Seventeen Kent students will forever remember the summer of 2008 when they chose to spend the start of vacation as volunteers at an orphanage in Juarez, Mexico.
The mission team included Third Formers Chrystal Bloomer, Monica Mosczcyc, Amie Pritchard and Christina Yuan, Fourth Formers Brian Lee and Hillary Collins, and Fifth Formers Jayde Bennett, Sam Daniel, Brandon Bottini, Stephen Trostle, Mark Cheong, Shaina Thompson, Colleen Hartigan, Jamie Jackson, Adelaida Montilla, Frank Huang and Ollisha Pamplin, along with coordinators Mr. Jeremy Sokolnicki, Mrs. Megan Sokolnicki and Ms. Kristelle Hicks.
They spent their mornings doing upkeep at the orphanage while afternoons and evenings were spent with the children. The orphanage “does a great job of providing a home for the children there- including a safe place to sleep, meals, clothes, medical and dental care, a school and a church to attend,” notes Director of Community Service Mrs. Megan Sokolnicki. “What they are unable to offer is a lot of outside activities for their kids. The orphanage asks that each visiting group plan an outing for the children, and we were very happy to comply. One entire day was spent at a water park; slides, rafts, tubes and wave pools. One other evening, we rented out a ‘Peter Piper Pizza’ as a party for the orphans.”
The mission trip was an inspiring experience for the students; here are a few reflections from several of the students, in their own words:
Sam: “The children welcomed us with smiles as we unpacked our bags. Their cheerful attitudes never dwindled over the course of our trip. Everyday a new child would introduce themselves to me and make me their personal chauffer for the afternoon. From my trip I learned to be more appreciative of everything that I have in my life. My family, friends, education and everything in between are that much more important to me because of my experiences in Mexico.”
Jayde: “I went in there expecting to be misunderstood and not be able to communicate and I left with the knowledge of how simple it can be. Ever since I was young I always knew that I wanted to be a child psychologist and since middle school I’ve loved learning Spanish. But since our trip, I have learned how to combine the two and hope to go back in the future or to some other Spanish speaking country to help the kids in any way I can.”
Monica: “After each day of work we were rewarded by getting to play with the children. We kicked around the soccer ball the majority of the time, but we also played volleyball, basketball and chased after every ball that was kicked over the fence and was speedily rolling down the steep road. We all loved spending time with the children and I know that their days were brightened also by getting to play with us because a smile was always stretched from ear to ear on each of their cute little faces.”
Stephen: “Even though the heat was almost unbearable, and we were already tired from our jobs, the group never missed the opportunity to spend time with the children. Whatever the activities were, the free time spent with the boys and girls is definitely one of the best memories from the trip.”
Ollisha: ”I saw the hope in Karely’s eyes as she climbed onto my lap on the last day, I couldn’t help but start to tear up. She handed me a huge zip-lock bag with her name on it. Inside was one of the tiny hair scrunchies she’d gotten with her tickets at Peter Piper’s . “Te amo,” she told me with a kiss on the cheek. “Adios!”…I know that a couple of slices of pizza and arcade games didn’t change their situation, but all those smiling faces verified that a day of pizza, carefree partying, and fun was just what every single one of them needed, and it felt great that we could provide that for them.”
