As I near the second semester of my senior year in high school, I’m beginning to get really sentimental! Recently I have been connecting with other Georgetown admits ( I got accepted! yay!) and they slowly have discovered Kids Caring 4 Kids. It’s kinda fun… because it’s not boring, stupid and annoying to them. As I begin to tell them about my passion–caring for vulnerable children in Africa– I have been thinking about what Kids Caring 4 Kids has meant to me in my life.
I could have NEVER imagined that my one heart action– sponsoring an orphan with $360 of my savings– would result in what Kids Caring 4 Kids is today. To me, I can only credit one thing– my faith in God. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to “cash-in” my sympathy currency— the result of having a chronic liver disease that necessitated undergoing two liver transplants. My deep dark childhood secret—the scars that stretched the lengths of my abnormally round belly—could be exchanged for something much greater. I did not have to live with the label of “Kendall the sick girl” but instead a new definition– “Kendall the girl who wants to help others”.
As I reflect on my work with Kids Caring 4 Kids, I feel so honored to have been able to empower 6,000 kids in the U.S. to touch the lives of 6,000 individuals in Africa. If those parallel statistics don’t prove that one person can make a difference in someone else’s life, then I don’t know what does. As soon as we realize the inequities of our world and couple that knowledge with passion and understanding, we can make a difference. At the most basic level, we are all humans who deal with the struggles of a fallen world in the best way we can– by loving our neighbors.
Thanks for all of your support in allowing me to further my passion and effort in Kids Caring 4 Kids. I am grateful for it has given me a tremendous purpose to live, and
where my heart belongs
to live beyond myself.
