Some experiences stay with you. For Explorers, those experiences often manifest in many forms. But so many agree, the service trips students are able to embark on through La Salle Immersion and Volunteer Experience (LIVE) are one of them. But for one group in particular, the experience they gained from their service trip stayed with them so much, they’ve continued to go back, even after graduation.

In 2015, Erin Herman, ’16, Shannon Heydet, ’16, Rebecca Long, ’16, and Odile Ta, ’16, Community Service Coordinator Sean Hutchinson, ’10, and Rebecca Hutchinson, ’11, MA ’15, participated in Project Mapendo, an annual three-week service project in Kenya. While there, participants live and teach at the St. Mary Secondary School for Boys. They are given the chance to teach and help at the school in any way they can.

“The projects that students do range from teaching and assisting nursery, painting, cleaning, home visits, and hospital visits,” explained Heydet. “Projects change from year-to-year and even day-to-day while the groups are there.”

The trip is usually only offered to students as a one-time experience, but a fortunate few are chosen to help coordinate the next year’s excursion. That’s why when given this opportunity to return to St. Mary’s in 2016, this cohort of Explorers jumped at the chance. Unlike other service trips, Project Mapendo gives students the opportunity to get to know the people and spend real one-on-one time with their host school.

“Project Mapendo has more of a cultural immersion aspect,” said Heydet. “We go to St. Mary’s, live within the compound and try to spend as much time with the boys and in the culture as we can.”

But the experience didn’t end there.

When approached by one of the Christian Brothers to extend their help to the neighboring girls’ schools, the students accepted without hesitation, only asking what problem the schools needed help with the most. That’s when they were informed that girls were missing school due to what was touted as “personal reasons.”

The La Salle students were intrigued and confused by this statement and felt the need to dig deeper. “We had to dig and dig to find out the problems,” said Long. “They didn’t want to tell us it was their menstruation.”

They learned that like most girls in developing countries, the Kenyan girls were suffering from lack of feminine hygiene resources, but were also forced to miss school because of it.

Finding their way to help, the students got straight to work. One of the staff members at the school introduced them to a nonprofit called Days for Girls.

Days for Girls is an incredible organization that offers re-usable kits containing items a young woman would need to maintain proper care during her cycle, allowing them to continue their education and studies uninterrupted.

Though their time in Kenya was coming to an end, and they were graduating seniors, the La  Salle students would not let go of their goal to help the Kenyan girls. When they arrived back in the states three young women, Heydet, Long, and Ta, vowed to return the next year and finish what they had started.

After doing some research, Heydet said they were able to open a fundraising page, allowing them to order more kits. “With the help of so many donors, we were able to order 280 kits.” The original plan was to return to Kenya and distribute the kits to one school. However, in surpassing their need they were able to provide kits at Githwariga Primary School, D.E.B Muslim Primary School, and Hill Farm Primary School. A year later the students returned to their second home, and conducted a three- day workshop for the girls at each of the three schools.

The first day consisted of kit distribution and an explanation of what the items were. Each kit contains two pairs of underwear, one bar of soap, one washcloth, two waterproof shields, eight absorbent liners, two sealable bags for washing and storage, and a drawstring bag to hold all the components. Day two consisted of a health education class, specifically focusing on women’s health and reproduction. The last day was an open discussion and one-on-one conversations about anything the girls wanted to talk about.

“The biggest reward from this project was the one to one conversations with the girls,” said Long. “It wasn’t about race or where we came from it was just one girl to another.”

Seeing the difference they made in the lives of the Kenyan girls was rewarding, but a one-time trip wasn’t enough for this cohort of women from La  Salle. They plan to continue returning to Kenya to make an impact and expand Days for Girls into a sustainable program in the area.

“La  Salle really did a good job of integrating me into the faith, community, and service mindset and letting me branch off from there,” said Long. “And I think they do that for every student.”