Why Go to Kenya with Crossing Thresholds?

Does it really make a difference? Does the high cost of traveling to Kenya outweigh the benefits of donating the same amount of cash?  Couldn’t CT find locals to do ‘what volunteers do’ and in many cases do it better?
These are all worthy questions, and worthy of reflection. So why do we dare to argue that it’s incredibly important for us to run volunteer trips? Here are 3 reasons that stand out:

• Most good people have a remarkably limited understanding of global poverty. In stark terms, the world is populated with more than a billion people living in abject poverty. The cause of their poverty is nothing more than accident of birth. Traveling to Kenya and befriending the poor is guaranteed to broaden our sense of connection to the human family. At the same time, it is a vitally important learning experience for anyone who aspires to be a global citizen.
  
• To be a human being is to care about and to work for the well-being of others. A CT trip is designed to enlighten our shared purpose as human beings. While the focus is on building schools for under-served children, the broader objective is for individuals to bring the gift of energy, experience, insight, and talent to lift up the world’s children and be lifted up in the process. 
  
• Each time CT returns to Kenya with a group of volunteers, the teachers and children seem surprised and delighted that we have come back. They speak often of how much returning volunteers motivate, encourage and inspire them. It is a simple reminder that someone is thinking about them, someone wants a better life for them, and someone is committed to that end. It is the power of relationships. It is the heartbeat of Crossing Thresholds. 
  

So PLEASE join us on a CT trip. Learn more about the world. Share your talent. Build relationships that strengthen the web of life. Everybody will be better for it.   

Carter Via
Executive Director