Media Centre
University grad embarking on African adventure
by Laura Cummings
Orléans resident Beth Lorimer is travelling to Ghana later this month to help make a difference with international development agencies. Photo by Darren Brown
On the eve of her seven-month trip to Ghana, Orléans resident Beth Lorimer says she isn't sure what the greatest challenge will be on her voyage – maybe living without the luxury of constant electricity, or getting used to sweltering African temperatures.
"I'm sure the physical aspect will be a little challenging at first," she says. "Just adapting to the climate and adapting to the things that I take for granted here … like having water come out my tap whenever I turn it on."
But Lorimer says her toughest task might come from something simpler – like learning to exist in a place so unlike her native country.
"I think just trying to learn to work in a culture that's different from my own and trying to find ways to work effectively across cultures (will be a challenge)," she explains. "I know that there's going to be things that are different."
Lorimer will depart later for Ghana this month to go work with Help the Aged Canada, a non-denominational, non-profit international development organization that assists elderly people living in poverty.
As an intern hired through the Canadian International Development Agency’s international youth internship program, Lorimer will work for sister organization HelpAge Ghana as a fund development officer.
"I think I've always had an idea that I wanted to have a career in which I was interacting with others, especially those that were in need," she explains. "I figured out, wow, I could help so many other people just beyond my own town or my own country even. I think kind of getting that global perspective is what drew me to pursue (this)."
Last month Lorimer graduated from Queen's University with a degree in development studies and economics. During her time in Ghana, she will investigate different funding avenues for HelpAge Ghana, and will also look at ways to establish guidelines so the agency can complete their own fundraising after she leaves.
This trip won't be Lorimer's first African foray, however. Last March, she went on a 10-day journey to Kenya with The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund, an NGO run through the Anglican Church.
There she visited an agency run by Kenya's Anglican Church that is heavily involved in HIV/AIDS work.
"It was phenomenal, but way too short," she says. "I learned so much and we travelled pretty much every day, going from one town to the next."
Lorimer says her choice to work specifically with the more elder population in developing countries "is funny, because most of my experience throughout university and even when I was working with the NGO last summer has been youth work."
During her Kenyan expedition, however, Lorimer visited with many elderly people and spoke to grandmothers carrying for their grandchildren because their parents had died of AIDS.
The experience led Lorimer to discover "a whole new population that was being ignored," she says. "That was kind of the trigger for me – seeing that there was no support for the elderly in a lot of developing countries."
When that generation lacks support, Lorimer continues, their knowledge isn't passed down to the younger population – which can be seriously detrimental, especially in a place "where the middle generation is being hollowed out" by HIV/AIDS.
"When you look to the development of society you look at its history," she says. "You want to see that all that traditional knowledge from elderly people and from grandparents is being passed down."
For more information on Help the Aged Canada, visit their website at www.helptheaged.ca.
