Senior service projects are a big part of fulfilling graduation requirements. Finding the right place and the time to squeeze in these hours can be tough. But Seniors Hanna Meek, Kennedy Whitaker and Devon Vickers found a way to make time.

These seniors decided to take their project overseas traveling all the way to Haiti. Leaving early on the brisk morning of Tuesday, Jan. 2, Meek, Whitaker and Vickers along with the Global Orphan Project Organization boarded a plane.

This was the second service trip Whitaker made through this organization.

“I went on a trip summer going into my junior year to Uganda, Africa. I loved it so much that I thought it would be a good way to do my senior service project,” Whitaker said.

Vickers, taking Whitaker’s advice, made the trip along side. While she was there she said that she created strong bonds with a lot of the orphans and their “mamas” as they would say. Traveling to four different orphanages, some as far as two hours away and some close by, the girls brought suitcases full of hygiene necessities, toys and money to give away as needed.

A typical day for the volunteers was waking up between 8 and 9 for breakfast, which consisted of a lot of beans, rice, chicken and nuts, and then going to the different orphanages to play.

Around 5:45, they would come back for dinner and have a meeting on the balcony to talk about the days events. After this they would have a bead ceremony. Red was for risk, blue was for leadership, white was for service and green was for compassion. Each volunteer would hand out one according to behaviors.

All of the girls seemed to agree on one thing, the happiness of the people there. Whitaker said she was amazed how the people could have so little and be happier than people here in the U.S. that have everything. She saw so much joy in them, expressing how it was rather hard for them to have a bad day.

“What impacted me the most was seeing how absolutely happy the kids were. They had practically nothing and they were the happiest people I had ever seen. It wasn’t even just the kids and the adults, it was how spiritual they all were which made it incredible,” Meek said.

The three short days spent with the kids was not long enough. Vickers and Whitaker said they could have stayed a lot longer and would have if given the chance.

Meek found it exceptionally hard to say goodbye. She expressed how it felt when the kids would sprint from all directions to just cling onto them because they wanted human touch and love.

“It was just indescribable and you fell in love with the kids,” Meek said. “You get so attached to them. I could have easily stayed there. I miss them so much already and would go back in a heartbeat.”