North Harford’s alumni Marissa Altenburg is heading to Africa on a mission trip to serve in a hospital, learn about culture, and pick up new skills along the way. 

     She still has time to prepare for the trip because she will be heading there late May to early June. With being in a new culture Altenburg says she’s a little nervous. “Traveling to a new country and experiencing a new culture can be nerve wracking because you never know what you’re going to eat or be asked to do,” she explained. But Altenburg is going with someone who has been there countless times before and trusts that he will know what to do. “Even if we mess up or do something wrong we are given grace by the community so that takes the nerves away a little bit,” the alumni explained. 

     Altenburg will be very busy while on the trip. “For about the first two weeks we will be attending classes on Healthcare in the developing world,” she explained. “We will have some classes on other things like culture and then we will also be rotating into the hospital, sitting in on the operating room and the general floor to see how the hospital is run,” continued Altenburg.

     Working in a hospital and taking classes won’t be the only thing that Altenburg gets to experience. “We will be doing a homestay the first weekend where we leave our beds and running water behind and go live in the community with a family,” said the North Harford alumni. Doing this she will get to experience life in the community and have a deeper connection with people from across the world. “Then last week we will be going South to go on a safari and visit Victoria Falls,” said Altenburg.

     The North Harford alumni is going to school to be a doctor. Because of this she believes “It is going to be really cool to see how different the style of care is, but how it works well for them.” Altenburg is getting involved in this amazing experience with Messiah University. “I attend Messiah University and they offer this class as a way to fulfill what they call an ELI (experiential learning initiative) that you need to graduate,” she explained. “So I knew I would have to do something to get that credit and when I came into the school it was one of the first things I heard about and was determined to go ever since I enrolled,” continued Altenburg. 

     The trip is less of a traditional mission trip and more of a school learning trip Altenburg explains. But North Harford’s alumni Marissa Altenburg will still be serving and learning new things everyday on the trip.