A 16-year-old Olds High School student is about to embark on a trip to Ethiopia, to teach residents there the importance of recycling.
Jayden Ord is travelling there with his parents, Jared Ord, a dentist, and his wife Lindsay, a dental hygienist. They will be providing dental services to hundreds of children and their guardians there. They will also be providing some training in dentistry at a university dental school in Addis Ababa, the capital of that country.
Jared and Lindsay did the same thing there a couple of years ago.
They leave this Friday, Feb. 16 and come back March 3.
Jayden, a Grade 11 student and member of the school's leadership group, is a bit apprehensive because he's never been to Africa before.
"I'm quite nervous about it," he said during an interview with the Albertan. "But I'm reassured by the fact my parents have been there before, and they are telling me that it's not as bad over there as they thought it would be before they went on their first excursion."
Jayden said last time, his parents had hoped to visit centres outside of Addis Abbaba but were dissuaded from doing so due to safety concerns.
"We were unable last time in Ethiopia to travel to one of the more outlying areas for fear of being either kidnapped or injured," Jared said. "Unfortunately the highway travelled through an unstable area politically where civilians have been killed during demonstrations and uprisings in the past."
Jayden is hoping they'll be able to go outside the city this time.
"I am quite scared that maybe something will happen. But I'm quite hopeful about the whole situation, that everything will go (according) to plan," he said.
Jayden will be teaching and encouraging residents of that country to do recycling. He said each member of the leadership group has to do a project involving something they're passionate about, so this will be his.
He has been creating posters for that project. The challenge was to translate them from English into Amharic, the Ethiopian language.
"It doesn't use our traditional alphabet. So I'm going to have to adjust it slightly to make sure that all the characters can fit," he said.
Jayden conceded that while on the trip, he will be missing a lot of school. He said he's been preparing for that by doing as much work as he can ahead of time, although he conceded he'll likely have to do some catching up when he gets back home too.
"I have to do a project in L.A. (language arts) to memorize some Macbeth lines. So I might have to do that in Ethiopia, just in my spare time," he said.
Jayden's parents are confident Jayden, their oldest son, will do well there.
"We are excited for Jayden to experience a new culture, and to give back to the world community through service. This will be a very big eye-opener for him, and we are glad that we'll be there with him to help him process some of the emotions that we know he will feel once he is in Ethiopia," Lindsay said.
"I don't think that anyone, adults included, can quite comprehend what the situation is like, and just how poor the people are until you experience it for yourself," she added.
"We will have the opportunity to visit some of the homes of the students that we will be working with, and it will be joyful meeting with families and caretakers, but very sobering as well. It is our hope that Jayden comes home with a new appreciation for the comforts that we have here in Canada."
She described Jayden as "a very mature and responsible young man."
"We stuck out being Caucasian, but everyone we encountered was very warm and welcoming. I'm looking forward to Jayden experiencing the hospitality of the people that we work with. I know he will come home loving the Ethiopian people just as much as we do," she added.
"I am quite scared that maybe something will happen. But I'm quite hopeful about the whole situation, that everything will go (according) to plan."
JAYDEN ORD
