Gordon to embark on an 'eye opening' experience

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Published on Friday, July 10, 2015

Lina Gordon

By Kate Jackman-Atkinson

The Neepawa Banner

Later this month, Lina Gordon will be giving back and checking off a major life goal.  On July 20, the NACI student will be headed to India to take part in a sustainable agricultural project with Free the Children. “I’m so excited to go,” said Gordon.

Gordon won a contest, sponsored by Potash Corp, and will be one of 25 students from across North America taking part in the project. The students, from 14 to 19 years of age, will spend two weeks in the village of Kalpana, in the region of Rajasthan, in the north-west of the country. Working in a very rural area, Gordon said, “It’s going to be eye opening.” The group will be working with two Free the Children advisors as well as one local advisor. 

Life in the village will be different from life in Canada, but Gordon does have some first hand experience. Her mother is from Fiji and she has been there to visit, and seen first hand what poverty looks like in a remote setting. 

Michelle Young, one of the co-ordinators for the HOPE group, NACI’s social justice group, explained how Gordon almost missed out on the opportunity.  While the contest opened in the fall, Young said that they didn’t know anything about it until they were contacted by their local Free the Children coordinator, who asked if they were going to nominate a student for the contest. It was very close to the April 1 deadline, but Young and Katherine Kingdon, the other HOPE co-ordinator, began the process to nominate Gordon. 

Gordon’s family operates a 4,000 acre grain farm and this agricultural background was one of the reasons Young and Kingdon chose her. Young said, “We looked at her agricultural background and felt Lina was the perfect candidate.”  Young added, “We also felt that based on what Lina has given to the HOPE group, she is deserving of being rewarded for her hard work.” Gordon, who is entering Grade 12, has been involved in HOPE since Grade 8, the year the HOPE group officially started. In Grade 7, she took park in a pre-HOPE initiative, a water project.

No walk in the park, the application process required Gordon to write a  500 word personal essay addressing certain topics, including her interest in agriculture. Young also had to write a reference letter, which including outlining Gordon’s farm background.

Gordon is planning on pursuing post secondary education in agriculture and is looking forward to the learning opportunity. She said, “The trip is about sustainable agriculture and that’s what really interested me. This would really help me.” 

At this point, Gordon doesn’t know exactly what project they will be working on, but said it could be a water project, or a community garden, or a farm project. “When we get there, we will find out what project we’ll be working on. It depends on what the village needs at that point,” she said.

One activity Gordon does know that they will be taking part in is a water walk. She explained that they will walk with the women and children of the village to the river where they get their water. She said, “The women and children will be carrying two to three tubs, while we’ll be struggling to carry one. It will be eye opening, that’s for sure.”

In addition to learning about agriculture elsewhere, Gordon is hoping to bring back some leadership skills as well as new ideas. Shesaid, “I’ll be with so many other kids, I’ll get some new ideas for the group.”

Having been involved with HOPE for four years, Gordon is also looking forward to seeing the end result of the work students do in Canada. She explained, “I’m really excited to experience things first hand. I’ve been working with the HOPE group for a while and I know we’ve been working towards something”.

This will be Gordon’s first experience volunteering internationally, “It’s on my bucket list, I’ve always wanted to volunteer [overseas], so the fact I have this opportunity is amazing.” She added, “I want to thank Michelle and Katherine for the opportunity, I wouldn't have been able to apply for this without them.”