[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”855″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In spring 2010, we reported how Orange resident and then 7th grader, Hanah Singer, was raising funds to travel to Kenya and help the charitable organization, Graceworks: Hope Network for Children International, with Vacation Bible School. Hanah met her funding goal and visited Kenya with other members of St. John’s Lutheran Church, including her father and mother. Here she shares her life–altering experience.
Hanah Singer has a lot of special memories from her summer 2010 missionary trip to Kenya, but by far her most precious is meeting Pauline. “I got to know Pauline, who was six–years–old at the time, on the second day of Vacation Bible School,” says Hanah, 14, now an 8th grader at St. John’s Lutheran School. “Pauline immediately became my little buddy. Even though she doesn’t speak much English, we were able to communicate. I learned that she wants to be a singer when she grows up and that she’s a sweet girl with a beautiful personality.”
During the 14–day trip, in addition to sharing her faith with the African children, Singer sampled African cuisine, took cold showers, slept in mosquito netting each night and went on safaris.
“Visiting Africa and seeing how little people have there showed me how much I have to be grateful for, and it gave me an even stronger passion for helping people in need,” says Hanah, who took her first mission trip to Mexico at the age of 8. “After the trip, I made a commitment to sponsor Pauline, and I really want to go back to Africa and help some more.”
According to Hanah’s father, Chris Singer, Executive Pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church, seeing the stark reality of life in Kenya changed his daughter’s world view for the better. “It was amazing to watch Hanah’s face as she saw the housing in Kenya, and how the African people lack many basics that we take for granted, such as running water. The biggest change we saw in Hanah that will color all of her future activities is the knowledge of what you can accomplish when you help others, and how great it makes you and them feel.“
If the response from Kenya is any indication, Hanah’s visit left a lasting impression with Pauline as well. “The girls definitely connected,” says Hanah’s mother, Jeanette Singer, Minister to Families with Children at St. John’s, who is currently trying to arrange a visit for Graceworks children to Orange County. Jeanette shares a recent letter from Pauline: “Hanah, please come back. I want to see you again and again and again.” If Hanah has anything to do about it, Pauline will get her wish.
Graceworks is a charitable organization based in Anaheim founded by Dr. Susan Njemanze in 2004 to improve the lives of African children, many of whom have been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The project strives to keep children in their communities and provides food, school fees, supplies, medical care, and spiritual and emotional support.
For information on sponsoring a Gracework’s child, visit: GraceWorkshopNet.org
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© Julie Bawden Davis