a treat, they took themselves to a McDonald's to celebrate. Their burgers cost a few pesos. They later discovered that this was a day's wages for the locals. St Augustine's head of Design and Technology Craig Jeffrey told me that the school had begun assisting the nuns defray food costs and running expenses for the orphanage since 2002 with collections from the school's Lenten Appeal. Headmaster Tim Cleary had decided that something more substantial could be accomplished and the first "mission" to Bulacan took off two years ago. On that trip by 13 St Augustine's students a small infirmary was built to isolate the sick from the rest of the orphanage community. Sister Niceta, who runs the home, had 12 charges in 2007 and now cares for 20. The first building the students built was initially assembled in Brookvale, then knocked-down and sent as a pre-fab construction to the Philippines. Building the new house from scratch on-site gave the 17-to-18-year-old students a greater sense of independence and achievement. "The enterprise has had a profound effect on the students," Mr Jeffrey said. "One student, who had been experiencing some difficulties at school, was quite dramatically turned around after seeing people cope in an environment where poverty is a way of life and people are happy with the barest minimum." But it's not cool to talk about building orphanages, and the boys from St Augustine's don't want to sound like big noters, even if their little sisters and their parents are deeply impressed. What more could be asked of Christmas? And, to all those who read this column, a heartfelt thank you for your letters and emails and may you and your families enjoy a safe and healthy Christmas.