backstory
During my final January term at Elon University, I studied the AIDS crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa and its impact on the millions of children left orphaned or vulnerable in its wake. It was the singular most memorable and impactful course of my career and shifted my worldview in immeasurable ways.
The summer following my graduation that May, I headed to Kenya to work with Marafiki Global AIDS Ministry at their orphanage in Zambezi village. I spent the summer sharing life with 27 amazing, funny, wonderful kids, learning about their world after AIDS took their parents. I was blown away by the perseverance of a society rocked by this one disease.
The title “One White Guy” arose from the last few days I was in Kenya, after the other volunteers had left, and I was left the only mzungu (white person) for miles. Walking through town with the Rafiki kids, hundreds of Kenyan eyes bearing down, I became keenly aware of my race and the disparity between my home life and that of the people I passed. It was an uncomfortable, surreal, and necessary feeling.
Returning to the US, I started the regular office job I thought I wanted, but I was still branded by the issues I encountered in Kenya – AIDS, poverty, race, vulnerability, loss of innocence. It became evident that I’d be heading back to Africa in some capacity and that I’d need this blog to streamline my plans for getting there.
