Essendon young gun Dyson Heppell recently returned from a trip to India as a part of the Red Dust Role Model Tour. Over the next week, you can follow his incredible journey via a daily diary from his life changing trip to the sub-continent.
Dyson’s diary:
""The seven day trip to India was an incredible experience. On our travels we saw many weird & wonderful things, amazing places and cultural experiences. We also witnessed first-hand the very real challenges faced by a third world country...”
Day Three – Monday 9th October
“After an early morning gym session and hearty breakfast we were off to a private school to show some of the local children just what AFL was all about. The ride there was again a highlight. There are so many road side traders and entrepreneurs in India who trade in everything you could possibly imagine from gas bottles to chai tea to fruit and veg.
Remarkably, many of the children at the private school come from the slums. Parents will work hard to pay for their children in an attempt to break the cycle of poverty. These students were all well behaved and extremely well groomed. We worked with about 200 children throughout the day.
Bryce, Will, Simon, myself and other team members ran the children through a number of Aussie rules activities including handballing, kicking, marking and bouncing. The children and staff lapped it up. To cap it off, Will and I had a longest kick competition. I won with a big barrel that I’m sure Hirdy would have been happy with!!
After the clinic we took three auto rickshaws (India’s version of a tuk tuk) to get back to the hotel. What an experience! It was exhilarating, scary and hilarious all in one as we weaved our way back to the hotel hoping to be the first back. - it was almost a real life version of the ‘Amazing Race’.
In the evening we were invited to an official function at the Australian Embassy in Delhi with the Australian High Commissioner Mr Peter Varghese.
It was a great experience and an awesome residence. Simon McKeon is a great Australian and gave an amazing speech about corporate social responsibility. When Simon was formally introduced his achievements were remarkable, but he is a very humble person and a great Bomber fan to boot!
Dyson’s diary:
""The seven day trip to India was an incredible experience. On our travels we saw many weird & wonderful things, amazing places and cultural experiences. We also witnessed first-hand the very real challenges faced by a third world country...”
Day Three – Monday 9th October
“After an early morning gym session and hearty breakfast we were off to a private school to show some of the local children just what AFL was all about. The ride there was again a highlight. There are so many road side traders and entrepreneurs in India who trade in everything you could possibly imagine from gas bottles to chai tea to fruit and veg.
Remarkably, many of the children at the private school come from the slums. Parents will work hard to pay for their children in an attempt to break the cycle of poverty. These students were all well behaved and extremely well groomed. We worked with about 200 children throughout the day.
Bryce, Will, Simon, myself and other team members ran the children through a number of Aussie rules activities including handballing, kicking, marking and bouncing. The children and staff lapped it up. To cap it off, Will and I had a longest kick competition. I won with a big barrel that I’m sure Hirdy would have been happy with!!
After the clinic we took three auto rickshaws (India’s version of a tuk tuk) to get back to the hotel. What an experience! It was exhilarating, scary and hilarious all in one as we weaved our way back to the hotel hoping to be the first back. - it was almost a real life version of the ‘Amazing Race’.
In the evening we were invited to an official function at the Australian Embassy in Delhi with the Australian High Commissioner Mr Peter Varghese.
It was a great experience and an awesome residence. Simon McKeon is a great Australian and gave an amazing speech about corporate social responsibility. When Simon was formally introduced his achievements were remarkable, but he is a very humble person and a great Bomber fan to boot!
Directly following the cocktail function, we had a workshop with the Australian & New Zealand Business Association of India where we met many companies interested in Australian sport. Tony Dodemaide spoke about the great opportunity of the two new Victorian Big Bash teams in the Renegades and Stars. It’s all very exciting and these games will include attendance from our GLoBALL participants.""
