Le sujet de mon projet est mon arrière-grand-oncle, qui s’appelait Cornelius Keppel. Il est parti à la Grande Guerre quand il était jeune. Cornelius avait de la chance parce qu’il est revenu en Nouvelle-Zélande. Malheureusement quelques années après la Grande Guerre il est mort à cause de ses blessures. J’ai trouvé un site internet qui est très utile (c’est l’image en haut). J’espére que je peux trouver plus d’informations au sujet de mon arrière-grand-oncle à l’avenir.  

I am very interested in Geography so many of the questions that I aim to answer will be based on cultural and natural geography. I would particularly like to find out what it was like for a young man adjusting from Wellington’s climate and landscape, to the harsh conditions of the Western Front. I also intend to look into the difficulties of understanding the culture and language of France for the troops. I believe it must have been very difficult to adapt, as New Zealand was particularly isolated before internet and commercial aviation. It seems weird to modern day teenagers that many of the young men faked their age in order to go to the war. By the end of this project I would love to understand how I would’ve felt about the war if I lived in New Zealand 100 years ago.

As part of the Shared Histories project, I am helping the Year 11 French students at my school (Wellington College) with their assignments on the topic of WW1. I have already attended one of their classes, where I spent time explaining the Young Ambassadors project and talking to individuals about their assignments. I have also created a Shared Histories Facebook group for the students of my school and students from Lycée Européen, Villers-Cotterêts which is our exchange school from France.

I am very pleased that the Young Ambassadors project is underway and I look forward to sharing my progress in future blogs.