From The Sarnia Observer, Ontario, CA
A Sarnia woman has been selected to participate in a national organization’s effort to combat poverty in eastern Africa and south and central Asia.
Heidi Carrubba, 25, is preparing to head to Tajikistan, a central Asian country situated north of Afghanistan.
One of 200 applicants in January for the Aga Khan Fellowship, she begins training Monday in Ottawa with 25 others for an eight-month placement.
“I’m really excited to work and live in a really remote region of the world and to have an opportunity to learn about a different culture and language,” she said.
The Aga Khan Foundation supports “smart solutions” to poverty by relying on the ingenuity of the inhabitants.
“It’s about finding ways for them to work themselves out of poverty,” said Carrubba.
She will be in charge of evaluation: monitoring whether the impact of aid is genuinely increasing the quality of life for the people in Tajikistan.
A graduate from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, Carrubba first cut her teeth doing international humanitarian aid when she was a student at St. Christopher’s Secondary School in Sarnia.
“I went to the Dominican Republic with the organization Rayjon,” she said.
The group does short-term trips with high school students to developing parts of the world.
“So I went on a poverty awareness trip with them and that was my first time volunteering overseas.”
Since, Carrubba has been involved with Global Youth Alliance, leading teams providing humanitarian aid in Macedonia and India.
She still sits on their national leadership advisory board.
“After experiencing travelling overseas and coming to understand what life is like in developing countries, I felt a responsibility to use my education for humanitarian issues,” she said.
Carrubba will be operating a personal blog from Tajikistan at http://www.carrubbistan.blogspot.com, chronicling her exploits and reflecting on cultural differences between home and her new surroundings.
“I think it’s really important for Canadians who travel to be sharing those experiences with those who are in Canada,” she said.
She plans on communicating with some of her former high school teachers as well, to give some insight on cultural shifts they can in turn pass on to their students.
“I want to open these students’ eyes to remote places in the world and what life is like there,” she said.
Ismailimail 