A Drumheller girl has worked hard over the last year to make her way to Argentina, but her work is far from over.

Brianna Watson, 17, daughter of Dave and Shauna Watson arrived in Buenos Aires last weekend. She wanted to take on a new challenge and found a company that presents adventure excursion travel. As a 17 year old, she was able to work out a volunteer opportunity in Buenos Aires working with orphans.

“This was the only way through a non-religious group that would allow me, at 17, to go to another country to do mission-like work,” Brianna told inSide Drumheller. “There’s a series of orphanages on the outskirts of the city that I will be working at.”

The job entails working in a guardian-like capacity for the children.  Her day starts by getting them up and taking them to school. It also includes preparing meals and helping with homework, six days a week.

“It will be long days,” she chuckles.

At 17, she is a well-seasoned traveller, taking trips to New York and Washington. She spent a summer in Spain and a few trips to Mexico.  Argentina may be her furthest excursion yet.

This trip wasn’t planned at the spur of the moment. Brianna set her sights on this over a year ago, and made arrangements to graduate from high school early. While many students are picking out prom dresses, she was working on learning more about the culture of Argentina.

“I had to get permission from the principal to graduate early and then I started cramming courses to graduate in January. And then I had to work for a few months to get the money to do this,” said Brianna.

   The excursion is for three months and she will be back at the end of July.

   This is a path she wants to continue for her professional career.

   “I am going to the University of Alberta and I’m doing a major in biology with a minor in political science. I want to do international environmental projects, and like the name implies there would be a lot of travelling,” she said. 

Drumheller’s mayor is once again doing his part to ensure that democracy is respected in the Ukraine.
    About two years ago, Terry Yemen travelled to the Eastern European country to act as an election observer during the country’s general election. He applied and was offered the opportunity to do it again, this time for the presidential elections. He simply feels this is the right thing to do.

   “When you see what is going on, I feel sorry for those people,” he said. “When I was in Eastern Ukraine in 2012 I didn’t see any commerce, the area is a struggling democracy and this may help move them along,” said Yemen.
    He will be departing for the Ukraine on May 20. The election is on May 25, and he expects they will be home by May 29. His role will be to act as an international observer.
    “There will be about two days of training in Kiev and then we will be deployed. The election is on May 25, and then you stay in the area you are deployed for a second day. Then it is the back to Kiev to do all the reports and then back to Canada hopefully on May 29,” said Yemen. 
    He said in his previous experience during the general election there was groundwork prior to the election visiting polling stations and inspecting. He is not sure how this experience will differ.

Mayor Terry Yemen in the Ukraine during the 2012 general elections. He was selected to return to the Eastern European country to observe the presidential election later this month.

    
    He is well aware of the risks involved in this mission. Since November of last year there have been violent protests and a government collapse. In February Russia intervened, and the Crimean Parliament voted to enter the Russian Federation.
    “Safety does concern me. I am going into it with my eyes wide open, I have seen what can happen. I am not naive enough to go in, wave a Canadian Flag, and think nothing is going to happen to me. I will be continually doing self assessments and if I see that it is not a good place or a good time, I’ll leave,” he said.
    He says it was an honour to be one of 138 picked to take on this role for the election.    
    He was selected through CANADEM, a nongovernment organization that promotes democracy through activities such as observing elections. In the last 10 years it has deployed more than 4,500 observers to points around the world.