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Nurse on a mission

NCCC graduate will volunteer with refugees in Middle East for two years

Victoria Smith sits in High Peaks Church in Saranac Lake Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

SARANAC LAKE — Victoria Smith drove down Lake Flower Avenue Tuesday morning and looked out, soaking in the semi-frozen water, the pale slide on Scarface Mountain and the sun breaking through low-hanging clouds.

She graduated from North Country Community College here as a registered nurse. She’s a member of the High Peaks Church on Will Rogers Drive. She won the ladies’ frying pan toss at the 2017 Winter Carnival and was crowned Carnival princess the following year.

“Ugh. This is what I love, and I’m going to miss it,” she said as she shifted gears.

Next week, the 22-year-old heads to the Middle East for two years to do volunteer mission work with Arab refugees who have fled war zones. Because of security risks, Smith asked the Enterprise not to report specifically where she is going and whom she is helping. The trip is organized by Nexus Mission, a Christian volunteer group based in Hong Kong.

In May, Smith spent a month in the Middle East on a more exploration-focused trip. She wasn’t doing a lot of mission work but rather getting to know the culture and what type of help people need there.

Middle Eastern children play soccer at a refugee camp where Victoria Smith of Saranac Lake visited in May 2019. (Photo provided)

“A lot of the people have been fleeing their homes for eight years or more, so many of the kids have been born in the refugee camp, which is made up of canvas tents that have two to three families in them,” she said. “A lot of the kids have behavioral issues, PTSD, depression, fatherless-ness.”

Her work will include providing food and clothing to the refugees, teaching school children math and English, and providing some medical treatment.

“I’m a nurse, so when I go there, they’re hoping I can help build a small clinic for basic first aid,” she said.

Originally from Massena, Smith was raised as a Christian, and her faith has always been a big part of her life. At a young age, she decided she wanted to do full-time mission work, serving people’s physical, spiritual and emotional needs. When she was 14, Dennis Balcombe visited her church to talk about his mission work in China.

Balcombe is known for launching the Revival Christian Church in Hong Kong in the 1970s. Smith described him as kind of a rebel and a freedom fighter for religious practice in the communist, officially atheist nation.

A refugee camp where Victoria Smith of Saranac Lake volunteered is seen in May 2019. (Photo provided)

“He went into China and started building underground churches, and then that transformed into Bible smuggling,” she said. “Seeing someone who has completely dedicated his life to one thing has so much impact in my mind. He sacrificed a lot to go over there.

“I knew that’s what I wanted to do — serving for more than just the temporal. As a Christian, I believe it’s about eternity and sharing the love of Jesus with people.”

Her pastor at the time was a little hesitant to condone the goal at such a young age. He told her to finish high school, get formal education and attend Bible training. So Smith did all that in the pursuit of spreading her faith on an international scale.

In the past, she has done mission work in New York City, Washington, D.C., Uganda and India. While working at Upstate University Medical Hospital in Syracuse, she volunteered with HouseCalls for the Homeless and In My Father’s Kitchen, two charity groups that help homeless people.

It’s no secret that the Middle East is a volatile area full of wars and conflicts. There are the Syrian civil war, the Yemeni civil war, the Isreal-Palestine conflict and the Iraqi insurgency, and the U.S. recently assassinated military leader Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, raising tensions with Iran.

A refugee camp where Victoria Smith of Saranac Lake volunteered is seen in May 2019. (Photo provided)

Smith won’t stay in the refugee camp itself but rather a nearby community.

“We’ll be living in a little town that’s pretty safe,” she said. “There are plenty of refugee camps around it, but there’s a pretty good police force to keep us safe. In the end, you can’t plan for every single contingency.

“People around there are used to hearing gun shots and having buildings bombed. That’s not anything that I know of or how to deal with, but for the people there, it’s just life, and I think there’s a really tangible need I can fulfill. It’s worth the risk for me.”

While her parents are a little nervous about her trip, they appreciate the work she will do.

“They’re excited,” she said. “They’ve always been very involved in the church. They love Jesus. They want to love other people. They’ve done foster care. That was the environment I was raised in, so they’re really excited one of their kids is going out and serving.”

Spreading faith isn’t totally about gaining religious followers. That would be a plus for missionaries, but Smith said the real goal is to spread love and make connections.

During her trip in May, Smith met a Muslim girl named Maha. The two are devout in their respective religions, and they had a great friendship, Smith said.

“I really loved her, and she really loved me, and we both really loved God,” she said. “Yes, there are some core fundamental beliefs we may never agree on, and I think both of us wished the other person believed differently. I remember her saying, ‘Go back to the States, and tell people Muslims are not all bad.’ Most of us are just loving people that are doing our best to live according to the convictions of our heart.”

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