“I decided to go to Swaziland because I wanted to make a difference. I wanted my winter break to matter and a service opportunity like this allowed me to do that,” sophomore early childhood education and special education major, Sabrina Lee, said.
Over winter break she and a few other students with faculty and staff traveled to Swaziland, one of the smallest countries in Africa.
The biggest health issue in Swaziland is HIV/AIDS. The average life expectancy is 50 years.
The Missionary Sisters who founded Cabrini College work with those afflicted with AIDS in Swaziland.
“The education, business, social work and psychology departments have all worked with this partnership to provide support to the mission over the last six years,” Colleen Poole said.
Field experience coordinator Colleen Poole was the main organizer of the service trip.
A lot of preparation went into the trip. Junior social work major Kimberly Miralda said, “We had meetings to prepare to go to Swaziland. I had to go to a travel clinic to get shots. I had to get anti-malaria pills and insect repellent to travel.”
While in Swaziland the students helped run a camp for teenagers. Each student had to create an hour long activity and gather the materials needed prior to leaving for the trip. “We helped with registration, organization, scavenger hunts, activities and talent shows,” Lee said. Swaziland was in the summer season, so students were off from school.
“We left Cabrini College at 5:30 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 1 and the students returned on Jan. 12th,” Poole said.
In addition to organizing the mission trip, Poole and professor of exercise science and health promotion, Dr. Verde, used video chat to communicate with the camp staff to talk about what they needed. They gathered donations, school supplies and recreational equipment for the youth in Swaziland.
“When we arrived at Cabrini Ministries we worked with the education staff to plan the camp schedule and team to teach the activities. One staff member from Cabrini Ministries worked with each of our groups as a co-teacher and translator because the students are just learning English,” Poole said.
At the end of each long day the students would have time to reflect on what was happening around them.
“The hardest part of traveling was the long plane rides. The longest one including delays was 18 hours. That is a long time to sit in one area,” Lee said.
