Kidnapped nurse chose not to be a tourist
Last Updated: Friday, March 13, 2009 | 6:30 PM AT
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
Audio
- Dr. Luella Smith, a Moncton emergency room physician who has worked for MSF in Darfur, talks with Compass host Bruce Rainnie about conditions in the troubled region (Runs: 4:39)
- Play: Real Media »
- Joni Guptill of MSF provides an update on the Darfur kidnapping Friday morning (Runs: 8:43)
- Play: Real Media »
- MSF nurse Laura Archer speaks on the Radio Canada International program The Link on Aug. 20, 2008 (Runs: 9:51)
- Play: Real Media »
- Steve Rukavina reports on Thursday with Montreal reaction to Laura Archer's abduction (Runs: 2:02)
- Play: Real Media »
External Links
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window)
Laura Archer's life changed when she decided to travel the world in 2004. (MSF/Canadian Press)Curiosity led Laura Archer to explore the world; compassion led her to the realization she could not simply travel through it.
The Canadian nurse was abducted along with three other members of Doctors Without Borders in the Darfur region of Sudan on Wednesday. Reports of their release on Friday turned out to be premature, but a Sudanese official announced they had been granted their freedom on Saturday.
Archer, a P.E.I. native, graduated from the University of Prince Edward Island with a nursing degree in 2001. In an account of her international aid work in UPEI's alumni magazine, Archer described how her life changed with a single realization in 2004, while she was a nurse in San Francisco.
"It occurred to me that I knew very little about the world outside of North America," she wrote.
"I sold all of my belongings, bought a backpack and got on a plane."
Her travels found her in Thailand when the tsunami struck. Frustrated by the rejection by local officials to put her nursing skills to work there, she filled her backpack with first-aid supplies, flew to India and set up a makeshift clinic on a beach near a village devastated by the tsunami. She stayed for three weeks.
"Through this experience, the difference between being a tourist and a humanitarian became apparent to me — and I knew which I wanted to be," she wrote.
Nurse encounters 'level of fear' in Africa
'I was constantly aware of the fact that I had a safe home to return to.'—Laura Archer, nurse, Doctors Without Borders
She returned to Canada in December 2005 and applied to work with Doctors Without Borders. A few months later, she had her first posting in the Central African Republic, including time in a village called Markounda.
"What struck me most during my time in Markounda was the level of fear that exists in Central Africa," she wrote.
"The experience was humbling. I knew that, unlike my locally hired co-workers, I could leave. I was constantly aware of the fact that I had a safe home to return to."
Archer was in Canada as recently as August, when she presented a show of her paintings of people she encountered in Africa.
According to a website featuring those paintings, she was due to return from Darfur next month.
Share Tools
Latest Prince Edward Island News Headlines
- Liquor store discussion heats up legislature
- The Opposition raised questions in the provincial legislature Friday over the decision to close the Wood Islands liquor store. more »
- EI rules will hurt primary trades, says P.E.I. premier
- While reaction continues to brew over Thursday's announcement about changes to the Employment Insurance program, P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz says provincial officials will be meeting with the federal government to discuss how the new rules will affect Islanders. more »
- HST to hit low-income earners hardest
- Although the proposed harmonized sales tax is good for business, it will hit low-income Islanders the hardest when it's rung in next April, said economists. more »
- Charlottetown businessman named to Order of Canada
- Charlottetown's Fred Hyndman was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada Friday. more »
Top News Headlines
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- The husband of a Toronto woman who died trying to climb Mt. Everest on Saturday says his family is not seeking government help to cover the cost of bringing his wife's body home. more »
- Henrique's OT goal sends Devils into Stanley Cup final
- The New Jersey Devils will vie for a potential fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history after completing a six-game series win Friday night over the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final, courtesy of rookie Adam Henrique's goal early in overtime. more »
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- The federal government is scrapping two review boards used by people appealing decisions made about their employment insurance. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- EI rules will hurt primary trades, says P.E.I. premier
- P.E.I. quality of life second-worst, says study
- HST to hit low-income earners hardest
- 902 numbers running out in N.S., P.E.I.
- Islanders worried over EI changes
- Charlottetown businessman named to Order of Canada
- Atlantic Lottery replacing old VLTs
- Tourism P.E.I. handed out $60,000 in free golf passes
- Red Shores Raceway's fastest horse put down
