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It was a familiar rainy Thursday as I entered my front door having just taken the painfully long city bus ride home from another dull day of high school. As I was peeling off layers of damp clothing, the phone rang. A woman on the other end unexpectedly asked for me and not my mom or dad. I sheepishly muttered “speaking” into the receiver. The enthusiastic voice then proceeded to tell me that I had been hand selected to travel to Kenya that summer based on a local contest that I had entered. I thanked her after she stated they would be sending me further information and hung up the phone all the while trying to process what had just happened. In six months, I would be on a plane with 24 strangers, travelling across the globe to a completely unknown land for an entire month. Six months and five painful vaccinations later, I sat in my room staring at all of the items I had laid out to pack and the teeny-tiny luggage I was allowed to pack them in. I somehow managed to cram them all in the bag and was delighted when the zipper didn’t break after I had wrestled it closed. There was no turning back now, I was leaving for Kenya tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. There were 24 other participants that had been selected to share in this journey with me and I didn’t know a single one of them. After arriving at the airport, I said goodbye to my family as I felt the butterflies in my stomach begin to flutter; here I go. After enduring 2 six hour layovers and 3 separate flights spanning 19.5 hours, we had arrived in Nairobi. Arriving at the High Commissioner’s house, I was overjoyed to be finally able to sleep in anything other than an airplane seat and fell asleep for the night. The next day, as I stood looking over the Great Rift Valley, the location that inspired the opening of “The Lion King”, I realized how amazing Mother Nature truly is. This vast canyon stood before me with lakes, vegetation and rock formations, making me feel incredibly small on this Earth. We then proceeded to go to a giraffe sanctuary where I can say that I participated in the coolest activity ever; I kissed a giraffe. As seemingly repulsive as this might sound, believe it or not, their tongues have the same antimicrobial effect as hand sanitizer, although they are still extremely long, flexible and purple. Our six hour journey from Nairobi to a local village called Eor Ewuaso continued. Due to the fact that Eor Ewuaso is a remote village, we travelled in what I can only describe as a military vehicle with less weapons and about 18 wheels. Upon arriving, we were greeted by the locals who were overjoyed at our presence. At the time of our arrival, it was pouring rain. While all of the participants gloomily looked at the adverse weather conditions, the locals were singing and dancing, stating that we had answered their prayers of ending a long draught. The purpose of this trip was to build a school for the local children so that they could receive an education. Kenya has a law where all children can be educated for free as long as there were enough school buildings to house them. Over the course of the next 27 days, our group worked tirelessly to construct the school building, mixing cement, laying bricks and digging the foundation. It was a proud moment for us to see the project completed and gave us such a sense of purpose when the locals cried with happiness at what we had just given their children – an opportunity. As my trip came to an end, I reflected on the meaning of life and realized just how lucky I was to have been a part of such a journey. I aspire to one day return to Eor Ewuaso, Kenya and hear the stories of the local children who grew up to be whatever they wanted, all because 25 of us said “yes” to a leap into the unknown.