In their first exposure to Australian farming, three Sudanese students from Melbourne’s south east were understandably unsure about Lowanna College’s boisterous goat population.
“Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you,” Lowanna agricultural teacher Andrew Gordon said, as the goats practiced their head-butting skills on each other.
“(The students) were a little reluctant at first, but once they interacted and started up some conversation, they seemed to really enjoy the visits,” Mr Gordon said later to The Express.
Coming from Heritage College in Officer, the students were guests of an Agribusiness Gippsland agricultural exposure tour, which chief executive Sue Webster said was about opening up the Sudanese perceptions of the role of agriculture in food production.
“Some of these kids have possibly never been on a farm before they came to Lowanna, in a lot of cases the only exposure they have had is subsistence farming in Sudan,” Ms Webster said.
“This is about showing them that farming is not just about subsistence, that it can be much more productive than that.”
The Heritage College students joined three Lowanna students enrolled in the school’s agricultural curriculum for lunch.
“The program is about instilling exposure to all the different avenues in agriculture, so it was great for our kids to share that,” Mr Gordon said.
“We look at animal nutrition through pasture trials, so the kids learn about all parts of the farming system – from agricultural science to transport systems.”
