It is not about us. It is not about us, it is just not about us. These are the words that echoed through the minds and hearts of many who traveled to Kenya along with Robert Morris University sophomore, Jenna Hidinger. The members of Grace Community Church from Cranberry Township, PA, lived by this mantra and by more while building relationships with the people in Kenya this summer for about a week.

“I guess I was expecting to be used in some great way. I’m going to go to Kenya and God is going to use me in some way. But it was about personal growth and helping people in small ways and with great love. That was sort of my motto for the week.”

Hidinger and her fellow missionaries hoped to help both adults and children that week. Meals were given, relationships created and even hands were simply held.

“There was a little girl named Velma. She found me on one of the first days we were in one of the communities in Kandaria and she just grabbed my hand. I was like, awe, she’s cute. But she held onto it for a long time and every day she would come find me in the big community and she would just hold my hand. She wouldn’t even talk much, she would stay there. It was so sweet.”

This young girl was not the only one who inspired Hidinger in Kenya. While there were many more, another child named Angel found her way to Hidinger’s heart.

“I met a girl named Angel who had HIV AIDS and was an orphan but lived with her Grandma. She had to do all of the chores for her house, take care of her Grandma and also take medicine everyday just so she could live. That was just really hard because we have so much over here, but we honestly don’t know how good we have it…I got to spend a lot of time with her. And the cool part is that she is truly a joyful little girl.”