Inuvik (May 17/04) - Northern students travelling to India next January may find they have a newfound appreciation of their homeland once they return, say teachers helping to plan the trip.

"We hope they come back with a new outlook and appreciation of what we have here," says Bruce Spencer, teacher at Chief Julius school in Fort McPherson.

Six students from Chief Julius and six students from Moose Kerr school in Aklavik along with one student from Samuel Hearne secondary school in Inuvik will make the trip to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and Pune, India, from Jan. 30 to Feb. 15, 2005.

The purpose of the trip is to work with volunteer groups which help orphans, children who are rag pickers, the homeless, the frail and elderly. They will also work in the many shelters across the poverty-stricken area, says Michelle Belsek, a teacher from Moose Kerr who also will accompany the students.

"We chose India because of the many opportunities to volunteer and because of the high need there," she says.

Once the students have honed their skills in some of the worst possible conditions, upon returning home they will be responsible for creating a community service plan for their area.

"They will each complete 25 hours of community service," Belsek says.

This means students can help the disadvantaged, work in an elders home or perform tasks such as chopping or stacking wood for citizens.

"Anything that will help others," she says.

"Students will travel to the Third World and get first-hand knowledge of how the poor survive with community support.

"They can then apply that knowledge to others."

The schools responded to a proposal issued in the Beaufort-Delta region for the trip.

M.S. Naidoo, a Yellowknife media consultant for the Deh Cho and Beaufort-Delta, and the school district are planning the trip.

He says the schools expressed an interest in how people are supportive of each other through volunteer groups, especially because public funding is not possible due to the extremely high population rate.

His hope for the trip is that when the students return, they will look at the existing needs in their own communities.

Culture shock

Students will undoubtedly experience a culture shock, he says, especially coming from tiny communities and going into a city of 14 million people.

Selection of the students -- who now are in Grade 10 -- was based upon a written essay stating why they wanted to go to India and how they view volunteerism within their community, Belsek says.

"It was also based on their overall attitude and commitment to their community."

But before making plans to help others, the students must begin by helping themselves. They have to raise about $16,000 per school for travel.

"We will be fundraising by holding raffles, truck washes, barbecues and other activities.

"We also hope to have support from oil and gas corporations," Belsek says.

The remainder of the funds will come from the NWT's Stalworthy-Carpenter Fund, created to provide assistance for such ventures.

Spencer says the selection process at Chief Julius school is just being completed, but students are already excited about the venture.

"We'll be fundraising right through the summer and into fall," he says of the effort involved.

Being involved in the fundraising is in itself rewarding, Belsek says.

"It's good they are involved step by step in the process to see how everything comes together.

"It's a high goal we have to reach and we're working hard to meet that goal."

And the rewards of meeting that monetary goal will be well worth the effort, Spencer says.

"We're doing this because it exposes students to a new culture, religion, food, climate and way of dealing with things.

"And part of the goal is to take that experience back home, so maybe they will look closer at their own people."