Monday, July 19, 2010

Yesterday morning, Glady Branch Baptist Church held a service to commemorate our trip to Africa. Members of our group went up to the podium and spoke a few words about what our experience meant to them and how it touched their hearts. Of course it touched my heart as well and I began crying during the service. As my family knows very well, I do not like crying - I don;t cry during movies or funerals or when I get hurt. However, while I was in Africa the kids at the Mercy Care Centre touched my heart dearly and on our final day there, when we presented Alfred with his handmade wheelchair and said goodbye to the children I couldn't stop the tears from pouring. Half our group was also leaving that night to travel back to the states. I had grown close to those members of our group especially and I didn't want to see them leave. I cried for probably 8 hours straight and seeing myself cry made my sister cry because she never sees me cry and knows how important Africa and these kids are to me. And yesterday at the service, as all those emotions came flooding back, I realized how important it is that I travel back to Africa and keep making connections at the Mercy Care Centre. And then Lee Ray asked if I wanted to say something. I already had tears in my eyes and lumps in my throat but I knew that God was calling me to say something to the church that had given me the amazing opportunity to travel on this trip. As I walked up to the podium, I began to think of something to say. I talked briefly about how I never cry but Africa had touched my heart so much that I couldn't help it. When I stepped down, I saw the tears in others' eyes and it made mine come that much more. I will always remember the people in my group and I hope to continue the friendships I made on the trip with my group and with the people of Africa. I now consider Glady Branch Baptist Church my third church for my life - I have my main one when I'm home and one for while I'm at school here in Charlotte. But Glady Branch now has a special place in my heart as well.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Traveling to Africa was an amazing experience. Looking back about a week later, I'm still in shock that I even had that opportunity and that I made even a small difference in the lives of the students at The Mercy Care Centre. I'm already planning my life there it seems like. I definitely want to go back soon if its possible and I would love to live there and be a permanent fixture in the lives of the children in the Mathare Valley. I want to tell anyone and everyone about my experience. I have decided to sponsor a child at the Mercy Care. While my group was there, she approached me about sponsoring her. She gave me a letter saying how thankful she was that we were there and that she loved me and she told me about her family. She was just an innocent 8 year old girl and she's already having to worry about being able to go to the school the next year and have a meal everyday. This is typical for most the students at the school. They grow up so fast and I hope that maybe when they're at school and they feel safe they can relax and finally just be kids - even if its just during school hours - they all need that time to be kids and have fun. The teachers there are amazing. They give up many unpaid hours to travel to the school on Saturdays to feed the children. They love on the children and they genuinely want them to succeed. Since I've been home I've been chatting with one of the teachers on facebook and he's been telling me a little of his life story. His mother was a single mother and she died when he was 15. He grew up in a slum. But now he's in college and he's come back to help the students at the Mercy Care Centre. He says nothing would be able to keep him from helping those students. That's amazing. Even after everything he's been through he still believes others deserve his help and he does everything he can for those students. He now supports himself completely and his job pays for everything! He is proud of everything he has accomplished even though he came from such terrible conditions. I was so proud to be involved with this organization and I hope to continue taking trips down there and supporting from back here in America. Those kids touched my heart and my memories from Africa will always be with me.

Friday, July 9, 2010














I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Kenya in Africa and work with the Mercy Care Centre school in Nairobi. this trip has solidified my wants to move to Africa and be a "lorax" for people who cant necessarily speak for themselves. The trip was amazing, we spent a week working at the school, doing various projects. My specific project was to repaint the front wall of the main building. It already had the outline of Africa on one side and a human heart on the other. I chose to leave the Africa outline but painted over the heart and chose a cute heart overlapped by a cross because the school is about giving the students hope through education and god. The school is located in the second biggest slum in Kenya and many students had not even been outside the slum in their entire lives. The school offers a window of opportunity and the kids take it. They are the most dedicated students I've met and they are so appreciative when groups arrive to help. Our group did multiple things including a medical clinic, arts and crafts, teaching classes, painting, building walls, fixing desks and we had the amazing opportunity to build a wheelchair and present it to a paralyzed student who was carried around everywhere by one of his teachers. The group I travel led with was amazing, it was a group from Glady Branch Baptist Church located in Brevard, North Carolina. We grew very close over the 3 weeks we were in Kenya and the friendships we made will last forever. We also went on a safari and a small trip to the beach. The scenery and wildlife was breath-taking and I will never forget all that we went through. I've always wanted to live in Africa and this trip has told me where I can go to make a difference and who I can help. I will never forget the people of the Mathare Valley and me and another girl from our group are already planning to travel back to Africa next summer to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.