How Changing Lives Changed Mine

One of the MANY reasons I came on ARCC Gap Africa's trip was due to a life-changing week at an all-girls boarding school in Kenya: Daraja Academy. There, we shadowed girls (grades 9-12) through their daily lives, classes, and clubs. More impressive than their passion for learning and becoming activists of change, were their personal stories of how they got to Daraja. Daraja is free for all students, thus, the criteria is very harsh -- the admissions office finds girls who are in dire need of a free high school education, already a hard thing to obtain in Kenya, as well as within East Africa as a whole. These girls come from harsh backgrounds full of discrimination, inequality, and harsh traditions that are upheld by their tribes such as early marriage, early childbirth, and worst of all, FGM. I was lucky enough to make life-long friends who inspire me even months after this trip to make a change. While at Daraja, the ARCC Group had the privileged of teaching a free-range workshop. I choose "women's empowerment and risk taking" (Lessons I learned from one of my heroes, Rachel Simmons). We spoke on taking risks, the obstacles we must overcome as women, and how, together, we have more that unites us then divides us, proving how much change upcoming generations will create. Daraja was incredible, to say the least.
In general, the 3 months have flown by. Each project we have done excited me beyond belief and also challenged me to the levels nothing else ever could. I came on this trip to do something larger then myself, to tackle the tough realities of inequality, as well as broaden my perspective of the world; especially East Africa. The well-rounded itinerary that ARCC provides kept me engaged, focused, excited, and passionate. I have made life-long friends and have been inspired to continue my passion for social justice and my fight for equality across the board.
Aside from highlighting tough issues that consume the daily lives of East Africans across the board, this trip has also opened my eyes to issues back home in the U.S that need to be addressed, demonstrating that no matter what topic you want to concentrate on, ARCC shows you it all and more. You will leave this trip having found parts of yourself you never knew of, a well-rounded and diverse vision of the world you will both love and hate based on the simultaneous harsh realities of inequality yet the heart-warming hope you see within the eyes of the people, and, finally, the ultimate desire to stand up and make a change. In two words: life changing.