Vacation volunteerism

Feb 6, 2008
Westonite's trip to Ethiopian orphanage

by Cathryn J. Prince

Her bags aren’t quite packed, but she’s more than ready to go.

Soon, Westonite Lorna Schmidt will leave on a jet plane en route to Ethiopia, where she will spend one week volunteering in an orphanage for HIV-positive children.

Becoming a Peace Corps volunteer may not fit with her current day job in financial services in Manhattan and her role as stepmother to three young children, but the spirit of giving does.

“My dream would be a long-term assignment,” Ms. Schmidt said. “This kind of vacation volunteerism is what it’s all about. This is a one-week trip, and I knew I would love to go, and because it’s one week it’s doable for me.”

When Ms. Schmidt touches down in Addis Ababa, she and nine other women will head toward an orphanage where 80 children, newborns to 14-year-olds, live.

The nonprofit group AHOPE (African HIV Orphans Project Embrace) runs the facility and helps children orphaned by AIDS, with a special emphasis on those orphans who are infected with HIV.

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