WEDGED between India and China sits Nepal, one of the least developed nations of the world.
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In some of the most rugged mountain terrain in the world, building homes becomes surprisingly difficult.
That’s where Tamworth born Chloe Attard came in, winning Best Student Project Award on her Unbound education trip to Nepal.
“We had to make an action project to help the people that we had a homestay with,” the 18-year-old said.
“We were a team of engineering students and made a crane out of bamboo that can lift 150kg of weight up on to four metre high cliffs on a construction site.
“It was a great cultural experience, it was really eye-opening to see how my career can reach people outside of Australia – not just in our little bubble.”
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Chloe is studying a Bachelor of Technology, with a Masters in Civil Engineering at Charles Sturt University and always wanted to take an opportunity to go overseas.
Staying with a local family was one of her favourite parts of the trip, every morning she woke up to a different tea and came home to plant her own rosemary bush.
The crane Chloe and her team designed will help construction workers lift rocks or bags of concrete short distances at high inclinations.
“The workers are outsourced from a city and are paid hourly, so by making this crane we can increase productivity within the small villages – as normally construction workers would carry these heavy items up the construction sites on top of the mini cliffs,” she said.
“By the end of the trip, I had the mental strength to get on with it despite the pain or sickness I was feeling. I felt proud of that when I began to notice the change over the two weeks.
“I’ve learnt that its okay to still be learning things about yourself.”
Chloe will attend the Unbound Student Showcase in Sydney on August 14.