Paving the way for Indian kids to get an education

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

Anna Evans-Boudreau shows a card given to her by children in Lai, India. Her work helped her learn the value of education.

Kids return to school this week, no doubt with stories for their friends about summer trips, lazy days at the lake and nights spent in front of a bonfire. Anna Evans-Boudreau has a lot of stories too, but hers are different.

Inspired by documentaries she'd seen in school about youth making a difference in impoverished countries, Evans-Boudreau, 15, decided she had to become more involved. She started researching organizations and came across Free the Children, a network of children who help other children living in impoverished countries through education and development programs.

She signed up to help and at the end of the school year, packed up and left on a three-week volunteering trip to India, organized through a partner organization called Me to We.

"I always wanted to do something, but I was always sort of scared," said Evans-Boudreau, who volunteers at Misericordia Health Centre.

"It wasn't until this year when I started volunteering for school that I realized my passion for volunteering. I realized I really wanted to do something bigger than what I was doing now, which was just volunteering every Saturday."

While in India, Evans-Boudreau helped build a school by using a pick-axe to remove rock from where the school's foundation would be built. She also spent time teaching children English and playing with them.

She said the experience was like no other, teaching her what people face in developing countries.

"It was such a culture shock because, even though I had learned about these horrible things that were happening all over the world, I didn't actually connect until I had to see the women walking every day as far as they did with these pots of water on their head -- all this work that they had to do -- and see the homes that they lived in," said Evans-Boudreau, who will enter Grade 10 this fall at Balmoral Hall School.

Her favourite part was working with the kids. She realized the impact she and fellow volunteers were having by helping to build the school where the kids would eventually study.

"We were able to see how excited they were learning in their classes. They taught us also how valuable education is and how excited you should get for it. I love school, but this just made me realize how important it was."

Evans-Boudreau is already preparing for a second trip next summer through Free the Children and Me to We, this time to Africa or China. To cover the expenses of the trip, she plans to make and sell friendship bracelets during the school year.

She said many of the other youth she met also plan to volunteer again and she expects many of them will travel together again next summer.

"Everyone was so warm and welcoming," she said, adding she talks with her fellow travellers several times a week.

"I have so many close friends from that trip -- it didn't matter that I didn't know anybody. I got so close with everyone. We always felt so united and always together. It was really special."

If you would like more information about Free the Children, please visit www.freethechildren.com.

If you know a special volunteer, contact Erin Madden at erinmadden@shaw.ca.

The following is a list of volunteer opportunities advertised in the Winnipeg area. For more information about these listings, please contact the person/organization directly. You may also call (204) 477-5180 ext. 221 to set up an appointment at Volunteer Manitoba. Email: vmreferral@mts.net or visit our website: www.mbvolunteer.ca.

-- Good Neighbours Active Living Centre in East Kildonan requires café volunteers to prepare and serve light lunches, load dishwasher and clean kitchen, handle cash, etc. They are looking for a commitment of once a week or once every second week between 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Call Anne-Marie, 669-1710 ext. 223 or gnsc1@mts.net.

-- Newly formed Canadian Transplant Society is looking for student ambassadors for colleges and universities to act as a liaison between your school and the charity promoting and educating students on the importance if signing one's organ donor card and having it registered. Call Jay, 1-416-725-1552 or cantransplant@rogers.com.

-- Volunteer at the Spirit of the Prairie Festival, Sept. 12, noon-4 p.m., Living Prairie Museum. This year's focus is Métis culture and raising awareness of the endangered tall grass prairie. Volunteers will have the opportunity to help with face painting, street painting, arts and crafts, a bannock bake and children's games. Information: 832-0167 or prairie@winnipeg.ca.

-- Fort Garry Women's Resource Centre is looking for female lawyers and female articling students to volunteer and facilitate legal workshops on Family Law Topics. Workshops will be presented to three groups: community women, service providers and newcomer women and will begin late Sept./Early Oct. Call Colleen, 477-1123 or info@fgwrc.ca .

-- Bicycle Valet Winnipeg is looking for volunteers to provide valet services on Sept. 11 and 12, Ciclovia, Lights on Broadway, and Taste of Downtown (Memorial Park) and at the Winnipeg Green Lifestyle and Organic Living Event (convention centre). Melissa volunteer@bicyclevaletwinnipeg.ca.

-- SSCOPE an organization that provides employment to persons with mental illnesses needs a volunteer to assist the executive director to take responsibility for the front office and administration functions of the organization, including some bookkeeping using Simply Accounting software. Position: 8 a.m.-1 p.m. daily, Monday-Friday, with some flexibility. Call Bob, 987-6300 or ed_sscope@mts.net.

-- Adult Education Centre is looking for volunteers to tutor adults in a literacy classroom setting in either basic math or English. Tutoring could also occur outside of classroom setting. Information: Liz 663-0859 or eaplett@yahoo.ca.

-- Manitoba Conservatory of Music & Arts needs resource development office assistant to help the board of directors fundraising committee with follow-up communications to prospects and benefactors; provide administrative and clerical support., data entry, filing and record keeping, phone follow-up, writing reports, assembling information packages. Call Norine 943-6090 ext. 4 or norine@mcma.ca.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 7, 2010 B2