Elaine Indenbosch, first-year Communication Arts student, has joined a team to travel to Haiti for a two-week humanitarian trip.
“It’s kind of a mission humanitarian thing. It’s a combined team of several people that I know from church and then meeting several who are going on the trip.”
Indenbosch decided to go after a friend convinced her.
“They were planning the trip five months ago and I was not interested then,” says Indenbosch. “They had a certain amount of people they needed on the team, one of them cancelled and a friend of mine who was on the team said ‘Elaine, you should come.’”
This was a change of heart she found to be rather ironic.
“Reading week I was planning to go to the Dominican Republic. You know, go on an all-inclusive. And then two weeks before reading week I’m on the other side of the island doing humanitarian aid.”
Indenbosch booked her trip with short notice and said she feels good about her decision even though she has not had a lot of time to prepare.
“It was a week and a half ago that I booked my trip. I don’t know that much about it, but I know it’s going to be really good.”
The team will be under the leadership of Bob Davisson; a humanitarian from Medicine Hat who founded the organization Lifeline Haiti and was the 2011 international winner of CBC Canada’s Champions of Change.
“I’ve known him (Davisson) for probably six or seven years and I’ve known what he has been doing in Haiti and supported it,” says Indenbosch.
She says she is most looking forward to interacting with the people she meets in Haiti.
“Our main mission is to spend time with the people, build relationships.
We are going to be putting a roof on a school house and planting fruit trees so they have a sustainable resource to go back to.”
This is not the first trip of this nature for Indenbosch. She went to Romania three years ago and plans on taking many more opportunities.
“I think that’s the highlight of every trip that I’ve been on-just getting to know people and their cultures,” says Indenbosch. “I’m just kind of open to travelling anywhere and everywhere that I can.”
As a full-time student, she thought a mid-semester trip was out of the question, however that was not the case for the Lethbridge College student.
“I talked to all of my instructors and they were all good with it and all willing to work with it. It sounded like a great opportunity so I took it.”
She says she found her classmates were willing to take notes for her in lectures and that her instructors were willing to postpone assignments.
“Some of the instructors were even willing to give me some personal instruction on what I missed out on.”