I was reading snip-its of my journal that I kept last year; I was reading about our goodbye ceremony with Salabwek, the headmaster gave us a great speech about how wonderful Canada is to let us come to a place where our parents and friends don't know where we are, and it's very true. We live in a country of freedom, where we can walk around freely, and I've been lucky enough to have parents who trust me and let me travel to rural places in developing countries with next to no communication for weeks at a time. This summer, I will be embarking on two Free the Children volunteer trips and to have my families support for both of them lets me take on these issues: they put up with my idealism, my enthusiasm, my hope for helping to make the world a better place. My mom in particular has stood by and supported me, she persuaded/cheered me on to go to Mexico on my first overseas volunteer trip when I was only 14. That trip started my activist career that is still going strong. Going to Mexico to build that house was when I started to really see the world in a different light; I had read about the struggles, but to see homes without doors or windows boggled my young-mind. This experience is when I would say I started to live my life. While there, I was faced with the poverty, disease and corruption. I was taken aback of what I saw. The injustice was just incredible. I had read up and researched it, but until you see it, touch it, live near it no one really understands. From this, I caught the travel bug.
So, there I was, May 2009, on my way to Pearson International Airport in Toronto departing for Kenya when the magnitude of the trip hit me. From my first step off the plane in Nairobi, I knew my life would never be the same. My group consisted of 23 passionate, young leaders from other Canadian post- secondary institutions. We travelled from Nairobi for 9 hours to Salabwek, our community where we would spend the next 3 weeks. We worked almost every day- breaking ground, digging trenches, making cement by hand and moving rocks for the foundation. We fought through the pain, heat, and sweat. It was worth every bit of energy we had. Most days, we did have free time to hang out with the kids; this to me was the most educational to me. I connected with two young girls - they changed my world without a doubt and not a day goes by that I don’t think of them. They taught me how to live. My life, my perspective, my future all changed with this trip, from kicking it on the soccer field with the students to sleeping in a manyatta (a home make of sticks, mud and animal dung). The passion and strength I was shown from everyone I met was the best lesson I have ever learned; "That opportunity isn’t a chance, it is choice."
Thank you Mom, for making me who I am today; for challenging and inspiring me, creating a household that valued helping others and for setting an example of working your hardest for your beliefs and taking chances. Happy mothers day!
