Christian Union: The Magazine Fall 2017 | Page 26

christian union universities Widows, Orphans, and Generosity Penn Students Enjoy “Life-Changing” Trip to Uganda by catherine elvy , staff writer pair of undergraduates from Harvard and Cornell universities. Kelly Schaaf, a Christian Union min- istry fellow who holds a graduate degree in education from Penn, and Lauren Smith, a Christian Union intern and Cornell alumnus of 2016, accompanied the contingent. Many of the undergraduates’ duties with ROW- AN were practical in nature, including setting up a fencing system for goats and staging children’s ac- tivities. The team from Christian Union also traveled with staffers for home visits to check on some of the program’s widows and children. Home visits form the core of activities for ROW- AN, allowing the students to pray with residents as they check on their well-being. Hernandez said her venture to the geographical heart of the African continent was life-changing, both in personal and professional senses. “Even be- fore this trip, I wanted to minor in global-health nursing,” said Hernandez. “I want to follow up on A pair of University of Pennsylvania stu- dents returned to campus eager to share the inspirational lessons they gained while serving in needy but hospitable villages in Eastern Uganda. Nursing majors Lisbette Hernandez ’20 and Sylvia Kimwei ’20 described their participation in a Christian Union summer project on behalf of the Rural Orphans and Widows AIDS Network (ROW- AN) as transformational. “This was the significant part of my summer,” said Hernandez. In June, Hernandez and Kimwei took part in the mission to assist ROWAN, a Colorado-based organization that seeks to empower orphans and widows infected or impacted by HIV/AIDS. The ministry aims to nurture self-reliance in its commu- nities via education, business training, spiritual en- richment, and medical care. During the trip, the Penn sophomores joined a 24 The Uganda Summer Mission Team: Christian Union Ministry Fellow Kelly Schaaf; Maame Akosua Ohemeng-Tinyase, Cornell ’20; Lisbette Hernandez, Penn ’20; Sylvia Kimwei, Penn ’20; Elizabeth D’Haiti, Harvard ’20; and Lauren K. Smith (Cornell ’16), a Christian Union intern.