Quote of the Moment:

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order and confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.”
C.K.

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Student Practical Work Experience

Pros and Contras

A list of positive and negative points collected by students who did a prac work on Kachana.

Pro Contra
  • Living with nature
  • Fantastic bushwalking experiences in a stunning environment
  • Flexibility (listen to nature, observe, be flexible in your work, ...)
  • Introduction in complex problems (nature and politics) and possible solutions
  • Introduction and insights in Holistic Management
  • Recognizing ecological problems or unbalances
  • Getting in contact with global problems
  • Comparison to Europe
  • Transforming knowledge into practical skills
  • Introduction in different working methods (non-mechanical)
  • Understanding ecology in a holistic perspective
  • Experience physical limits
  • Extending ones horizon
  • Introduction in fire ecology
  • High level of independence: it's possible to develop ones own interests, such as botany or soil samples, etc.
  • Insights in interdisciplinary fields of science like ecosystem management, soil science, relations between producers / consumers / destroyers, etc.
  • Implementing this knowledge into practical solutions for the Kachana revitalization project
  • A fantastic and very special experience: living outside in the tropical nature for a couple of months, working with a herd of cattle and learning how this herd works...
  • Slaughtering and butchering out in nature: a unique experience!
  • Financially unattractive for students
  • It's not an English learning opportunity for Swiss or German students (the Henggeler family speaks German)
  • There's not much social life on Kachana: one is often alone with itself... (which can be a good experience nonetheless)
  • Depending on season and weather it can be very difficult to stand the heat...
  • Strange experiences with animals (day and night)
  • One can get airsick easily in bush airplanes
  • Spinifex-Ausschlag