The excitement mounts daily. She has already started packing and doesn't leave until May.

Stephanie Moriarity is 26 and set for a big adventure. It's not a trek in Nepal, a cruise with her pals and most certainly not a pleasure trip.

She's heading to Africa to volunteer for 10 weeks. A Spectator story about a man who went overseas to volunteer in Africa inspired Stephanie to sign up to provide HIV/AIDS awareness and to empower women in a remote mountain area of Tanzania.

Shortly after she made the decision last June, she created a fundraiser called Steph's Steps to Africa to enable her to come up with the $3,800 for the program operated by Youth Challenge International. It is a nonprofit, non-religious registered Canadian charity sponsored by public and private sectors in Canada and abroad.

In just three months the enterprising young woman, who will graduate from McMaster University in labour studies next month, gathered nearly $5,000.

Her hope is to affect even one person by what she's doing. And she's already done that with the Grade 6 students at St. Bernadette's Elementary School in Dundas. She told them that the toonie they spend on a pack of gum or a chocolate bar would feed a family for a day.

They were so moved by her presentation that two students, Carolina Spilak and Lindsay Hogan, formed a social action committee to help Stephanie raise money. The students raised $400 by selling popcorn and used books.

"They were amazing," says Stephanie, adding they asked lots of questions and were interested and enthusiastic.

After that, came her big fundraiser -- a dinner-dance to raise community awareness. Six friends got together to make the food, others gathered door prizes and sold tickets and a friend's band donated its services.

But there was a slight problem. The event was the night of an early February snowstorm. "It was madness, but about 300 of the 400 ticket holders showed up" to support her. "That meant a lot to me. Everything was closed and I didn't think anyone would come. I was so happy. Then I knew I could go."

That prompted her to start Swahili lessons with a representative from SISO (Settlement and Integration Services Organization). She is also taking a social policy course and has taken women's studies.

But there was a downside to the response some had to her fundraising. "I found a lot of people would say, 'Should I fundraise too, so I can go to the D.R. (Dominican Republic) so I can have an all-inclusive vacation?' I'd get upset sometimes. It's not a vacation by any means.

"I'll probably be living in a hut and I'm taking an unpaid leave of absence from my job." Stephanie works for the Competition Bureau (a federal agency that combats deceptive telemarketing and fraud). "But then I'd realize that's why I'm going -- to raise awareness so people will understand global issues and the need (in other countries)."

Her personal goal is to strive to do better. "Life is very short. I don't want to get caught in the highway of life where we're going so fast to achieve a degree, a good job and social status that you forget to look around.

"I want to step outside my bubble, to have a better appreciation and to find my passion in life. I think of it as a drop in my life."

If she's not on a high by the time she finishes her African stint, Stephanie will do something about it. She plans to reward herself by going skydiving.

Dahlings, The Talk has a scoop on the Easter Bunny. This year he'll be wearing boots, a coat and mitts on his paws to hop around the snowbanks when he makes his rounds in the early hours next Sunday morning.

And here's the skinny: If you haven't already heard, this is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see. Only the most elderly -- 95 or older -- have ever seen it this early. The next time Easter will be this early, March 23, it will be 2228 -- 220 years from now. The last time it was this early was 1913. The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be 2285.

Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, which is March 20.

sbourret@thespec.com

905-526-3305