The experience was phenomenal.

Since then, daily life has seemed a little flat; it’s difficult to feel that sense of inspiration and passion to make a difference in the world.

Pakistan’s got a famine, Afghanistan’s still wrought with war and this semester looks like Mount Everest. It’s a waiting game to finish term, get that much closer to graduating and get back to working for change.

Yet change is happening right here in the Mid-Michigan area. This week I met Winn residents Sheila and Jim Carroll, who are working towards change little by little.

Ten years ago, after learning about the need for educational materials in remote villages, they founded a nonprofit organization called Education in a Box, setting up schools in needy areas.

“Jim and I are life-long educators,” Sheila said. “When we heard that, we said ‘Well, we can do that.’”

They began developing and fine-tuning a curriculum for kindergarten to eighth grade, making a long-term commitment to communities to implement and support schools.

Beginning with a school in Bemali, a village near Visak, India, they have expanded to include eight schools total. In addition to the Indian school, five are in Nigeria, one in Ethiopia and one in Sierra Leone.

The curriculum is unique, using high-quality literature, oral tradition and learning-by-doing as teaching methods.

The nonprofit does more than handing out books. The Carrolls believe in cultivating relationships with communities. By 2008, the organization had grown to include community work like implementing wells and building facilities for teachers and the project was renamed Worldwide Educational Resources.

“It’s not just a go in, start it, leave,” Sheila said. “It’s a long term commitment to these people.”

It takes vision and patience to stick to these goals. Living Books Curriculum, a buyable line of the WEC curriculum, pays basic costs, but fundraising for donations is crucial to supplementary overseas operations.

Yet, the Carrolls are optimistic and determined. Their ultimate goal is to establish 1,000 schools.

“(Education) is like that saying, ‘If you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day; if you teach a man to fish, he’ll live forever,’” Jim said. “With an education, the sky is the limit.”

It’s a wake-up call that steps can be taken to help people from the dull-seeming chrysalis of humdrum life.

Like the butterfly effect theory, even the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can cause a tsunami on the other side of the world.

Small steps grow into greater things. Worldwide Educational Resources causes tsunamis worth of impact from right here at home. And that’s a change I can believe in.

Her name is Yolette Louis and she lives at an orphanage called My Heart’s Home in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.

I met Yolette two and a half weeks ago while documenting a group of eight volunteers on a 10-day mission trip to the orphanage as part of Heart Cry International, a nonprofit based in Mount Pleasant. The time in Haiti was one of the most unexpectedly beautiful experiences of my life, but what I’ll remember most is this child who has nothing, but gives all.

Mission trips can really test your mettle. You sleep little, eat little and have little privacy. Endurance is pivotal, since you must maintain an attitude of service. Irritability is not an option.

I’ve been on service trips before, but for me, Haiti was a new frontier in character building.

One afternoon I was sitting on the floor monitoring a 3-year-old’s descent into a PB and J sandwich when I looked up to see Yolette’s simple act of altruism. She broke her meal into pieces for fellow orphanage children Djoulie and Fedeline, with the remaining third for herself.

Throughout the week, I realized Yolette does this at every meal. Her selflessness is remarkable in a person so very young. You’ve heard the phrase “ray of sunshine” – Yolette is a whole sun, beaming joy at anyone who makes eye contact.

HCI tripper Nichole Osborn refers to Yolette as “a little mama.” It’s true. I saw Yolette calm the tears of Kenlie, a constantly fussy 1-year-old. Joshua and Shilore, two of the more robust boys, were often hard to control, but quieted when Yolette, clucking like a little hen, shooed them away from smaller boys like Solomon and Jocelyn.

I watched this little girl do things I, at 21, have never done. Yolette has nothing, but she gives constantly for the benefit of those around her. She bursts through clouds like a megawatt, pint-sized Mother Teresa.

When I think of Yolette I’m forced to ask myself – what have I given? My world is wrought with advantages I take for granted. Yet with all I have, I give less than an orphan under half my age.

If we all shared like Yolette does, wouldn’t we all be better off?

There’s a lot of talk about the desolation and corruption of Haiti. It’s no secret that January’s earthquake rocked an already-broken country almost into dust. Even now the rubble has hardly been cleared, but in the eight short days I was there, I didn’t lose heart – I’d like to think I gained it.

As long as there is selflessness like Yolette’s, I believe there’s hope for Haiti.

And for humanity.

Perhaps, the 29-year-old Mount Pleasant resident thought, this form could be her family’s ticket to pay the bills. She makes 35 percent of the profits gained from adult products sold at in-home parties as a consultant for Pure Romance.

But it not might be enough to support herself, her husband, Leroy “Big Lee” McDonald, and their three sons.

“I’ve always wanted to give people hope,” Bethany said, “and tell them that it will be better.”

Pregnant at 14 and married two years later, Bethany had been the child of divorced parents for more than a decade — knowing full well the extent of the challenges thrown her way.

Embracing life as a mother

Motherhood was, in fact, something Bethany strived for so young, telling her father she was “going to get pregnant.”

“I wish you would’ve told me that,” Leroy said with a wry smile in the couple’s home at Lot 105 of the Mount Pleasant Mobile Home Park, 505 S. Bradley Road.

“It actually was my choice to do so,” Bethany said,

In August 1995, Bethany and Leroy, then her boyfriend, were kicked out of her father’s house two days before the birth of their first child, Leroy, or “Little Lee.”

When Little Lee was only eight months old, he was led down the aisle in a wagon as the ring bearer for his parents’ wedding. Because Bethany was 16, the only local church that would wed the two was Immanuel Lutheran Church, 320 S. Bradley Road.

“I can say I did something not many 16 year olds who get married can say — that they’re still together and they’re still in love,” Bethany said. “And we get to grow up with our children. Everything is still new and it’s still a learning experience.”

Bethany and Leroy McDonald now have three sons: Leroy, 15; Daniel, 11; and Dallas, 10.

Past to present

For Bethany, her past fuels her current life.

“My kids are the best thing that’s happened to me,” she said. “The reason we are the parents we are is we both decided we didn’t want to be parents like ours were. My mother was a heroin addict and a prostitute for many years, and I love her still, but when she came back into my life, I was a mother myself.”

The McDonalds’ income was cut in half five months ago. Bethany and Leroy received about $1400 each month as community directors in the mobile home park in November. The couple is now receiving $650 per month, performing the same duties.

Paying the bills is a source of constant stress for Beth, who often foregoes personal pain in lieu of other expenses, she said. In her early 20’s, intense tooth pain led to a medical crossroad: she could choose expensive surgery to fix her teeth, or have them removed. Unable to afford the surgery, she had her teeth removed at age 22.

Bethany has held five to six different jobs between the Dollar General and a local Burger King since 2005. Currently, she is attempting to bring in money in a joint venture with her sister Jenn, now 27. The sisters are Pure Romance party coordinators, and receive 35 percent of profits on product sales made.

“The thing about people around here is we don’t work to get ahead, or to get a break. We work for the purpose of just keeping our heads above water,” Bethany said.

Community role model

Bethany said she and Leroy decided to become community directors for the mobile home park because of a sense of community.

“My husband and I have this idea, even though it sounds ridiculous, that we can, you know, make everything better. We want to fix everybody and everything. And so the idea was, ‘let’s do something nice for the park,’” Bethany said.

“What has the park ever done for us? The park hasn’t done anything for us,” said her son Leroy.

“You’re right the park might not do much for us, but damn it, we live here,” Bethany answered. “And if we can do something to bring people a little bit of hope, as long as we’re part of this place— your father and I, and you boys, better do something to try and make a difference.”

She doesn’t focus just on getting her own children up for school, but also many children from the park. Bethany said she drives some children to school and often picks them up from school too. Some days, if there is no word from their parents and kids do not show up to her home for the car ride to school, she knocks on doors to ensure they get up for class.  One time, a friend of her son Leroy was living under her roof until he worked things out with his own mother.

“But that’s what everybody knows me for, is taking in strays,” Bethany said, laughing.  “There’s that saying, ‘in 100 years, it won’t matter the kind of clothes you wore, the kind of car you drive, all that will matter is that you made a difference in the life of a child,’ and I have always believed that’s true.”

“Fourteen and pregnant” may not sound like the pathway for a role model, but Bethany McDonald seeks to prove circumstance does not determine character.

“I have always wanted to give people hope, and tell them that it will be better. … I’ve always wanted to tell them that we did it, and if we did it you can do it.  And don’t ever let anyone tell you different,” she said. “It will be hard, but if you want it and you work hard enough, you can do anything.”

MJ Murphy Beauty College, 201 W. Broadway St., held a hair competition Thursday afternoon. The competition, which includes many different styles of cosmetology, is held to decide the two best students, who then will go to a competition Oct. 25 at the Soaring Eagle Casino, 6800 Soaring Eagle Blvd.

MJ Murphy Beauty College is a nationally-acclaimed and accredited cosmetology school in Mount Pleasant, featuring an 11-month program.

Carol Walker, styles director and instructor at the school and president of Michigan Cosmetologist Association Inc., said MJ Murphy is determined to change the stigma around cosmetologists.

“We touch lives … we know peoples’ life story by the time we’re done (with their hair),” said Walker, who has been involved in changing hairdos since 1968.

Kathryn Spiller, the governor-appointed consultant for the Michigan State Board of Cosmetology, is the manager of MJ Murphy Beauty College.

Though she lives in Saginaw, she chooses to work in Mount Pleasant because of MJ Murphy’s.

“The reason I drive two hours every day is that the curriculum is far above that of other schools,” Spiller said.

The hair competition is a driving goal for MJ Murphy students, with categories ranging from “Hair By Night” to “Fantasy Hair.”

Coty Howell, more than halfway through his MJ Murphy education, placed first in the Fantasy Hair group and will head to the state competition.

“(In Fantasy Hair), they give you a category, like ecosystem or environment, so you have to be more creative with it,” Howell said.

It was not the first time Howell competed.

“I’ve been in it once. I placed second last year,” he said.

Howell placed 24th last year in the Orlando Premiere Show, a national hair competition.

Students learn the trade

Sarah Abdalla attended Central Michigan University for two years, but said did not feel it was creative enough for her.

So the Alma resident enrolled in MJ Murphy’s.

“I like that it’s small and personal,” Abdalla said. “My best experience so far has probably just been the excitement of being good at stuff and learning new things.”

Abdalla placed first Thursday in the Bridal Hair category.

MJ Murphy’s Beauty College includes the study of hair, skin care, manicuring and pedicuring.

“You learn the basics and, with advice, you learn the techniques, up-do’s, and you can take the basics and grow on your own creativity,” Abdalla said.

There are 89 students enrolled at MJ Murphy’s Beauty College and the college tries to help students out after they graduate as well.

“If you come here and you want to do well, you can,” Abdalla said. “I got a job in Sterling Heights, so I’ll be working in a high-end salon.”

Staff Reporter Rachel Mater contributed to this report.