It has been my great privilege to be the steward of Mike and
Wayne's vision as executive director of the foundation for the past two years.
I am very proud of how much we have already accomplished; very excited by how
much more we can and plan to do.
Recently, I had the good fortune to develop and lead another
of the company's "voluntourism" excursions. As the name implies,
voluntours are travel adventures with a social purpose, in this case a team of
15 WorldVentures volunteers from three continents traveled in September to
Kenya to help an orphanage in the slum village of Degorretti in Nairobi become
self-sufficient. We brought three clean water systems, and built a chicken coop
to house 100 chickens. All this not only provides clean drinking water and food
for the orphans, but establishes a sustainable income source, as thousands of
villagers now have convenient access to clean water. Lack of clean water is one
of the most serious problems facing the developing world, particularly in
Kenya, where abject poverty and deprivation is the norm, where most people live
on less than $2 per day, and where containable diseases such as AIDS continue
to tragically ravage families.
Our work in Degorretti centered on an amazing and inspiring
place called the Lighthouse Grace Orphanage. The orphanage is home to 60
children and provides schooling to another 100 students every day. The home was
well-named - despite the poverty and desperate lack of resources, grace was in
abundance everywhere at this oasis amidst the squalor. Founded and led by an
amazing woman named Regina Ngige, the orphanage is a beacon of hope to the
entire community. I can still see the beautiful beaming faces of children who
despite living on usually one meal a day of maize or rice, and having no access
to clean sanitation or a health aid when they feel sick, are positive and
hopeful about their lives. When you ask them if they have a dream, they all
say, "Yes," and are eager to tell you. It was an honor to make a
difference in their community; installing the water filtration systems will
change many lives in Degorretti forever. Of course, speaking for all the
WorldVentures voluntourists, I can safely say that our lives were also changed
on that trip: it is impossible not to be transformed by the experience. One
such transformation was shared by International Marketing Director, Matt Morris
about a week after the trip, saying, "A surprising, and noticeable change
for me is in my parenting. I made pancakes for breakfast the other day and my
daughter said she didn't want them, but wanted eggs instead. In the past, I
would have probably just made her the eggs. But this time, I asked her, 'What
do the children at Grace eat?' She replied, 'Rice, Daddy,' and proceeded to
happily eat her pancakes without any fuss."
That's the power of voluntourism and the generous spirit
behind WorldVentures' Manifest Foundation. It is a rare organization that
really walks the walk - we can all be proud to be associated with a company
that actively practices its values every day. If you'd like to contribute,
volunteer or participate in an upcoming voluntourism opportunity, please do not
hesitate to visit our website www.manifestfoundation.org.
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