Students thrust into humanitarian 'disaster'
Rachel Creek camps out at CDU’s Mataranka Station
By Jason McIntosh The wide open spaces of a Territory station await the arrival of 10,000 traumatised, desperate refugees and you have just two weeks to create a place of safety and security.
That scenario was thrust upon Charles Darwin University (CDU) students at a specialised humanitarian training course held in the Northern Territory recently.
Led by two former Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) logisticians, CDU Humanitarian lecturer Dan Baschiera and Sydney-based engineer Jane Lynch, the students learned core practical skills and were given first hand accounts of the challenges they might face.
The two-week course was based at CDU's Casuarina campus in Darwin and its rural cattle station four hours drive south of the capital.
Students from CDU's Bachelor programs in Humanitarian and Community Studies, Social Work, Environmental Science and Engineering participated.
Skills taught included construction, water supply, sanitation, radio communications, mechanics, logistics, planning and 4WD training, which were applied to simulated scenarios at the rural cattle station.
Ms Lynch, a veteran of foreign conflicts and natural disasters in Sudan, Chad, Indonesia and Sri Lanka has co-run the course for three years and said it was crucial to give students a realistic insight into humanitarian work.
"We are honest with the students about the sort of challenges they may face across the whole spectrum from dealing with dangerous situations, traumatic events and ethical issues.”
For Bachelor of Humanitarian and Community Studies student Ben Ngwele, the course gave him new knowledge to tackle natural disasters in his homeland of Vanuatu.
“Back home we have many natural disasters like earthquakes and we don’t know when they will happen,” he said.
“This course was really valuable because it helped me learn about surveying, planning and working out what needs to be done.”
A Flinders University Masters student Rachel Creek cross-enrolled in the course because it gave her hands-on experience in her area of interest, international development.
“This course has given me the confidence to apply for entry level logistician roles because it covered the core skills that organisations are looking for,” she said.
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