Kenyan village impacts Strathmore teen

Times Contributor   

 

When high school student Paige Rist heard about a planned trip to Africa, she immediately wanted to go. “There were other trips available at my school…but I knew I wanted to go to Kenya,” Rist said. “I waited over a year, and finally in July 2012 I got to go!”

Teamed with 17 other teenaged girls, three of them from Strathmore, Rist traveled with Free the Children/Me to We, a non-profit organization that organizes worldwide youth projects that make a difference.

Osenetoi, Kenya, their destination, is “a very small community in the middle of nowhere,” Rist said. “But the people there are the most incredible people I have ever met. They are all so unconditionally happy.”

The wonderful people of Osenetoi had a great need: a larger school. “They had three classrooms to share between eight grades,” Rist said, “so they’d have around three different grades being taught in the same room at the same time. There would be three kids to a desk, and the rest would sit on the floor.”

Rist and her new friends were assigned to build another classroom. “The trenches for the school room…were already dug, so we got to mix concrete by hand, and build the walls.” 

She’s pleased they were able to do even more. 

“We got enough funding to start a second school room, so we dug the trenches for the second one as well.”

Building relationships with the people of Osenetoi was even more satisfying than building classrooms for them. “Our first day building….a young girl about 10 came up to me and said, ‘YOU are going to be my friend’,” Rist said. “That was the first time I met Anchala, a girl who literally changed my life.”

After that, Paige and Anchala, and a few other young girls, spent as much time as possible together. 

“We would sit and talk about everything. I would show them pictures of snow and animals they’d never heard of, and they’d tell me how…they would walk many kilometers without shoes or a coat, at 4 a.m., to get to school,” said Rist.

“They actually felt blessed to get the opportunity to learn. They were so happy with the little they did have. It was incredible…the small community that was my home this summer changed me in ways I could never have expected. I see the world differently now.”

Now, months later, and back home in Strathmore, Rist hasn’t forgotten about the people of Osenetoi. “I am very passionate about building another school room in Osenetoi. The kids there deserve a safe place to learn.”

Influenced by Rist’s passion, her school’s Me to We Club is directing this year’s fundraising toward another classroom at Osenetoi Primary School. The Club raised $1,000 through a Penny Drive in November, and on March 1, they raised $2,100 at a Benefit Concert. Their goal for the year is $4,000. 

“I am not going to deliver the money (to Kenya) myself (though I wish I could),” Rist said. “It will be sent through Free the Children.”

Although she won’t travel to Kenya this year, she doesn’t believe her work there is finished. “I plan to go back to Kenya many, many times,” she says. “I think about it every day, and miss it more than I can describe. It is my second home, and I left a piece of my heart there.”