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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Sending kid to Kenya will do a world of good

By: Nick Martin

Posted: 10/23/2012 3:16 AM | Comments: 0 | Last Modified: 10/24/2012 12:45 PM | Updates

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Leah McIntyre swung a mean pickaxe in Kenya over the summer.

Leah McIntyre had your typical 15-year-old's summer -- build a school in Kenya, throw a 50-litre water jug on her back and walk three kilometres, lift rocks and swing a pickaxe.

Then repeat, numerous times.

Did we mention that she went to Kenya on her own?

The Grade 11 student plans to do it again next summer, if she can raise the $5,000 to cover her airfare.

"Something I've always wanted to do in my life is help people," the Grade 11 student at Linden Christian School said. "When I was 10, I started to want to go to Africa."

Last year, McIntyre watched Winnipeg's first We Day online, and got hooked. She signed up, and was assigned to one of the 42 Free the Children projects in Kenya.

She came back so enthused, that this year McIntyre is a Me-to-We ambassador, and will staff a booth when We Day comes to the MTS Centre Oct. 30.

More than 18,000 students from more than 380 schools will learn about the value of providing service.

It took 24 hours for McIntyre to fly from Winnipeg to Montreal to Zurich to Nairobi, then a drive into the countryside to begin her work.

"They said there'd be a lot of building, connecting with community members, touring to see health clinics," she said. "There were 19 (volunteers), all girls."

They dug trenches, mixed and poured cement, then laid in rocks for the school's foundation, and finished the roof on another school.

"After a few days, lifting rocks became easier, swinging a pickaxe became easier. It's so much easier to do work when you're inspired to do it," McIntyre recalled.

She's working two jobs on top of her schoolwork, but McIntyre still needs help to get back to Kenya next summer.

Details about McIntyre's fundraising campaign are here.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 23, 2012 B3

History

Updated on Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 12:45 PM CDT: Fixes link to fundraising page.

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