FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern tennis student-athlete Kamryn Blackwood (Jr., Farmington, N.M.) has returned from her mission trip to Kenya with Houses for Hope. Blackwood reached out to NSUSharks.com to tell us about her trip:

"(The trip) started off by flying into Kenya, Africa and then taking a small quick flight over to Kisumu where our home base was for the majority of the trip," said Blackwood. "While we were over there our team of 20 people built 10 houses for widows and widowers who had lost their loved one and are now left with all of their kids, sometimes even up to eight children and no house to live in.

"The first house we went to build was for a man who had six kids and had lost his wife last winter to AIDS. The dad would sleep outside where he had buried her while the kids had to sleep with other neighbors if they could or they would end up outside with their father. While there, the people did not like me getting near their kids because they were really scared of how different I looked than them with my light skin, they would not let their kids near me. However, throughout the trip there were other families and kids who loved playing with my hair, touching my skin and opening my eyes because they have never seen a white person before, which they called Mazoongo's. As we drove throughout all the towns, all you would hear is people shouting and pointing to our vans "Mazoongo's, Mazoongo's!" Another house we built was for another man who had eight kids and no place to live, so after we built the house we all stood in the house with the man and his family and sang songs and blessed and prayed for the house and the family said that this would be a great step forward for them.

"One of the days we went to an orphanage where about all but two out of the 50 children there had AIDS, and most of them were sent there because of (the virus) and also because their parents had died due to AIDS as well. It was very emotional at that orphanage because these kids were so happy to see us and just to be loved and played with. On the day that we were there, we were able to help serve and feed the kids who eat three times a week, and I don't mean that they eat three times that day that they get food, I mean that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday they get one meal per day and that's it. That was very humbling and shocking to really sink in to the reality that they were so grateful to get one scoop of rice and one scoop of beans. After we fed them, we had brought a lot of toys for them and soccer balls because they love soccer no matter if the ball is fully pumped or not. Myself and two others from the team went and played soccer with the kids who had no shoes and spent some of the time picking stickers out of their feet or body from getting knocked down, with not one of them complaining about it. Man, those kids were tough and awesome!

"All in all, this trip was amazing and life-changing for me. I want to go back and continue to grow with this organization because I think that we are making a difference, because what is different about this program is that we are not just going over there, pouring in money and leaving and the people there don't really benefit or grow to sustain themselves and their family. We just finished all of the contracts, so that coming this fall a village of about 30,000 people can have fresh water from a well that we are going to be building for them. We are also buying and sustaining dairy goats, so that the kids at the orphanage and other places that desperately need the nutrition from the goat milk will get it, but also sell the milk and make a profit. Lastly, we bought and planted these moringa trees, which are called miracle trees because of the leaves it produces and the nutrients that comes from them as well as the profit they can get from selling them.

"I am very grateful and blessed for what I have in my life and how I do not have to worry about where my next meal might come from, but I am so happy that my team and I were able to make a difference and are going to continue to make a difference through Houses of Hope and help these people who literally have nothing."

Below are pictures from her time in Africa.



Original Story (5/24/2013) - Nova Southeastern tennis student-athlete Kamryn Blackwood (Jr., Farmington, N.M.) will be spending her summer helping people halfway across the world, as Blackwood will be joining Houses for Hope on a mission trip to Kenya.

Blackwood has been involved with Houses for Hope for years and serves on the board of the organization. Blackwood's mission will be to build houses, churches and schools in Kenya. Blackwood will also help out as a teacher for orphans in the area in which she'll be spending time in. Blackwood will be one of 20 team members traveling to Kenya.

The mission of Houses for Hope is to build a supports system for orphan homes in African countries and help them create self-sustaining environments. Mission trips have also been held in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

"Kamryn can always be counted on to be an organized, efficient, extremely competent member of the women's tennis team," said her head coach Dr. Michael Coleman. "She has an excellent rapport with her peers as well as her professors. No matter if she is on the court competing or on the sidelines supporting her team, I can always count on her positive upbeat motivation to help others… a leader and a friend to everyone at NSU."

Blackwood has been a model student-athlete during her three years at NSU. So much so, that the school featured her on YouTube, detailing the day in the life of a student-athlete. Fans can view the video below.




Fans can follow Houses for Hope on their Facebook page HERE and can follow Blackwood on her trip through her Twitter feed HERE.

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