Stevenage teenager tells of eye-opening experiences after mission trip to Africa
Connor with some of the children he met on his mission trip.
A teenager who has just returned from a trip to Africa to help needy children says the experience has made him count his blessings.
Connor Skelsey had been helping out at Stevenage-based charity Kadoma Kidz for a year before he joined founders Stacy and Phil Gibb on a trip to Stevenage’s twin town in Zimbabwe, having raised nearly £600 to fund his travel and supplies.
Connor said: “Before I went I was worried about how I would get on and how I would adjust but when I got there I felt so at home, it was really natural.”
Connor and the rest of the volunteers took 12 suitcases of supplies to the town – including football shirts, toiletries and medical supplies all donated to their charity shop in Willows Link, Broadwater.
They visited a children’s hospital ward, an orphanage, a reformatory, several schools and a care home for the elderly.
Throughout the trip Connor was keen to get involved and lived like a local, though he was able to hang on to a few creature comforts.
He recalled: “I got my phone out and all the children were amazed, they had never seen such a modern phone before, and all wanted me to take pictures and videos so they could see themselves.
“The children don’t have what we have and things are tough for them, so it wasn’t easy.
“Since I’ve got back I have felt different, it’s made me more mature in a way.
“Seeing the children’s faces, it made me look at my own life in a different way and appreciate things more.”
The travel and tourism student at North Herts College says that the trip has reaffirmed his career choice.
“It’s given me a lot of wisdom and stories to carry forever, it has also helped me confirm my goal to become a children’s rep and I will continue to study towards it,” the 17-year-old said.
Keen Connor has already started fundraising so that he can return to Kadoma and his new friends. “I’m already planning my next trip because it was a really good, eye-opening experience and I can’t wait to get back out there,” he said.
Charity founder Stacy Gibb said: “Connor got on very well,
“He coped well with no electricity and no running water, he coped extremely well with the bugs until he met the tarantula – that was nearly breaking point but he soon got over it.
“He fell in love with the country and the children just as we have and he was an asset to our team.”
Thanks to the success of the trip, Stacy and Phil are able to put in place new programmes to help children in other Zimbabwean towns, and are planning to relaunch the charity later this year as KIDZ2911 to reflect its wider reach. Search ‘Kidz 2911’ on Facebook for more information on the cause.
To help Connor’s fundraising efforts to go back to Zimbabwe go to gofundme.com and search for ‘Connor Skelsey’.
The link between Stevenage and Kadoma stretches back to 1989 – if you’d like to know more, visit the website at www.skla.org.-THECOMET
