CMU students travel to Uganda for mission trip
Editor's note: Caitlin Cheevers traveled to Uganda for this trip and took part in the activities described as a volunteer with Heart Cry International.
In an open courtyard of red dirt hardened by the feet of hundreds of Ugandan school children, three CMU students teach a group of students the Hokey Pokey.
West Bloomfield senior Gina Wymore points across the circle to a little girl, indicating it was her turn to be the leader.
Wymore and the other two CMU students, Traverse City senior Bradi Pasch and Illinois junior Stephanie Legan traveled to Uganda for a mission trip with Mount Pleasant based non-profit organization Heart Cry International (HCI).
A total of 17 individuals went to the capital city of Kampala August 3 to 17 to help women and children in the slums. The organization partners with a church, Grace Fellowship, to support three orphanages, a primary school and a high school.
There was never a dull moment on the trip, as the team had only two weeks to get a long list of tasks completed. While Wymore, Pasch and Legan continue to play the Hokey Pokey, other team members play soccer and Frisbee with other children, and others interview children in HCI’s sponsorship program.
Coleman residents Amy Rydman and Marilyn Fruchey sit in the office of Grace Fellowship Primary School and ask the children about their familes, health and interests to send back to the sponsors in the United States who pay the children’s monthly school fees so they do not have to drop out.
Many of the children are orphans or have single mothers, so paying the school fees is difficult without the help of American sponsors.
Pasch had considered sponsoring a child prior to the trip, but she couldn’t afford the $30 per month donation. However, after meeting a 14-year-old girl, Abigail, who now has a year-old son, Elijah, after being raped, she found a way to make it work.
“I went to Grace Fellowship Church the first Sunday we were there and I got to hold Elijah,” Pasch said. “He fell asleep in my arms, and I fell in love. Later that day I asked Stephanie if she wanted to cosponsor him so the cost would be split between the two of us.”
Pasch and Legan plan to write and support Abigail and Elijah for years to come.
In addition to working at the school, the group ministered to the boys and girls who live in the three orphanages run by Grace Fellowship, updated HCI’s Widow’s Hope program and put on a youth conference for the children living in the slums.
Carla Ives, HCI founder, felt the World Changers RSO, which started in 2011, had a big impact on the trip.
“A good part of the group we had this time were from the World Changers on campus, and they were so wonderful because they already understood the work that we were doing and they came in prepared,” Ives said.
As president of World Changers, Wymore found the trip very rewarding.
“A highlight for me would be meeting the incredible children whose strength and love through hardship inspire me,” she said.
She added that the trip has changed how she will be living in Mount Pleasant.
“This trip has caused me to cherish the life I've been given and use my skills to help those in need,” she said.
Individuals looking to get involved with mission trips and international internships with HCI can visit the website at www.heartcryinternational.com.
