Logo for the 2025 Cambridge Immersion event, featuring blue and red text.
Group of happy people in black shirts with a logo, posing together and waving at the camera at an indoor event.

CAMBODIA

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2025

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CAMBODIA 〰️ 2025 〰️

4 DEC - 16 DEC

SYDNEY → CAMBODIA

Marist Youth Ministry invites interested young adults to take part in the 2025 immersion to Cambodia. Participants will engage with the global Marist community fostering solidarity, family spirit, personal and spiritual growth. Participants will experience the culture and daily life of the Cambodian people, along with a formative program of accompaniment in country.  You will gain a firsthand insight into Marist life and mission in a place on the periphery.

Applications Closing Soon!

Interviews To Follow Applications

Cost

The cost of the immersion will be approximately $3600. All participants are required to depart from Sydney. (Domestic travel to Sydney is not included).

The cost of immersion includes: 

  1. One night’s accommodation in Meriton Apartments Mascot prior to departure 

  2. Departing flight from Sydney to Phnom Penh  

  3. Return airfare to home capital city from Siem Reap 

  4. Accommodation in Cambodia 

  5. All travel in Cambodia 

  6. All food in Cambodia 

  7. Tours – museums, Angkor Wat, the killing fields, Mekong River Cruise.

  8. Donations to Brothers Community in La Valla School

 If you require an alternative travel arrangement at the conclusion of the immersion, please contact Jeni Miller. 

WHERE YOU'LL GO

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WHERE YOU'LL GO 〰️

The La Valla School

Young Marists will have a one-day visit to The Lavalla School. The Lavalla School was founded in 1998 by the Marist Brothers and provides a range of initiatives that seek to provide education and training for children and young people with a disability.  

For, further information, click on the link. 

https://www.australianmaristsolidarity.net.au/project/marist-solidarity-cambodia/ 

Four women and two children gathered around a table outdoors, with greenery and a staircase in the background. The women are showing something to the children, who are looking at their hands. A bottle of orange juice is on the table.
Group of children and adults crafting bead jewelry at a long table outdoors, with a Marist Schools Australia bag in the foreground.
Two teenagers sitting at a table, focused on making colorful beaded jewelry with string and beads, under a metal roof structure in an outdoor setting.
A group of children and two adults sitting at a restaurant table under a large open-air roof, enjoying a meal together.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

On the first day in Cambodia, we will become familiar with the culture and historical background of Cambodia, by visiting a museum chronicling the Cambodian genocide. Located in Phnom Penh, the site is a former secondary school which was used as Security Prison 21 by the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 until its fall in 1979. From 1976 to 1979, an estimated 20,000 people were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng. 

Inside an abandoned men's restroom with wooden stalls, some doors are open, revealing a checkered tan and white tile floor and worn yellow walls with graffiti.
Old, unfinished outdoor bathroom or changing stall with brick and concrete walls, metal frame, and tiled floor.
Large black-and-white historical photo of seven men standing together outdoors, attached to a fence on a street with buildings in the background.

The Killing Fields

Young Marists will visit several sites in Cambodia which are known as ‘The Killing Fields’. These areas are where collectively, more than 1,000,000 people were killed and buried by the Communist Party of Kampuchea during Khmer Rouge rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War (1970–1975). The mass killings were part of the broad, state sponsored Cambodian genocide. 

Statue of a woman holding a child, surrounded by trees, with a plaque that reads: "Never will we forget the crimes committed during the Democratic Kampuchea regime, 17.04.1975 - 07.01.1979."
People dining at a restaurant with a long table filled with food and drinks, some of them sushi and beverages. The restaurant has an open-air concept with natural light and greenery visible.
A painted sign with a drawing of a plant growing in soil, and a map of the world as the soil. The sign reads, "Let's save the world together." There are plants and outdoor furniture in the background.
Street scene with parked vehicles, people, and buildings, including a prominent blue Woori Bank ATM and a tall pink and gray building in the background under a clear blue sky.

The Mekong River

Young Marists will be treated to a cruise down the Mekong River, which is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia. From its headwaters in the Tibetan Plateau, the river runs through Southwest China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam. The river is a major trade route between Tibet and Southeast Asia. The construction of hydroelectric dams along the Mekong in the 2000s through the 2020s has caused serious problems for the river's ecosystem, including the exacerbation of drought. 

Five people sitting inside a tuk-tuk on a city street, smiling and looking at the camera.
A rusty house floating on water with a pink-roofed structure and a boat nearby, surrounded by green vegetation and trees.
Sunset over a city skyline with a boat on the river reflecting the sky's colors.
Group of people sitting around a long outdoor table on a rooftop with a city skyline and high-rise buildings in the background during sunset.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is a Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Siem Reap. Located on a site measuring 162.6 hectares within the ancient Khmer capital city of Angkor, it is considered as the largest religious structure in the world by Guinness World Records. 

Group of women sitting and standing in front of an ancient stone temple ruin with clear blue sky.
A group of people sitting on the steps leading up to an ancient stone temple with intricate carvings, under a clear blue sky.
A group of people sitting and standing on the steps of an ancient stone temple with columns, under a clear blue sky.
Tourists sitting on a stone ledge outside Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, listening to a guide. The sky is blue with some clouds, and the temple ruins are visible in the background.

FAQs

  • The immersion is open to interested young adults (18+ who graduated from school no later than 2024) who want to experience Marist life and mission in a global context.

  • Applications close on 30 April 2025. Interviews will commence early May 2025.

  • The approximate cost is $3600, there will be minimal personal costs.

  • The cost covers:

    • 1 night's accommodation in Sydney (Meriton Apartments Mascot)

    • Flights: Sydney → Phnom Penh and return from Siem Reap

    • Accommodation, all travel, and all meals in Cambodia

    • Tours (Angkor Wat, Killing Fields, Mekong River Cruise, museums)

    • Donations to Marist Brothers communities in La Valla School

  • Domestic travel to Sydney for departure is not included. As well as any personal purchases.

  • Yes. If you need alternative arrangements after the immersion, contact Jenifer Miller ASAP if accepted. (jenifer.miller@marists.org.au)

  • The immersion focuses on solidarity, family spirit, personal and spiritual growth, and experiencing the culture and daily life of the Cambodian people.

Want more information?

For more information contact Justin Golding at justin.golding@marists.org.au or Jenifer Miller at jenifer.miller@marists.org.au

Marist Youth Ministry logo with stylized purple and pink text.
Logo for the Marists of Champagne Province, featuring a stylized boat with waves, a cross, and text.