For this last trip that you went on, what were your intentions and your goals?
The intention, number one, was to pick up Emmanuel, who’s an orphan I met in the Cote d’Ivoire in January. Cori and I were in an orphanage at that point and he was suffering from hydrocephalus, which is water in the brain that causes a very enlarged head, and it was a condition that we knew could be taken care of in the U.S but not in his country. He was in an orphanage that was behind rebel lines, so the medical conditions were particularly bad. We knew we could get him the help we needed, and I stayed behind trying to get all the paper work to make that happen. From the U.S perspective, we needed these documents and we needed to get hospitals to donate their services. From the Cote D’Ivoire government, we needed permission to travel with the orphan. This turned out to be quite an ordeal that took us about 10 months to finalize. When I went back last month, Emmanuel was in a position to travel; we had received his visa and passport information from the government. I was going there to pick him up. I was also going to Liberia to request another medical visa for a child there.
You talked about what your professional intentions were for the trip, picking up Emmanuel, what was your personal motivation?
My personal motivation in doing projects like the Next Right Thing and 10 Days is that I feel that we all have a responsibility to serve other people that are less fortunate, and I feel blessed to be in a position to do that. I struggle myself just to get by, and to be able to do it, but it’s such a blessing to be able to help these families and these children that it’s well worth it. I guess I’m just driven by the desire to help other people and the children I see that I know are out there but not getting the help they need.
