Kylie's Story
I first heard about the African orphans who had been affected by AIDS when I was only 6 years old. One Sunday morning, my family and I went to church. The minister was heading to Malawi, Africa to meet the orphans and adults looking after the feeding program our church was sponsoring in Mzuzu. He held up a large hockey bag that he planned on taking and it was full of different balls to play sports, toothbrushes , books and more. I found this really interesting as I had been bringing in loose change to help these children. But I wanted to learn more. He started talking about how many of these children have lost parents, this I found very sad. He continued to say that many of them had been ill because of the AIDS they had contracted. Then he said the thing that got my attention, “ most of them are not able to go to school!”. He explained that in Africa, school was for the families that had money and most of these families struggled to find food let alone pay for their children to go to school. That made me angry because I didn’t even know that kids were not allowed to go to school, I thought it was a mandatory thing!
When I was six, I absolutely loved school and I couldn’t have imagined being told that I couldn’t go and learn. From that moment on, I couldn’t get it out of my head. How sad they must be, some without parents, many raising their siblings, being hungry or sick with nothing to look forward to. No way to change their futures. I wanted to make a difference. That day I made a promise to myself that as long as I was in school I would find a way to help these innocent children. I went straight to my mom and said “what can I do to make the lives of these children better? We talked for a long time about all the little things that I could do and then it hit me. My birthday was coming and why not have my friends help me by giving donations instead of gifts. Maybe if I was lucky I could raise enough money to send one child to school. On my birthday I raised almost $600. That was enough to send two children to school. The feeling I got when I gave the money to the church was indescribable. I was hooked and I had to do more. The planning began with yard sales and lemonade stands. People started hearing about what I had done and began handing me money. It was the best feeling to continually be giving to these children. After awhile I started to have another idea about putting together a bigger fundraiser. My idea was to have a traditional African dinner and show. The show part was easy as I’m a competitive dancer. So I asked my dance team if they would help me and dance for the people who came. My dance family agreed and has continued to support my fundraising efforts over the past six years. This has been an amazing experience to show my passion for Africa and my love for dance.The dinner on the other hand was much more difficult. We started looking up African food recipes and my Mom and Grandma began to cook. I quickly realized that African food might not be everyone’s cup of tea! Mine included, so we added spaghetti for the less adventurous. Three years ago I was blessed by a couple in our congregation who offered to take over the cooking. We happily accepted and the food is now unbelievable. This fundraiser has become more than I could ever asked for. The majority of the money we have raised has been from “Tastes of Africa” dinners.
Life for me always includes Africa. My friends will sometimes tease ,”so Ky, what”s your speech on, or what part of Africa are we learning about today?” People think I’m so in love with Africa that I only ever want to learn about it. I continually choose Africa as a subject because it give me the opportunity to share information others might not already know. Maybe it will inspire them to develop their dream and make a difference in what’s important to them.
Life for me always includes Africa. My friends will sometimes tease ,”so Ky, what”s your speech on, or what part of Africa are we learning about today?” People think I’m so in love with Africa that I only ever want to learn about it. I continually choose Africa as a subject because it give me the opportunity to share information others might not already know. Maybe it will inspire them to develop their dream and make a difference in what’s important to them.