Twenty-year-old Niamh and her sister, 21-year-old Louise O’Rourke, left their home in Bellevue recently for oversea adventures, but instead of a light-hearted summer vacation, the two girls traveled to different parts of the world to work with non-profits and international organizations.
Niamh set off for China in early June for 10 weeks, following in her older sisters’ footsteps who is bound for Africa. While in China, Niamh will work with the Harvard China Fund, a student internship program which aims to create transformational experiences for students as they prepare for a lifelong engagement with China.
This year will mark Lousie’s second trip to Africa, a destination she is excited to return to. During her junior year at Santa Clara University, Lousie traveled to Senegal in West Africa. This time around, she is bound for Ethiopia for two months followed by a three month stint in the small landlocked country of Burkino Faso.
“Living in Africa was such a different experience than I ever could have imagined,” Louise said. “Everyone there was so incredibly nice and the culture was so unique from what I was raised in. I’m so excited to go back.”
While in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, Lousie will work for the international branch of the YWCA, a non-profit organization committed to equipping young women with skills and confidence for a productive life.
“I knew all along that I wanted to study abroad, and at first I thought Europe, but when a classmate of mine told me about her time spent in Africa I was drawn to go,” Lousie explained. “My mom was nervous at first, but she has always encouraged me and my sister to follow our passions. Mine is to work for non-profits in some form or another.”
Santa Clara University is sending 30 students to countries all over the world this year to pursue international studies in a leadership-based program. Louise will be traveling to Ethiopia with her schoolmate and friend, Brianna Osetinsky. The two held a benefit dinner at Santa Clara University, raising funds for their travel and stay while in Africa.
“I’m glad to be traveling with a friend,” she said. “It helps to calm my nerves. The thing that I found in all of my travel in Africa and universally is that it’s always the most dangerous in the big cities. As far as the villages are concerned it is the safest within the community.”
In Burkino Faso, Louise will volunteer at a community library set up by one of her professors at Santa Clara.
“My school is very encouraging about international travel and study,” she said, adding, “I feel very grounded because of all the support I receive from both my family and my school.”
Niamh will return from China at the end of August for the new school year and Lousie will return in time for the holidays.
“I am very interested in non-profits and working internationally with organizations. It’s a nice thought to want to live on the ground, getting your hands dirty, and sleeping in a grass hut, but you lose touch with what is happening here at home,” Louise said. “I am still deciding whether I want to live abroad once I graduate or work with an international non-profit closer to my family here in Bellevue.”
