INSPIRATION ABOUNDS

SERVICE TRIP TO KENYA TEACHES THE TRUE MEANING OF COMMUNITY

During winter break 2018–2019, Father Paul Kilroy organized a service trip to Manyatta slum in Kisumu, Kenya that included a women’s leadership summit, hygiene education and distribution of hygiene supplies, a cleanup day, and sponsorship of a soccer tournament (including new uniforms for the winning team). The sense of community and happiness—amid poverty-stricken living conditions with no running water, shacks with mud walls, and scarce food—is what stood out to the several Regis faculty and staff and 12 alumni who went on the service trip.

During the leadership summit, the Regis team and women from the slums shared stories of their day-to-day lives—each group talking about their culture, family, and work. “We were immersed in the women’s lives for a day,” says Mark Harrington, EdD ’16, an assistant professor and program director at Canisius College and former assistant dean of student affairs at Regis. “One of the most important experiences from a service immersion trip is having that kind of connection with the people you are serving.”

Amanda Venezia ’11, who works as a paralegal in Boston, agrees. “A huge takeaway is that these women and men are so much more resourceful than we are. They live in a world where nothing is given to them, where supplies are limited, where water is scarce, and where clothes don’t come cheap. But they make it work with the resources they have. The women spend all day figuring out how to put food on their family’s table and they do just that, even when children eat before they do.”

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