Alabama, Kenya youth serve together

Alex Lowman, 15, didn’t know if she would have anything in common with youth from Kenya. But a weeklong Passport youth camp just outside of Nairobi, Kenya, showed her the world is a smaller place than she thought. 
   
“Being with the Kenyan youth was really cool. We thought we were going to be really different, but we were similar,” she said. 
   
Thirty students from the United States joined 30 Kenyan students for an international youth camp in August sponsored by Passport Inc., a nonprofit youth camping organization based in Birmingham. For Rynnie Henderson, the similarities with her Kenyan counterparts brought about a new sense of self.
   
“I’ve become more confident in myself,” said the high schooler who is a member of Birmingham’s Baptist Church of the Covenant. “The people there were so accepting.”
   
Rather than transplanting the format of U.S.-based camps, Passport Kenya uses the Passport framework with a focus on Kenyan themes. It offers the local and visiting youth a chance to become part of a mutual expression of friendship, learning and service. 
   
“Through Passport Kenya we are given the opportunity to learn about ourselves and what we’re called to do,” said Philip Pierce, a freshman at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.
   
Campers went to church services that incorporated elements of the local language, heard from local pastors and hosted a day camp for nearly 170 children at Baptist Children’s Center, an orphanage and community-development center in one of Nairobi’s poorest areas, operated in partnership with Buckner Baptist Benevolences. 
   
It was the first experience with extreme poverty for many of the Kenyan and American students, according to Colleen Burroughs, executive vice president of Passport. She said many of the Kenyan campers come from the American equivalent of middle-class homes.
   
“That’s exactly what happens with Passport kids in the States. A lot of them have never been exposed to the poverty that exists right out their door,” Burroughs said.
   
That was the case for high school sophomore David Shelton, also a member of Church of the Covenant.The visit to the orphanage “expanded my worldview a lot,” he said. “It was a great day but also very emotionally draining.” 
   
Each child at the orphanage received a backpack with basic school supplies, which were provided by the American churches participating in the trip. 
   
“The [purchase of] school supplies are a financial hindrance to many of the children who want to attend school. Our hope is that some of these children will get to attend school this year because of this simple gift,” wrote Wes Browning, the camp’s videographer, in an online Passport forum from Kenya.
   
For both Shelton and Henderson, the trip brought an awareness of what they take for granted in their everyday lives. “I’m much more aware of what I’m doing with what I have,” Henderson said.
   
Shelton agreed, noting that the trip has made him more determined to be aware of issues in the world and what he can do in response.
   
“There are small things I can do, like pray,” he said. “If it’s not going over to Africa, it’s helping to support other people who are going.”
   
Passport first offered the Kenya camp in 2003, partnering with Melody and Sam Harrell, missionaries serving in Kenya for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which is a ministry partner with Passport. Because of its success, the event became a biennial event. 
   
Through international friendships, the camp experience continues. Jeniffer Berfield, a Virginia Tech freshman, e-mails one of her Kenyan friends daily. “He’s like a brother to me. We’re the best of friends,” she said. (ABP, TAB)