Over 100 Facebook followers watched Healdsburg High School
senior Sheila Baker this summer as she worked to make a difference
in the lives of children in Africa.
Through the American Field Service program, an international
exchange organization supporting intercultural experiences, Baker
served as a volunteer alongside 15 others caring for people in
need.
Photographs of children living in poverty occupied her posts as
she notified her family and friends back home about her
experiences. Baker spent a month raising money and organizing
bargaining trips to bring these children necessities such as
mattresses and medicine.
“These children, aged from 4 months to 19 years are worse off
than I ever expected. No matter how many pictures I take, I will
never be able to capture the overall filth and sewage smell,” Baker
writes in her letter to friends and family asking for monetary
support.
Baker first heard about AFS from her grandfather, who went
through the program when he was younger. At first she wasn’t sure
she wanted to go because of the large commitment of raising money
but then she had a dream about helping children and said that is
when she knew she had to go.
“At first I didn’t really think it was going to happen,” Baker
said. “I didn’t really think I was going to Africa until I
landed.”
During Baker’s month in Africa, she lived with a host family in
Tema and spent her days working at the orphanage/school in Accra.
With the nearly $4,000 she raised from home she was able to bargain
with street vendors to bring supplies back to the children.
“She bought new beds, mattresses (the kids slept on plywood
planks), mattress covers, desks, chairs, dressers and medicine,”
said Pat Baker, Sheila’s father. “Plus she got the septic system
pumped and repaired and pre-paid electric and water bills.”
The generosity of Baker’s hard work and fundraising was not part
of the AFS program. She saw the needs of the children and took it
upon herself to find a way to fill some of those needs.
“My mom sent my letter to so many people, I didn’t know that I
was going to receive so much money, it was amazing,” said Baker.
“You should have seen the kids faces, I can’t explain it, they were
so happy.”
Family and friends of the Baker’s gathered funds to support
“Sheila’s Save Them Young Project” and with the help of her parents
she was able to receive the money in time to make her
contributions.
“In the beginning it was hard because of the culture shock but
then it becomes a part of you, the people there are so strong,” she
said. “Everything is soulful, they don’t care about material things
and that’s the way that I am so I was able to connect with them on
that level.”
After a month, Baker returned home noting that she didn’t feel
she spent as much time there as she wanted to.
“It was pretty terrible,” Baker said of leaving and saying
goodbye. “I will definitely go back, my whole family there said
they want me to come back, they are so sweet, I love them.”
The American Field Service is non-profit organization that
connects children and adults in 50 countries around the globe.
Their international placement programs help bring cultural
experiences and education to participants.
For more information on how to become a volunteer, visit
www.afs.org.
Robin Hug can be reached at Ro***@hb*****.com.
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