Thank You

I have never been a morning person. In grade school after attempting to gently wake me up, my mom would have the rip the sheets off of me shouting “THE BUS IS GOING TO BE HERE IN 10 MINUTES KELSEY LAUREN, GETTTTT OUT OF BED, I AM NOT GOING TO BE IN HERE AGAIN!”  I honestly was convinced that my mom hadn’t come in prior, trying to wake me up like a civilized person, but instead  just liked to see me rush around like a wild woman. 

Once I reached high school, my desire to be an early riser did not take a turn for the positive.  And in college I MAY have even been known to keep a spare tooth brush, travel tooth paste, and deodorant in my bag just in case I didn’t wake up with enough time to get ready. But this all changed once I met the sweet little munchkins at Sunrise.

Their zest for life is something I cannot even begin to describe. As I walked into our classroom all the kids would pop up from the green area rug they were sitting “proper” on and run and hug me shouting “TEACHA KELSEY! TEACHA HOLD ME! TEACHA TEACHA!” Now if that isn’t motivation to get my behind out of bed I don’t know what is! These precious children gave me purpose.

Photo: Kristi Reynolds

 I now know what it is like to wake up in the morning and love life.

I went to Cape Town to help “fix” things, try and do something for others but instead THEY changed me. Those kids left a mark on me more permanent than any tattoo I could have received. This experience has really helped be categorize things that I have into “things that I want” and “I need”.  My world was rocked and drastically put into perspective.

My biggest fear is that I will forget the feeling that I was blessed enough to experience; a feeling of complete joy, a feeling of carefree go with the flow, a feeling of peace, and a feeling of purpose all rolled into one. It is this fear that drives me…this experience has given me a hunger for more. I shouldn't have to get on a plane and fly 25 miles to feel this amazing feeling. I now know this feeling is possible and now it is up to me to challenge myself once again to find this feeling here.

I feel so lucky to have experienced something that made it so hard to say goodbye.

I cannot say thank you enough to everyone who made donations to the kids. Because of you they had full tummies and were able to read books and play with toys just like kids should. Thank you to my fellow volunteers for being such great companions, for all the great laughs, and for the unforgettable nights at karaoke. Typically when you have 25 people living in one house, with one bathroom, they have a camera in every room and it is aired on MTV but we somehow made it work! I love you guys!  Thank you to Tim & Ivi for making ZA feel like home. 

But most importantly thank you to Class 9 at Sunrise, my little ones, you have given me something that I could never repay you for, you have given me purpose.