I have moments and reasons that have contributed to my heart for Africa but i can’t even pinpoint an answer for why the Lord placed Africa on my heart, not yet that is. The Holy Spirit tends to take hold of my subconscious and make decisions for me that are beyond my understanding. Through time I normally find out why or how the unexplainable happens, but some answers remain a mystery.
I first took interest in Kenya because of my love for running. The summer
before my freshman year of high school, I was at running camp (don’t judge) and my teammates
were telling me how Kenyans are the fastest runners and that they run barefoot. That sold me right away. Then in high school I met my friend Michael at a track meet and he was a lost boy from Sudan. Through the years i’ve heard more and more of his story. He escaped the war in Sudan and came over to America as a lost
boy when he was about 15. His family is in a refugee camp in Kenya now and Michael is living with an amazing family that goes to my Church in Richmond. He has been working since he came to the States and sends as much money as he can back to his family. The summer after my senior year of high school I went on a
week long retreat with my Church and there was a boy who spoke about how he
survived through the Rwandan genocide. His story really captivated my heart and
moved me to take a more serious interest in Africa.
before my freshman year of high school, I was at running camp (don’t judge) and my teammates
were telling me how Kenyans are the fastest runners and that they run barefoot. That sold me right away. Then in high school I met my friend Michael at a track meet and he was a lost boy from Sudan. Through the years i’ve heard more and more of his story. He escaped the war in Sudan and came over to America as a lost
boy when he was about 15. His family is in a refugee camp in Kenya now and Michael is living with an amazing family that goes to my Church in Richmond. He has been working since he came to the States and sends as much money as he can back to his family. The summer after my senior year of high school I went on a
week long retreat with my Church and there was a boy who spoke about how he
survived through the Rwandan genocide. His story really captivated my heart and
moved me to take a more serious interest in Africa.
When I went to college I was on the VT xc and track team
but that didn’t last long, God had different plans. I decided to give up running and my newfound free time allowed me to take
leadership roles in Young Life for kids with disabilities and to also to dive more into a service
opportunity that I had been informed of. I was at a coffee shop one day when a
friend of a friend heard that I liked Africa and told me about a refugee camp 45
minutes away from campus that I could volunteer teaching English at. I have now
been doing that for the past 3 years and have formed relationships with the
kids and their parents. I go to Roanoke twice a week and have been working with fellow students
to get more involved in the kids lives by bringing them to soccer games at
school, throwing parties for them in their community, and meeting them where
they’re at by encouraging them at their school sporting events.
but that didn’t last long, God had different plans. I decided to give up running and my newfound free time allowed me to take
leadership roles in Young Life for kids with disabilities and to also to dive more into a service
opportunity that I had been informed of. I was at a coffee shop one day when a
friend of a friend heard that I liked Africa and told me about a refugee camp 45
minutes away from campus that I could volunteer teaching English at. I have now
been doing that for the past 3 years and have formed relationships with the
kids and their parents. I go to Roanoke twice a week and have been working with fellow students
to get more involved in the kids lives by bringing them to soccer games at
school, throwing parties for them in their community, and meeting them where
they’re at by encouraging them at their school sporting events.
At school I have an amazing group of friends that have the same draw towards third world countries. We have toyed with the idea of all dropping out and starting an orphanage together in Africa more times than I can count. The summer after my freshman year at VT one of my roommates and I were going to
Uganda with World Harvest Missions but then Ebola broke out in the village
where we would have been teaching and they had to send all the teachers that were already there to Europe and they weren’t sending anyone else. Christmas break I started making plans to go to Kenya and work in an orphanage but my mom shut that idea down at the last minute.
Uganda with World Harvest Missions but then Ebola broke out in the village
where we would have been teaching and they had to send all the teachers that were already there to Europe and they weren’t sending anyone else. Christmas break I started making plans to go to Kenya and work in an orphanage but my mom shut that idea down at the last minute.
Last year I went to Nicaragua on a service trip and had one of the best days of my life. We spent one of our days there in the city dump, La Chureca. La Chureca is home to community of about 1,500 people live and work
there. One of my friends articulated our experience there in a way that I still resonate with today, “Their
environment is their Hell and their community is their Heaven, and so
often in America our environment is our Heaven and our community is our
Hell”. I saw intimacy in Christ through their simplicity. I learned the
importance of living with open hands and that meeting these people where they’re at made
the statistics about third world countries seem so real. It made the statistics take on
faces and those faces evolved into relationships and those relationships began
tugging on our hearts. I feel that way when I spend time with the kids that I teach from Africa.
there. One of my friends articulated our experience there in a way that I still resonate with today, “Their
environment is their Hell and their community is their Heaven, and so
often in America our environment is our Heaven and our community is our
Hell”. I saw intimacy in Christ through their simplicity. I learned the
importance of living with open hands and that meeting these people where they’re at made
the statistics about third world countries seem so real. It made the statistics take on
faces and those faces evolved into relationships and those relationships began
tugging on our hearts. I feel that way when I spend time with the kids that I teach from Africa.
I am not the most decisive person you’ll ever meet. Africa is something the Lord has consciously and subconsciously had me pursuing. I see Christ in the eyes of the African refugees that I work with. I hear Him in their stories. I feel closer to Him when they learn something new or when we dance or play soccer together. I don’t have a black and white answer as to why I feel called to the mission field but I know that the Lord is leading me there as a part of His plan that is so far beyond my realm of understanding, so for now i’m simply trusting in that.
