CHARLOTTETOWN — A little goodwill goes a long way.
In the case of four Prince Edward Island teenagers, their volunteer gestures of kindness took them all the way to Kenya with the Mikinduri Children of Hope Foundation’s most recent round of medical, dental and vision clinics.
Emily Jewell, 15, her brother Jordan, 14, and sister Alana, 13, of York and their 14-year-old friend Ryann Jinks of Stratford spent nearly three weeks in this African country helping in various working ways.
In addition, just by virtue of their age, they acted as goodwill ambassadors to the masses of young children they met, forging an instant connection that no adult could.
“I met a little girl when we were walking down the road (in Mikinduri). Her name was Yvonne,” Alana says with a smile.
“She was five and I’d meet her walking up the road to go to the clinic in Mikinduri and she’d hold my hand going up the road and then she’d find me when we were walking home and she’d hold my hand going down the road.”
The Jewell children, who travelled with their parents, Edwin and Dawn Jewell, and Ryann, who was with her mother, Dawn Shea, were part of what was the largest contingent to Kenya yet for the Mikinduri Children of Hope Foundation, which is a P.E.I. organization working to help improve the lives of the people in Kenya.
At the highest point, there were 31 people presenting medical, dental and vision clinics in the villages of Mikinduri and Mwengi and in the city of Mombasa, as well as touring some of the foundation’s humanitarian projects.
The team consisted of doctors, nurses, a dentist and other volunteers from P.E.I., as well as from other parts of Canada and the United States. The team also worked closely with medical and dental professionals in Kenya.
In the middle of it all was this wide-eyed quartet of teens.
“These young people were incredible with the children and we saw hundreds, if not thousands, of kids,” says Ted Grant, president of the Mikinduri Children of Hope Foundation.
“The way they embraced the kids made them feel comfortable and mixed it up with the kids at the schools (was amazing). It broadens (the) people we’re able to connect with and adds a whole new aspect to it, a whole new element of excitement.”
The exciting reality that they were going to Africa really didn’t strike the P.E.I. youth until pretty much the last minute.
“(It hit) on the plane,” remembers Ryann, whose second big-time reality moment came when they felt a wall of heat and humidity upon their arrival in Nairobi.
Their first stop on the volunteer mission map was Mikinduri. The nearly 300-kilometre journey from Nairobi to this community was a true eye-opener for the young Islanders.
“We all had our heads stuck out the windows looking at everybody. We passed little groups of kids as young as three walking on the side of the road to get to school and we’d be waving at them and they’d be yelling at us, saying ‘White people!”’ Alana said, laughing.
On their way to Mikinduri they stopped at the feeding centre which was started by the foundation a number of years ago.
“Mikinduri Children of Hope had set up the feeding centre to feed children every day, but then the parents got better at feeding the children so they feed them once a week on Saturdays. We arrived on Saturday and they greeted us and danced and sang,” Alana says.
“(Some children) walked 12 miles (about 20 km) just to get to the feeding centre,” Ryann adds.
They spent much of their volunteer time in the vision clinics in Mikinduri and Mwengi.
“For the most part we were runners, so after the people were done getting tested for reading glasses we’d take them over to the distribution table. Or after distribution we’d take them back outside,” Ryann says.
“But then there were chances when we actually got to test their eyes.”
The attention they attracted was always a bit bewildering when they went out in public, especially in smaller, more rural areas.
“If we stopped at a gas station a crowd of people would (gather) around the combi (van) and they’d be staring at us,” Alana remembers, smiling.
At one primary school, the students were thrilled to have visitors from Canada and especially ones close to their own age.
“We weren’t even in the gates when they came and mobbed us and grabbed our hands,” Emily says, laughing at the memory.
There was no shortage of people who wanted to make use of the medical, dental and vision clinic services.
“When we were in Mwengi we would drive by in the combi and we would see all the people lined up out front and there were a lot of people, and they were there early,” Emily recalls.
“You would still see people on the side of the road walking (to the clinic’s location).”
The Island teens’ roles expanded in Mwengi.
“We got the chance to work in other departments, too. We got to work with the nurses and with the dentist but just checking blood pressures . . . It wasn’t anything major. It was just for a change,” Ryann says.
A real-life safari was part of the package for the volunteers who are always given some down time to regroup and re-energize before they head to the next round of clinics.
“At the safari lodge (in Tsavo National Park) you’d eat your meals and you’d see the watering hole. You could see the zebras, giraffes and baboons (right there), so that was really neat,” Alana says.
One memorable moment happened in Mwengi when they got to experience Kenyan culture first-hand or, in this case, feet first.
“The last day we were in Mwengi they did traditional dances for us and (for the last one) they pulled us all up on stage and they tried to teach us how to do the dance and we were really bad at it,” Ryann says.
“They were all laughing, but it was really fun to try,” Alana adds.
Whenever the mission team moved on to Mombasa the children and their parents went on their own and wrapped up their Kenyan journey with a more traditional-style hotel-based experience.
It was difficult to leave the people they’d bonded with during their volunteer time.
“You’re with the same people for two weeks and then you’re on your own. It was (strange),” Emily says.
They all hope to return to Kenya some day, but for now they have the memories of their journey of a lifetime.
“I told my friends about how much the kids liked us and how they’d be stroking your arm because we had arm hair and they didn’t,” Alana says, laughing.
“And I have a bunch of freckles on my arms, so they’d be (tracing) from one freckle to the next. That was really memorable.”
For them it’s sometimes hard to put the whole African experience into words.
“I find when people ask (I say) ‘It was amazing.’ They expect more, but there’s just so much to say,” Ryann says.
“You can’t say (just) one thing about it,” Emily adds.