The Daily OrangeStudents travel to Senegal for spring break humanity trip
By Sarah Jane Capper
Posted: 3/17/09, 2:35 AM EST Section: Feature
Jeanine Kowalski picked up two Syracuse University students and an Onondaga Community College student for one last Wal-Mart run on the Wednesday before spring break. They needed to buy sandals, travel pouches and medicine for their trip to Senegal, where they would fly to the capital region to spend time with orphans, visit people and tell Bible stories.
In the car, the women lightheartedly compared the color of the malaria pills they had to take, discussed the excitement of traveling to a new land and shared their concern for their safety and wellbeing.
"It's really a life changing experience - preparing, going and coming back," said Kowalski, the associate campus minister of Baptist Campus Ministries.
The organization helped plan the trip along with the International Mission Board, which is part of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The students first traveled to Senegal with Baptist Campus Ministries in 2001. They chose the destination for their first international trip because one student had ancestors from Senegal who were deported on slave ships, said Mike McQuitty, SU's Southern Baptist chaplain.
After 2004, Baptist Campus Ministries began sending students to places in Asia and South America, as well as to Senegal.
"Going to the same places allows us to prepare students better and have ongoing relationships with the people there," said McQuitty.
Freshman Cheryl Mowczan, graduate student Ruth Williamson and Onondaga Community College student Kaitlin Hill took the trip this year with Kowalski.
On March 6, they arrived in Dakar, Senegal's capital, where they were greeted by the scent of salt water and the sight of a lighthouse on the peninsula. During the day, the crowded city bustled with activity as people cooked outside and animals walked through the paved streets, said Mowczan. On their drive to smaller villages, they saw open plains and baobab trees.
"It was a new perspective on how other people live. You hear about it, but we actually experienced it," said Mowczan.
In the car, the women lightheartedly compared the color of the malaria pills they had to take, discussed the excitement of traveling to a new land and shared their concern for their safety and wellbeing.
"It's really a life changing experience - preparing, going and coming back," said Kowalski, the associate campus minister of Baptist Campus Ministries.
The organization helped plan the trip along with the International Mission Board, which is part of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The students first traveled to Senegal with Baptist Campus Ministries in 2001. They chose the destination for their first international trip because one student had ancestors from Senegal who were deported on slave ships, said Mike McQuitty, SU's Southern Baptist chaplain.
After 2004, Baptist Campus Ministries began sending students to places in Asia and South America, as well as to Senegal.
"Going to the same places allows us to prepare students better and have ongoing relationships with the people there," said McQuitty.
Freshman Cheryl Mowczan, graduate student Ruth Williamson and Onondaga Community College student Kaitlin Hill took the trip this year with Kowalski.
On March 6, they arrived in Dakar, Senegal's capital, where they were greeted by the scent of salt water and the sight of a lighthouse on the peninsula. During the day, the crowded city bustled with activity as people cooked outside and animals walked through the paved streets, said Mowczan. On their drive to smaller villages, they saw open plains and baobab trees.
"It was a new perspective on how other people live. You hear about it, but we actually experienced it," said Mowczan.
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