Anna Brown says when she joined Rocky View's Building Futures program at the beginning of the year, she did it primarily to meet new people.

Anna Brown said she isn't volunteering abroad because she wants to be in the spotlight. She just wants to help others. (Photo Courtesy: Anna Brown)Now, that those new people are helping one of their own as Brown prepares for a week abroad, helping out at an orphanage in Mexico.

Brown, a grade 10 student whose home school is George McDougall, is preparing to fly to Oaxaca, Mexico on February 17 for a week as part of a twelve-person team for a missions trip. She and the team will volunteer at the Oaxaca Mission run by For His Ministry Foundation. Brown said they'll be doing a variety of tasks, from preparing meals, helping with gardening and building projects, bonding with kids at the mission, and other things they'll find out on arrival.

While the trip Brown is taking is not affiliated with Rocky View or the Building Futures program, the new community that she's found has rallied to support one of their own.

"My teacher, he's actually been sending out a lot of emails and a lot of the kids in my class have been bringing in suitcases of donations of clothes, crayons, everything from colouring books to socks."

Brown said she also feels that the Building Futures program has prepared her for the trip in other ways. Building Futures is a yearlong program where Rocky View students learn trades as well as subjects like math and science and spend the year building a house. When she first joined the program, she wasn't especially handy. Spending the school year learning the trades as well as core subjects will come in handy for the building projects she anticipates she'll be a part of in Mexico.

"We get to work a lot with the trades in building futures, and so not only have I learned how to work with different sorts of people, but I've also learned not to be scared of tools and stuff, because at the beginning of the year I was always apprehensive about using that stuff, and now I've just become used to it."

Brown wants to make clear that she isn't volunteering abroad to be in the spotlight. Initially, she was hesitant to sit down for an interview.

"I thought that it would be important for me to go help people in another country [but] I kinda just wanted it to be about them, as much as it's a good story and everything."

After some thought, Brown realized that sharing her story could shine a light on the needs of others. Brown will return from Oaxaca to Airdrie on February 23.

 

Questions, comments or story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com