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My name is Kendel Murray, and I am one of two of the girls going on this trip who are not currently on the Timpview soccer team. I was a senior at Timpview last year and played with most of these wonderful girls! I am now a freshman playing soccer at Southern Utah University. I’m an art major, I love doing art, like soccer and anything else I enjoy. Art is an outlet for me. I also love skiing, rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking, swimming- lets just say I LOVE anything to do with being outdoors. As for future plans and goals, my ultimate goal is to get a college degree and be able to work for a company doing art, but end up teaching art.

I cannot tell you how excited I was when Jackie called me and told me there was a spot open for me! I didn’t know a lot about the trip until Jackie and Jordan explained some things to me,and later the books and films filled me in a little bit more. I think the more knowledge about the people and places we are going will only make this experience more real and amazing, but more importantly it will help us know how to best help the people, especially these girls with different outstanding struggles in the most effective and lasting way possible. So I am so grateful to Jackie for having us read the books and watch the films because it will definitely make our experience in Africa unforgettable.

I’m currently reading “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah about a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. The thing that amazes me is that he was a regular 12 year old, very innocent boy before the rebels and civil war violence got to his village. I think it’s safe to say that all the child refugees from the war have been through a lot more than most grown adults have here in the states. This boy, like all the children touched by the war in some way was forced to mature at a really young age. I think this is one of the most important things I could learn from the films and this book, that they really are only “kids” on the outside. When thinking about what to say to motivate or inspire them and how to interact, this factor stands out the most to me.