Eight Eastern Bay young people have returned from China much richer for the experience.

Ōpōtiki’s Samantha Gamman said her time in China would forever stay with her as one of the best experiences she had enjoyed overseas.

“My time there was full of fond memories from the excellent students that I helped with oral English and pronunciation, then to the amazing colleagues which I can now call friends.”

Ms Gamman said one person, especially, had really impressed her.

“My host sister Wang Yu, Rachel, become my traveling best friend,” she said.

“It’s my priority to get her over to New Zealand to either study or join this volunteer programme, as she is a very intelligent and ambitious person, with amazing oral English knowledge.”

The three-month trip was organised by Simon Appleton, a former Ōpōtiki District Council tourism and economic development officer, who now runs a language school in Napier.

He said he had hoped to extend the programme further after meeting with several Chinese schools that wanted English teachers.

Next year he is planning a three-month volunteer programme and a paid 12-month programme in China.

During her stay in China, Ms Gamman became a netball coach for 16 female students who had no knowledge of the sport before.

“I gave a lecture about New Zealand sports and netball to full a lecture hall even though I think half of them where there to see a foreigner talk to them, which I was happy to accommodate,” Ms Gamman said.

“During the netball training and games, the ‘Energetic Eagles’ as the team was called, had a massive improvement in their oral English and pronunciation which greatly increased their confidence.”

Ms Gamman said the classes she participated in were great experiences for her and the students.

“The interaction with an English-speaking teacher was a highlight of their day and teaching them about Māori and New Zealand culture was received positively – with many students wanting to one day travel to New Zealand to see it for themselves but also study it in their spare time,” she said.

This volunteer programme is a great experience for young New Zealanders to be able to live outside their comfort zone and to understand another culture that isn’t widely talked about in the western world.”

Ms Gamman said the teaching aspect was great for learning responsibility, appreciation and patience.

“As a previous traveller I’d say this is the safest country I have ever been to,” she said

“For the other volunteers this was their first time overseas and seeing them expand into their personalities and adjust to a new culture was amazing - as we all liked to say, we have our Chinese selves and New Zealand selves now, we honestly just blossomed there and tried things we thought we would never do.”