A 2012 graduate of Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield is embarking on a whirlwind trip beginning this fall that will take her to 11 nations in 11 months.
Allison Sinclair, a recent graduate with a bachelor’s degree in health science from the University of Southern Maine, will be part of a Christian mission called The World Race. Participants will work in orphanages, teaching English, working with sex-trafficking victims, helping in developing countries wherever the need is at the time she is there, her mother, Kathy Sinclair, said in an email to the Morning Sentinel.
Members of the mission will be traveling to India, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Botswana, Swaziland, South Africa, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru — one country per month, all while living out of a backpack. World Race participants experience how others live as they are immersed in new cultures, forming lasting relationships with people who bring fresh perspective, according to the program website.
“I’m absolutely excited,” Allison Sinclair, 22, said Thursday. “I’m just excited to go live life. I feel like I’m going to be a lot more free in life to be myself and live and grow with other people and learn about the world and God and where he’s taking me on this journey and all the people I’m going to be able to meet and to learn from.”
Sinclair was selected to receive the 2012 Principal’s Award at MCI, according to the school’s online magazine, Alumnus. The award, sponsored by the Maine Principals’ Association, is given at each high school in recognition of a high school senior’s academic achievement and school citizenship.
At MCI, Sinclair was a member of the Student Council all four years, and president her senior year. She was also a member of the Key Club and was president of her class for three years. Sinclair played varsity soccer, basketball and softball all four years at MCI and was a member of MCI’s Captain’s Club.
She is now seeking to help others in need, her mother said.
Sinclair needs to raise almost $17,000 for her trip and is seeking donations on her own World Race webpage.
She said she has raised about half of the money she needs and has been fundraising since she was accepted for the mission in February, sending off support request letters that describe who she is and what the program is about.
“The money that I’m fundraising goes towards my housing and food and medical insurance for the next 11 months while I’m on the trip,” she said.
Sinclair said she needs to have $11,000 by October, when she leaves for India, and the entire amount by January.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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