One of the most formative experiences of my life was serving as a US Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 2002 to 2004. This was a particularly turbulent time both personally and globally. Looking back, I had become a self-absorbed person who was more focused on socializing with friends and what concert I’d just attended, rather than contributing to the betterment of my community. From a global perspective, this was just one year after 9/11 with the subsequent Iraq invasion actually occurring during my time in Kenya. All that’s to say that I had arrived in Kenya at a time when I wanted to and needed to re-evaluate what was truly important.

In the over ten years since my Peace Corps service, I have reflected often on the many lasting lessons that this experience had instilled in me. The strong bonds of community that I observed. Countless cross-cultural encounters, ranging from the humorous to the extremely thought provoking, that I was a part of. The inexhaustible hospitality and welcome for a guest that I received. The difference between self-identified need and want for something.

Few lessons have endured more over the years after my service concluded than the earnest desire and devotion for education and further learning that Kenyans possessed. To see school children walking miles to school in the morning and evening or studying by the dim light of the kerosene lamp was a sight I witnessed on countless occasions. Sadly, so was the heartbreak and frustration of a student who wanted nothing more than to go to their next grade or course but lacked the resources to do so.

Acting out a shopping cart in the village I lived in

This lack of resources to seek education was not something I was familiar with. All of my life, when I wanted to attend private or public school all that I needed was made readily available to me whether this included books, tuition, supplies or uniforms.

Education had become something I had taken for granted. When I wanted clothes, school supplies, transportation, even to attend a private secondary school, these resources where there in my family and in my country for the asking. I, like most children in the United States I knew, had even faked a fever to stay home from school and watch TV for the day. Children in Kenya would walk miles to school with malaria for the opportunity to learn.

“The rallying of an entire country, from capital to rural village, for the opportunity to learn was like nothing I had ever seen and will stay with me always.”

This was never more apparent than in 2003 when former Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki abolished all school fees across the country. This resulted in an unprecedented flood of 1.3 million new Kenyan children and adults, including some seniors, who returned to school to continue or begin their education. The rallying of an entire country, from capital to rural village, for the opportunity to learn was like nothing I had ever seen and will stay with me always.

There is no such policy for the children of Sierra Leone who yearn just as much for the prospect of education as the children of Kenya and face many of the same hurdles. By supporting the mission of Wellbodi Sierra Leone to nourish healthy minds and healthy bodies, you can help bring the opportunity to learn within reach for Sierra Leone’s children and future. You can give a priceless tomorrow to the girls of Sierra Leone.

You can provide a scholarship to the girls of Sierra Leone with a donation here.

Learn more about Welbodi Sierra Leone's work providing scholarships to girls here.