This spring, three nursing students from North Island College spent seven weeks working and learning in Nepal.
They've been back in Canada for three months, and they're ready to share their stories with the public.
The North Island College (NIC) Global Learning Initiative is presenting A Journey of Empowerment: Three Nursing Students Experience Nepal this Thursday night.
Michelle Anderson, Evelyn Mills and Holly Noot will be sharing their experiences in Nepal during this public event at 7 p.m. at the Stan Hagen Theatre at North Island College's Comox Valley Campus.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and admission is by donation to the Global Learning Initiative to support students doing practicums overseas and in remote aboriginal communities.
Anderson, Mills and Noot travelled to Nepal to do an overseas practicum May 2 to June 20 as part of NIC's Global Learning Initiative, a student-driven initiative that creates partnerships with local communities and individuals and fosters awareness of global issues.
While in Nepal, they worked with children with HIV/AIDS, did nutritional rehabilitation outreach camps, worked at a women's health clinic with a focus on uterine prolapse, engaged in various community development projects and met and worked with Nepali health care professionals "who are doing incredible things for their community," explained Anderson, who is in the fourth year of NIC's Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree program.
"Personally, it was as inspiring journey that really took me to the edge and back, seeing poverty and the incredible conditions people live with on a daily basis," she said. "It's really challenging to come back to Canada and see a lot of our priorities seem to be not aligned with how I felt when I was in Nepal. I find oftentimes, we're quick to judge that Canadian people are too materialistic, and that's not what I mean. When you don't have much, you don't have much to complain about. (In Nepal) people are just very grateful. It's hard to go into a grocery store here and see the abundance and waste."
With A Journey of Empowerment, Anderson, Mills and Noot are inviting the public into their journey.
"We'll take you through what we did and how it influenced us, sharing our personal stories and photos from our experience," said Anderson, who, along with Noot, hopes to return to Nepal in December. "It's been quite the experience to relive everything. We're really excited to share our stories."
For more information about Thursday night's presentation, contact Susan Auchterlonie at 250-334-5271 or visit www.nic.bc.ca.
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