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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
Nova Student and Staffer Goes on Humanitarian Mission to Build an Orphanage in Haiti
Nova student and staffer Elena Trowell with Haitian children during a humanitarian mission there in July.
Elena Trowell, an NSU student in the Masters of International Business Administration Program at the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship and assistant to the Nova Alumni Association, traveled with her childhood friend Erin Outlaw in July to Grand Goáve, Haiti. They went to the Caribbean nation to help with the construction of an orphanage that will house 66 children misplaced by the earthquake that devastated the nation in January 2010. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake impacted the Trowell and Outlaw tremendously because it killed their long-time friend Courtney Hayes, who went to Haiti 24 hours before the quake on a humanitarian mission with the nonprofit Journey of Hope. Outlaw and Trowell were informed of an orphanage being built by BeLikeBrit.org in honor Britney Gengel, a Journey of Hope volunteer who was killed by the trembler while on the same mission trip as Hayes.
Outlaw and Trowell knew immediately they wanted to have a chance to follow in their friend’s footsteps and continue her journey of hope as Britsionary’s, humanitarians following Gengel’s mission to help the Haitian children. The BeLikeBrit orphanage will house 33 boys and 33 girls, symbolic of the 33 days 19 year old Gengel was missing in the rubble of the quake.
Nova student and staffer Elena Trowell with Haitian children during a humanitarian mission there in July.
While in Haiti, Outlaw and Trowell had a chance to help with building, painting, as well as handing out clothes, toys, and supplies donated by Nova’s Office of Institutional Advancement. They said the highlight of their trip was the excitement in the children’s eyes and their appreciation for something as small as a sticker. After a day filled with building with the help of many eager children, they returned to the guest house near the beach to find the local children waiting to color with them and play games. Each morning at breakfast, the pair was awaken by the children calling their names to the color pages they took home the night before. Every day, the amount of children waiting at the gate to color and interact with the BelikeBrit volunteers grew significantly. Not speaking a word of Creole, the pair used charades to communicate with the children. Outlaw and Trowell were initially indifferent about what to expect while in Haiti. But after their life-changing experience, they plan to return in December to spend Christmas with the children, who continue to suffer the long-term effects of the earthquake.