Imagine being offered a once in a lifetime trip to a third world continent. Lucky me right? I get to go see things no one else gets to first hand, a bucket list “vacation.” Mornings in the African landscape are often described as being the most beautiful in the world, but I wasn’t there for that.
Summer of 2014 and it’s my first time traveling to Kenya, Africa. I’m honored and excited to be on an oversight trip with the nonprofit organization Global Roots. The executive director of this organization Rick Montgomery, is a Lincoln High School alumni and a family friend. Rick thought it would be a good experience for me as an aspiring photographer and as a young woman. We are checking up on all the places Global Roots has been sponsoring. Unfortunately, “92% of all Maasai girls are subjected every year to forced removal from school, female genital mutilation and forced marriage. It is Global Roots’ goal to keep these girls in school and protect them
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Conceptually it is universal, but it is also explicitly personal, and very much subjective. As such, it is very much context sensitive. Sitting here in first class on my way back, watching movies on my brand new apple laptop, I felt extremely guilty and confused about my set of circumstances in contrast to those I had just left behind. Back home, success is getting straight A’s, being a star athlete, and getting into an Ivy League school. Where death is all around you, and so close, and so immediate and probable a consequence, any form of life constitutes a success, if only a temporary one. After my experience in Africa, I know that success, for me, has been redefined. I still feel the need to get good grades and go to a good college, but I must make a difference in the lives of the girls I just met. Once you are a witness to something unjust, you cannot close your eyes and make it go away. You must make a