Not many people get to experience the joy of traveling to Africa. But it became a reality for junior Kennedy Whitaker this past summer over her sixteenth birthday. It wasn’t the typical sweet sixteen you hear about on MTV. Instead she unwrapped a rewarding experience and shared it with whom Whitaker thought of as the most incredible people.
Whitaker’s family wanted to discover what the world outside of Overland Park, Kan. was like and thought the best way to do so was to go on a mission trip to Uganda, Africa through the Global Orphan Project.
After arriving she noticed that people’s attitudes were much more joyful, welcoming, and full of happiness even when they had close to nothing. Each day her family traveled to a new orphanage to play and entertain all of the children. Each orphanage consisted of boys and girls ranging from four to 12 years old. The children would wear a uniform to school but had play clothes as well.
“It made me tear up when I had to leave Kabale because of the connection I had with a child named Owen,” she said. “He was severely burned. But seeing the child’s face light up when getting something as simple as a tennis ball brought me much joy. It reminded me of Christmas morning.”
Whitaker said it bothers her that back home we are hard to please. She said it’s because we have so much. Also it frustrated her to see the way Africans have to live everyday, and knowing that people back home don’t do anything about it.
“We have no reason to say we had a bad day, not knowing what it’s like,” Whitaker said.
She went to talk about how truly amazing the people of Africa were. Going into this two week experience with high hopes of teaching them a little something, she ended coming home with more knowledge of what it’s like on the other side of the world.
She said, “I would do the whole thing all over again. Every part. Right now.”
Even though traveling all the way to Africa seems a little crazy, Whitaker said that we all should should try getting out of our comfort zones and making a difference because, according to her, the experience was mind-blowing.