TAFE NSW Goulburn student Maddy Tuchin, one of a select of female plumbers in the region, has returned from a trip to Cambodia where she volunteered to help bring sanitation to some of the poorest villages in the country.

Maddy travelled to Cambodia with the Reese Foundation who works with volunteer tradies to fund and initiate projects to provide clean water and sanitation as according to the Foundation, approximately 2.3 billion people in the world live without easy access to water.

Maddy is studying a Certificate IV in Plumbing Operations and says the trip helped her use the practical skills she learnt at TAFE NSW and on the job to build toilet blocks and bathrooms in poor and rural communities.

“It was such a transformative trip; I thought I’d seen poverty before but this was on a whole new level,” Maddy says.

“Seeing the difference we were making to young children and their families was incredible. It made me realise what a huge impact you can have on a person’s life through providing better sanitation.”

Maddy built bonds with a group of female villagers who shared moments from their lives, braided each other’s hair and became a family.

“It was interesting watching how the other plumbers approached a job and conducted themselves,” Maddy says.

According to Jobs and Skills Australia, only 1% of plumbers in Australia are female and Maddy says she is proud to be one of the first generation females making an impact in the industry.

“It’s great to be a trailblazer and the more other women see me in such a male-dominated industry, the more likely they are to want to join it,” she says. “Some of the comments were a bit uncomfortable when I first started the trade but it’s changing rapidly.”

Maddy says the personalised learning support that she received at TAFE NSW helped her persevere through the challenging parts of her studies.

“I’ve never had a TAFE NSW teacher who wouldn’t go over and above,” Maddy says.

“I really struggled with the maths in the course and the teachers would spend extra time with me on it, showing me multiple ways to work a problem out.”

TAFE NSW Goulburn head teacher of plumbing Andrew Whalan says TAFE NSW was positioned to give students practical skills to launch rewarding careers regardless of their gender.

“There are so many opportunities to make a difference in a rewarding plumbing career, and our skills-based courses allow students to hit the ground running and stay living and working in regional areas.”