A group of Laurentian University students are headed halfway around the world to Mongolia in May and June 2017 for the adventure of a lifetime, but they need your help to get there.
The Outdoor Adventure Leadership Students and health promotion students are going to the country for a month to help develop clean water initiatives, septic system upgrades, agriculture and promote health and well-being in the community of Sogok in western Mongolia.
Given the nature of their program, the adventure leadership students will also take part in ice climbing and glacier hiking while they're there.
But it's an extremely expensive endeavour.
Jim Little, program co-ordinator with the Outdoor Adventure Leadership Program, said it will cost $70,000 to cover travel costs and export a shipping container filled with medical and other supplies to Mongolia.
A total of 29 people are taking part in the trip, including 21 Laurentian students.
If you're interested in donating funds or supplies such as medical equipment to be shipped to Mongolia, or in becoming a sponsor, you're asked to contact Laurentian University's development office.
The trip is going to be great for the students, Little said. Normally Laurentian's third-year adventure leadership students go on a spring paddling trip, but this year they decided to do something different.
“Ultimately going on this humanitarian expedition, it's such a valuable thing,” he said. “You can't get this experience inside the classroom. This is outside the classroom and real-world."
Third-year adventure leadership student Nicholas Rivais said he's looking forward to the trip.
“I'm excited because it's going to be a new and humbling experience, I think,” he said.
“I think going to a third-world country to do a humanitarian project and just in general experiencing a new environment is going to be amazing, as well as doing our mountaineering project.
“I have never done anything like that. To be able to go out and do that, is going to be amazing.”
Learn more about the trip on this website.
