Children all over the world are dying and suffering from lack of necessities. In school my geography teacher showed us a video called “Invisible Children.” The suffering of those children sparked in me a desire to make a difference in the world. Soon after this my mom found a service opportunity, which eventually changed my life as I, and many in my community came together to change children’s lives and make a difference.

My service activity was to get books and send them to Wajir, Kenya. In Kenya, crates of books are strapped to camels that then travel to difference villages in Kenya. This has created the first Camel Library. For my project, I organized community activities to collect books for the Camel Library as well as raising money to send the books. We collected over $1,000 to send about 500 books to the people in Africa. I organized the project but all of the donations came from people in my school and community.

My plan to implement this project was to first, find people to help, second, collect enough books to send to Africa, third, raise the money to send the books, and fourth, box them up and send them. 

My first and most important task was to recruit helpers.  When I told my friend Kelsey Oldham about the project, she immediately agreed to participate.  We then set up an appointment with the Jr. High principal, Mr. Peterson.  We told him about our plans and what we needed from him which included the school facility and his approval to use it.  We also needed to know when we could plan an assembly and other activities.  Mr. Peterson recommended that we do all school related events in a single week. 

To begin the week of the project we had a school assembly to motivate people to donate books and money.   For an assembly speaker, I asked my uncle, Dr. Ryan Wilcox, who had gone to Africa for service many times, to speak.  At the beginning of the assembly, I spoke and explained the project to my peers, and presented a slide show of pictures from the actual Camel Library so that they understood why they should donate.  My uncle spoke about his experiences with the African people.

To raise money for the books we purchased one thousand Livestrong bracelets that we personalized to say, “I donated to the Camel Library.”  We sold these bracelets for two dollars each at our Jr. High and at five local elementary schools.  We also collected books at the same time that we sold the bracelets.  To get the elementary schools involved, we contacted the principals, handed out fliers, and told the students and their parents about what we were doing.  To raise additional money, we also planned a movie night at the Jr. High that we advertised through posters and a flier.  

Although the activities at the jr. high and elementary schools were successful, we did not have sufficient funds to send all of the books to Africa.  To raise additional money, we contacted local businesses and asked them to donate.  We first asked business like Costco, Home Depot, Movie theaters and others for help.  However, we were mostly unsuccessful because they have a limited charity budget.  We then contacted neighbors who owned small businesses and most of them were willing to donate to our cause.  Raising the additional money was the most difficult part of this project.

After the money was collected, we invited over thirty people to help us sort and pack the books into boxes provided by the US Postal Service.  Some of the books were not in good shape or did not meet the standards provided by the Camel Library.  Therefore, the excess books were either discarded or donated to a local charity organization.  Sorting and packing the books required approximately 100 man hours.

As I worked on this project, I grew spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally. I grew spiritually because it helped me realize the worth of souls. I grew intellectually because I had to think through all the details of the project. I grew emotionally because I had to manage stress and because I had to motivate and encourage others.  I didn’t realize that doing something like this would make such a personal difference.  I wasn’t just helping others, I was helping myself. Service is amazing because when we focus on others we grow personally.
            This project helped me acquire leadership skills. I learned that it was easier for others to trust and follow my direction when I was organized. I also learned the importance of involving many people, and that when I delegated responsibilities to others, more things were accomplished and the project ran more smoothly. Being in charge of something so big also helped me appreciate how hard it is to plan and execute a large event.

The most memorable part of this project was seeing the results of our efforts and seeing others become excited and involved. I especially remember walking into my partner’s basement and seeing all the books we had collected. There was a whole room full of boxes and bins of donated books, and it was amazing to see how much we had done.            Another memorable experience was witnessing the desire of our classmates to become involved.  I loved seeing people all around the school wearing the bracelets we had sold. It was amazing to find a way to get people excited about serving and to raise awareness for needs in the world.

            Since we were doing something that did not allow us to see the direct results of our work, my favorite thing was getting people together and unified. To see so many people working together to help others was a great feeling. The Camel Library had a website with pictures and info about what they did, and I was able to see pictures of the kids in Africa getting the books and enjoying the library. It made me feel so good to know that our books would be there in Kenya, being passed from hand to hand, helping these people have a better future.

Through this experience I have learned just how important and fun service can be. The best thing about service is that it does not have to be big; small things make a big difference. Donating five dollars to a charity may enable one person to eat for a day. Every single person matters. My challenge to other young people comes from a quote that hangs on my English teacher’s wall that reads, “If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves. Astonish yourself!”