TEDDY bears handcrafted with love in Beaudesert are bringing comfort to young people in Mongolia.
The Yack and Yarn Group, which meets at Beaudesert Library every Tuesday, recently donated the teddies to Baga Tenger International School in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar.
Baga Tenger school counsellor Simon Andrews, who is originally from Beaudesert, finds the teddies helpful as a tool for both students and staff to hold onto during counselling sessions.
On a recent visit to his hometown, Mr Andrews accepted the donation from his mother Kay Andrews, who is part of the Yack and Yarn Group.
He said the teddies, which were made off a Red Cross pattern, were a powerful resource.
“The way people respond to them is incredible, because when the kids come in you never know what you’re going to face,” he said.
“I have a private office and the kids know they can come in any time for a chat – it could be a friendship problem, it could be academic stress or sadly it could be anything more serious.
“A big part of what I do is setting up a welcoming and friendly environment for them, so I want my office to be a place that’s not sterile or boring. I have three bears on the table in front of me and what tends to happen is people come in, they sit down and the first thing they do is pick up a bear.”
Mr Andrews, who himself went to Beaudesert State School and Beaudesert High and was high school captain in 1997, said it was special to use the teddies from Beaudesert in his work abroad.
He first went to live overseas in 2004, working in education and training before using Covid time as an opportunity to qualify as a counsellor.
As well as his current work in Mongolia, he has worked in China, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
“I thought I would do it for a year, come back and do other stuff but I was like, ‘hang on, this is great’,” he said.
“I always wanted to see the world and experience things, but I never thought it would turn out like this.”
