Mother and son lend helping hand

“Reuben is 14 and I thought he needed a worldly adventure before he reached that adolescence madness,” Ms Duncan said.

“For him to be able to see a whole different way of living and thinking and be immersed in a different culture was a wonderful experience. Hopefully it showed him how lucky we are and to have empathy and compassion.

“Reuben really embraced the project, he worked hard and pushed himself.”

As well as experiencing first-hand a different culture, Reuben also worked alongside some elder statesmen from the Port Fairy community. Members of the Port Fairy Rotary Club and other high profile residents such as Hugh Worrall and Colin Robertson were part of the working party.

“It was a great chance for Reuben to be involved with people older than who he would normally be around,” Ms Duncan said.

“He loved working with Hugh and Colin and the other guys – it showed him what a community working together can achieve.”

Ms Duncan first became involved in the Tanzanian project through a Port Fairy Conversation Series she hosted at the Lecture Hall.

Seif Sakate was a guest speaker at one of the sessions, his story capturing her imagination. The more she learned, the more layers she discovered.

While in Tanzania, she worked on the construction of the toilet block and helping create a mural on the classroom wall. But a real labour of love was working on the building of a chook shed.

“The idea of the chook shed is it will be looked after by single mothers and disadvantaged women who will care for the chickens and sell the eggs,” Ms Duncan said.

“Being a single mother myself, I am really passionate about helping these women as much as I can, to help improve their quality of life.”