THEY say it takes a village to educate a child. But a village can also learn from a child.
And that is exactly what happened when 12 7th and 8th grade students of Northern Marianas College Lab School arrived with a bagful of lessons from their recent trip to Cairns, Australia.
The group arrived in Cairns on April 14 and returned to the island five days later. It was their first overseas trip.
“The purpose of our trip is to learn about other cultures and languages and about the environment and other places and to start a tradition at our school. Like once a year, we go out of the CNMI to go to other countries or places,” said Alex Sablan, a student.
With teacher John Davis, the children yesterday shared with Variety a wealth of experience that could be beneficial to the tourism-based economy of the CNMI.
According to the children, Australia is a haven for tourists “because they treat them like ‘gods’ and really attend to their needs.”
They said the difference between the Australian and CNMI way of treating tourists became apparent to them the moment their plane touched down at Cairns International Airport.
NMC School of Education Director Sallie Sablan, who also accompanied the children, said the airport in Cairns has a message board center that allows tourists expecting to be picked up to know if their rides have already arrived. A tourist information center is also located at the airport where materials like maps, places to go, among other things, are readily available free of charge.
The children said Australia “is a very attractive and clean place.”
They were also amazed by the friendly atmosphere and the warm acceptance that they received not just from tour people but from Australians themselves.
“We treat our (tourists) bad, especially when they are crossing the road or when we are walking around a store. We should be nice and show them respect,” Reyes said.
“People here should be more friendly so that tourists will feel more welcome,” said Roger Govendo.
Jonathan Mafnas has this to say: “I think none of the service on Saipan is bad or anything, but here some cashiers in stores sometimes don’t pay attention to you. It takes really long for them to do things. In Australia, everyone you see always makes sure that you are being helped and that you are taken cared of.”
The children also noticed Australia’s “serious efforts” to preserve its natural environment.
The children, moreover, said they learned the importance of work. “In Australia, the kids saw for the first time that people in the community, local people, do the work as opposed to having people from other places. I thought that was the most positive thing that we got out of this,” Davis said.
“Over there, the locals are working rather than having foreign workers. Everybody wants to work and earn money and the minimum wage is very good,” Govendo said.
