Seven OU students, along with students from Oklahoma State and other Oklahoma residents, traveled to help the Maisha Orphanage in Kenya expand the orphanage’s outreach.
OU graduate Mark Nehrenz, a former Daily staff employee, made his second trip with the organization and his third overall trip to Africa. Nehrenz said this was his second time to go with the organization to Africa.
“My plan is to move to South Africa in a couple of months,” Nehrenz said. “And it all started with [my initial] three-week experience.”
The Maisha Orphanage provides care through education, food and stable living environments for the children of a village outside of the city of Kisumu, Nehrenz said.
“When I went the first time, it really just opened my eyes and I fell in love with the people of Africa and everything about it,” Nehrenz said.
While some students helped with the arts camp, established last summer, the rest of the group was working on several building projects in the village, Nehrenz said.
“I think almost every American should spend some time in a third-world country because it just really opens your eyes,” Nehrenz said.
Sarah King, international and area studies junior, made her first trip to Africa with the group to work as a counselor for the orphanage’s arts program.
“There was definitely a lot of prayer involved before I went,” King said. “I had to understand that I’d be living a different lifestyle for a while.”
Kendall Brown, multidisciplinary studies senior, said her trip this year proved especially rewarding because of the improvements they made to the orphanage.
Brown said the kids at the orphanage went to three classes every day at this camp where they learned about photography, English composition and visual arts.
The visual arts class was used as a therapy arts class, where the kids could use art as a positive outlet for their emotions, Brown said.
Along with the arts program, the group helped feed about 200 children every day, Brown said.
Beatrice Williamson, psychology sophomore at Oklahoma State, is the director of the Maisha Orphanage, which she started two years ago.
“It was an incredible trip,” Williamson said. “We achieved a lot.”
The group also offered a medical camp that provided doctors to more than 350 people.
However, Williamson said she was sad because they had to turn away people for lack of help and supplies.
Williamson was born in the Kenyan village where the orphanage is located. Her mother helps provide her compound with food distribution.
“I wanted to give back to my community, to the children,” Williamson said.
Williamson said this summer trip has really motivated them to go back for a Christmas trip to build a dining hall for the orphanage and provide Christmas gifts for the first time in the orphans’ lives.
She said the Maisha Orphanage is also giving more than 180 children money for their education.
At the end of the trip, however, the facilities and the orphans weren’t the only beneficiaries of the group’s trip.
“I think we all grew in very different ways,” King said. “Our hearts and minds were opened and stretched.”
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tayl4008 2 years, 9 months ago
Why was this the lead story in the paper today? This is a feature that should be on page 3. The lead story should have been the H1N1 story.