You are what you do....

Recently, our dorm has been debating about what we should do for our dorm picture. Of course we want to make it good, something fun. One of the girls suggested we all hold something that explains a little about what we do or who we are. We started going around and thinking about what each person could hold. When it came to me, one of the girls immediately said "oh! you can hold a season of Friends!" Somehow...that really hit me. Now I know it's just a silly dorm picture, but is this really what I'm know for? Is this really all people can think of when they think of me? When I asked if there was anything else, someone said..."well..you could hold your running shoes, you love going to the gym!". So if what you are is what you do... all I am is a fitness buff with an obsession with a hit 90's television show. I'm not okay with this. I want to be more. I need to be more, I can't just sit around and fall into this trap of not doing anything just because I'm "focusing on my studies".

So here's the thing, Lately, everywhere I go I see something that reminds me of Africa. I've said for some time now that Africa is a passion of mine, what what am I doing about this passion? Honestly, It's on my mind constantly. (Doesn't help that my wall is plastered with pictures from Kenya) But last night, I couldn't sleep, honestly, it's gotten so bad that I actually laid in bed and just thought about Kenya and the people I met there, and the great need they have there. I was trying desperately to get to sleep when finally something just popped into my head, I remembered an e-mail I had gotten about a month ago from a group I joined on facebook. The group is called "friends of Ulungu Kenya" (Ulungu is a community that a group of us went to when I was in Africa a couple summers back). Brenda, the lady who emailed me, had asked me if I would be interested in maybe helping to fundraise for some of the needs of the Ulungu community, at the time I was so focussed on packing for Florida and finishing my midterms that I just kind of brushed the thought away and forgot about the email...that is until last night. I couldn't get Kenya out of my head, so I went and read the email again, knowing that I had to do something about it, I wasn't sure what, am I'm still not 100% sure what, But I had to do SOMETHING. So I E-mailed Brenda back. I want to do something, but here's the thing...I need help. I'm not sure if it's going to work out this year, already I'm feeling the pressures of group projects and papers and exams that are coming up, But I was thinking that next year, this could be more than just and Idea for me, I could really make this happen. Sometime this week or next week I'm going to go and talk to Student Life, run some Idea's past them, figure something out, and maybe start planning something for next fall.

Ulungu is a community that has been greatly affected by AIDS, When we were there a few years ago we had the opportunity to talk to a few schools, help build a fence for the preschool and girls sewing school, and we got to plant some trees. We got to play with the kids, and explore the rural Kenyan community. As hard as it was for me when I was actually there, I grew a lot, and learned a lot about faith and trust and perseverance. They did so much more for me then I did for them. And now, 3 years later...I want to give back.

If you want more information about the projects that the CRWRC are doing in Ulungu Kenya, or what they have done, check out "Friends of Ulungu Kenya", and if you have a desire to help me out in any way, let me know! I'll be more than happy for the help.

I want to make this reality.