Youth Speak - Natalie

'I have been on two CRED trips in July 2011 and 2012, both of which were to Spurgeons Academy in Kibera slum, Kenya. 

For the first of these trips I was teaching in P3 (roughly 9-10 year olds) for the week. Over the course of the 5 days the children grew from being shy and reserved to the happiest and bubbliest kids I have met, and the team did the same thing. The relationships I built with some of the children at Spurgeons really impacted me, which was one of the reasons I went back the following summer. I wanted to see the friends I had made in 2011 again 

I wasn't part of the main team on the 2012 trip, but spent the week working with Rose (the school social worker) and reorganising the library whilst spending time with some of the kids and doing some research for a school project. The research was with the 4 older classes and they filled out a survey and did class mind maps all related to either poverty or education which were the two themes of my project. 

Two things really struck me from the overall research findings, the first of which is the range and ambition of the children's dreams - they wanted to be everything from doctors to air hostesses and from meteorologists to gymnasts. Considering the extreme poverty and horrendous conditions they live in, along with the challenges that must be over come to simply get to school each day, I find it incredible that they have bigger dreams than many of my friends. 

The second astounding thing I witnessed through the research was the selfless attitude of the children. Many referred to their Christian faith and equality in Gods eyes when asked about rights to education and others said they wanted to serve their community and the orphans in the slums instead of focussing on escaping from their cycle of poverty.

There are many other stories and reflections I could tell about my precious visits to Africa but I would be here for weeks. Suffice to say that the CRED trips have blessed me immensely: they have given me wonderful friends in the UK and in Kenya, I have learnt so much from the Kenyans way of life and their attitudes and my passion for serving the least, the last and the lost has been refined and defined through these beautiful weeks away'.