It wasn’t until Molly saw firsthand what life for a school-aged child in the developing world was like that she realised how much she’d been taking her education for granted.
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“The first few years of high school, I was not focussed on school – it really wasn’t for me,” Molly said.
“Then I was offered to go on a year ten camp down to Sydney to see all the attractions, and it really didn’t interest me one bit.
“I saw the price-tag and thought ‘I could go overseas for the same price’.”
And so she and mum, Maxine, booked a flight to Fiji.
But you’d be terribly mistaken if you thought that the pair were there to sip mocktails on the beach.
“It was never an overseas holiday, I wanted to volunteer from the outset,” she said.
This was in 2016, and on that adventure Molly and Maxine raised $2000 and a collection of stationery and hygiene products, with the help of the local community, to take with them to donate to remote and rural communities.
When you go overseas it opens your eyes and it gives you this sense that you have a responsibility to others.
- Molly Langley
“Just giving a year 12 student a pack of coloured pencils, they were so grateful – I was blown away. If you tried to do that here they’d probably hand the pencils back to you.”
Molly came back from that mission with a sense of gratitude for the things Australians often take for granted.
“I learned what a luxury a good education really is,” she said.
But she soon became frustrated at the attitudes displayed by her fellow pupils towards their schooling.
“There were people sitting in class saying ‘I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to do this’,” she said.
And she realised that she could be the bridge between the two worlds.
“It’s not until you see it that you realise there’s a whole world out there,” Molly said.
“I need to be the eyes and ears for my peers.”
So Molly set the wheels in motion to return to Fiji in 2017 to continue her humanitarian efforts and film a documentary to bring the experience back home to the Nambucca.
WATCH: Molly’s 2017 journey
She said she was astounded by the generosity of her local community.
“I never expected the Nambucca Valley community to be so supportive, I’ve just been blown away,” Molly said.
This time around, Molly mentored a group of young girls and ran workshops on empowerment and personal hygiene.
“The girls literally knew nothing – there’s no physical education classes like we have here to teach them about their bodies,” Molly said.
“We taught them that you don’t have to be ashamed when you have your period.
“And we told them, as girls, we have rights and we don’t have to act for males – we have power too.
“It was amazing how grateful they were for our little bit of knowledge and resources.”
Molly said she was hoping to inspire the girls to learn to take control of their own destiny, but that ultimately, they left her the more inspired.
These girls from remote Fijian islands would leave their families, cram into a hovel masquerading as a boarding house, and sleep on tiled floors or bed slats with no mattresses or pillows, in order to take up their only opportunity for an education.
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Molly was so taken by their determination to educate themselves, that she already has plans to fundraise and return in June/July this year (just before HSC madness begins) to rebuild and expand the boarding house.
“The only thing that’s different between these girls and me is that I was lucky enough to be born in this beautiful country,” Molly said.
And she says that this time around, she’ll be taking some other Nambucca students with her who have been inspired by her efforts (although she’s still holding out hope that she’ll be able to recruit some guys this time around, to workshop the male experience).
Just when you thought you couldn’t be more impressed by this teenager’s initiative, her list of humanitarian accolades continues: a proponent of OzGreen (a project which equips young people to tackle sustainability challenges), the Red Cross Door Knock, and the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
“I think I’m hooked,” Molly said.
“I can see myself being hands-on in all kinds of humanitarian work in the future.
“And for me it’ll be like never working a day in my life.”
Molly would love to thank Veena Tilly who inspired her to go to Fiji in the first instance, Nambucca High teacher Ellie Dennis who voluntarily trekked along with Molly to Fiji last year, and her mother who Molly says is her biggest source of encouragement and support.
Finally, Molly would like to thank the whole of the Valley for your support of her project and hopes it might inspire you to be appreciative of the abundant blessings abounding.