While many focus their attention on the situation in Haiti, two Lethbridge College students are helping out in a different hemisphere.
It’ll be the first time Aimiee Aitkens has set foot in the The Philippines but the third time in a year for Jesse Harsanyi.
“I’ve completely fallen in love with the people there and I care for them like good friends and family. It’s become a part of me and I wanted to continue to be involved with what’s going on there,” says Harsanyi.
The two will be staying with the same Filipino family Harsanyi stayed with on previous trips and plan to work with a church group, helping the needy from shantytowns and squatters villages.
Feeling comfortable with the family, she was shocked at the their generosity at dinner time, especially already having four children in the house.
“They’ve always said to us: ‘What will feed five, will feed seven,” she says, thinking of when her mom wouldn’t allow her friends over, because she hadn’t made enough food.
Last November, Harsanyi helped organize a fundraiser for the New Hope Christian Ministries in Cainta, Rizal in the Philippines, whose food program helps feed upwards of 600 children each week.
She says the thing that touched her the most about the people there was their humanity toward one another in a time of dire straights.
“We’re so used to: ‘You give a little and get something back.’ It’s really hard to give a lot and not expect anything back’.”
Aitkens says she can’t wait to get there and help, but also to gain valuable perspective on her own life.
“Those experiences just open your eyes so much.”
The toughest adjustment, for Harsanyi, is the comfortable North American lifestyle.
“You just realize how much we do have and how privileged we are.”
She says it’s sometimes hard not to avoid feeling guilty and spoiled.
“I realized you can’t really feel guilty, you can’t put the weight of an entire society’s issues on yourself.
“I’m trying to take the good perspectives out of there, like the faith that they have and the joy they have with the
simple things.”