The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School's (PF) biennial mission trip to Kenya. The trip was scheduled for May 1-13.
“As COVID-19 spreads around the world, it is no longer possible for our team to travel,” Principal Brian McKenzie said in a letter issued to students and parents late last week.
“The Government of Kenya has cancelled all flights from countries with COVID-19 cases, including Canada and the Government of Canada has requested that all Canadians avoid unnecessary travel," noted the letter.
PF students started their journey and fundraising efforts for the much-anticipated trip during the spring of last year.
For Grade 12 student Emily Rowe, it was a dream of her's to complete the mission trip since Grade 6.
“In elementary school there was always these mission trips where people would go to Ecuador,” said Rowe, one of 27 students who had been working hard to raise money for the trip.
“I remember a group of students came to my school and talked about how much these students impacted their life and I thought that was really interesting and I always wanted to do it," Rowe told OrilliaMatters.
As the world watched the Covid-19 outbreak become a pandemic, Rowe and her classmates began to feel anxious about their trip being in jeopardy.
“We were reading the news daily and kind of being prepared for it being canceled,” she said.
Even though it came to be expected, Rowe still felt a shock when her dream of making a difference in a struggling country was halted.
“This trip has been happening for ten years and has never been canceled, the fact that it is actually canceled now shows you how serious COVID-19 is,” Rowe said.
One of Rowe’s Grade 12 classmates, Christian Strong, was also understanding of the decision to cancel the trip.
“I wasn’t surprised because of everything going on,” he said.
“It was a bit of a disappointment but obviously we need to do this to stay safe and healthy.”
Not only are students missing out on the trip they’ve worked so hard to prepare for, but they are also losing out on their $199 deposit and their $189 insurance premium that are being deemed non-refundable.
“Honestly I wasn’t really disappointed about that. I know the reality of the situation so ultimately it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things,” Strong said.
Once the students return to school, the team will make a plan for the disposition of the money raised through fundraising. The school will also be in touch with all the sponsors to let them know how their donations will be used.
Strong already knows what he would like to see the money used for.
“I hope we can donate it to The Lighthouse. I know how hard they’ve been working towards their new building,” he said of the local homeless shelter's new facility under construction on Queen Street.
Brett Carron, a trip leader and a construction technology teacher at PF, says that the students' efforts over the past year were not all for naught.
“We had some really good discussions in class before the break about the journey these students have been on,” Carron explained.
“The things they have learned over the past year in terms of leadership, social justice and being a global citizen, that is a huge achievement in itself."
