BUNDLE OF JOY: Fiona Norris’s experiences with mothers and children in Burkina Faso have inspired her to pursue a career in midwifery.

FRIENDS:Fiona Norris plays with children in Burkina Faso during her stay there last year. The Waterdown resident is planning a second trip to the West African country this fall.

It has been almost a year since Waterdown teen Fiona Norris first set foot in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Now, she is bursting with anticipation for a return visit this fall.

Last year, she was part of a 17-member mission team from Grindstone Valley Bible Church that helped “break ground” for a new high school at the Village of Hope just outside the country’s capital, Ouagadougou. This year, she wants to continue working on the high school as well as renew relationships with orphaned and impoverished children at the village.

The Village of Hope was founded in 2002 to provide schooling for children whose families were unable to meet their basic needs. About 350 children between the ages of three and 16–many of them orphaned because of AIDS–live in the village, where they receive hope for a better life through education.

Struck by the indomitable spirit of the people in Burkina Faso, Norris says they taught her “many life lessons” during her last visit. Despite the poverty and hardships they face, “they are the friendliest, nicest and most giving people I have ever met,” she said. “For people who have nothing, they give a lot.”

Norris, 17, entered Grade 12 at Waterdown District High School this week. She said her visit to Africa impacted her so much that it helped her to decide on a career path. “It inspired me to become a midwife,” she said last week while divulging plans to take a four-year course in midwifery at McMaster University beginning next year. Much of the course is spent doing placement work, often in other countries, helping to deliver babies and providing support and advice to pregnant women.

Norris said midwives are badly needed in Burkina Faso, where “many women have their babies in ditches and creeks” because they cannot walk to the nearest hospital that is often 13 kilo-metres or more from their homes.

Mission teams from other countries, including Canada and United States, have built many facilities at the Village of Hope, including two elementary schools and a medical clinic. Plans are under way to build a Christian high school on the site, Norris said.

One of the biggest challenges facing mission workers on the Careforce International project is raising their travel expenses. For Norris and the eight other members of the Grindstone Valley Bible Church team making the trip, October 17 to November 2, that means raising $4,000. Norris has already raised about $2,500, including $300 from a recent garage sale at the Waterdown home of team leader, Gavin Hayes. She’s hoping to attract more sponsors before the deadline in mid-September and welcomes donations and inquiries about her trip by e-mail atfi_norris13@hotmail.comor by phone at 905-689-9740.

Any contributions of $20 or more will be eligible for a tax receipt.

In the meantime, other fundraisers for the team as a whole have been planned. A barbecue was held last Saturday and Sunday at Week’s Home Hardware in Waterdown and a Dessert Cruise will be held this Sunday at Hamilton Harbour in support of the upcoming mission. Tickets for the cruise, which will run from 6 to 9 pm., are $50 each.

“I’m very, very excited about going back to Burkina Faso,” Norris said. She can hardly wait to rekindle old friendships and do her part in helping the Village of Hope live up to its name.