FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Incoming women's basketball transfer
Jessica Valley (Jr., Lafayette, Ind.), prior to arriving on campus, took time out of her summer vacation to travel to Africa for a month and aided in a water project for people in the village of Arusha, Tanzania.
Valley, as a mentor for female students from her high school, McCutcheon High in Lafayette, spent June in the village of Arusha. The program, also through Purdue University's agricultural bioengineering program and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, is designed to make sure water is healthy and running properly for the villagers there. It was the second time Valley has traveled to the continent for a clean water project.
"I went last year to Cameroon, the west part of Africa," she said. "We installed PVC pipes, taking water from the wells, which is more efficient because they just have a bucket that they reel up. This last summer, we went to Tanzania on the east side for a month. We stayed with a tribe in Arusha, helping them being more efficient with their water, making it more sustainable."
Valley, who has had experience traveling to other countries growing up, was approached by a teacher from her high school and jumped at the opportunity.
"I've been overseas a lot," said Valley. "When I was younger, my family took me to Paris and Germany, and we've been to Costa Rica and other places in Central America. My engineering teacher in high school, Gary Werner, came up to me with this idea that he was going to Africa and he wanted a mentor since I was already in college, a female for the female high school students. I said of course, it would be really cool to experience. That's how I got into it."
Over 8,000 miles away from home, among the differences that struck Valley were the tribe's food and water, and how she was cut off from the outside world, though that doesn't bother her in the least.
"It's very, very different," she said. "The food was pretty much the same; just the way that they produce it is very different. In Cameroon, they showed us a huge farm that they had just built, and that's how they get their food, nothing is processed. The water they get is either from the rain or from an irrigation system Purdue helped them with. It's weird too, when we went this year, we realized that the water they use is not for themselves; they use it for the animals or for cooking. It's not for them to drink. We went and explained to them, you need water to live. They survive just by living off the earth basically, and we went over there to expand their knowledge for technology.
"Even though it was winter there, it was still hot. There's no air conditioning, and the only way to light the huts is with fire. I had no internet, no phone, but the way I look at it is just enjoy the experience and be with who you are at that time. I don't have social media, I just like to just go with it."
Valley shared her story with her new coaches and teammates, and talked about how much the trip affected her.
"I learned so much during the trip about the culture and people living in this tribe and community," she said. "The one reason I loved doing it was to get a sense of how the world is, and just understanding the meaning of gratitude. I got to see how hard other cultures work to make themselves educated in order to survive, and being able to help keep a third world country sustainable made it all worth it. This trip really opened my eyes to how every person is different and just gave me a new perspective on my own life for gratitude."
Now, one of the newest Sharks hopes to continue giving after her time at NSU is complete.
"It has changed my perspective a lot," said Valley of her experience. "I'm in recreation and sport management, and now I want to go over and help facilitate a youth program in a third world country. Sometimes kids there have to walk an hour to school on dirt and rocks, and I'd love to be able to make it so they can go to afterschool programs. To see the kids and how happy they were to see us, it was life-changing."
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