In December, Boone Middle School eighth-grade students Jesse Norris and Jenna Norris, along with Alysha Roberts, a ninth-grade student from Luther, and Boone eighth-grader Anna Gainer began fundraising for their journey with Boone resident Naomi Norris. After receiving generous support from area businesses, the four teenagers' efforts are far from over as they plan to hold a "Kids for Congo" auction Tuesday, April 7 at the Boone County Fairgrounds Community Building. Doors open at 4 p.m. and bidding will begin at 5:30 p.m.
The auction includes a wide variety of items such as furniture, antiques, overnight stays at hotels in the Des Moines area, a multitude of restaurant certificates, tools, jewelry, store certificates, chinaware, four-player golf package outings with a cart rental at various central Iowa golf courses, and a used Honda car.
The four teenagers currently have enough funding to make the trip to the AIDS-plagued nation. However, additional funding will enable them to make a larger difference in the lives of the Congolese orphans.
The students will also have one final fundraiser Monday, April 20 at the HuHot Mongolian Grill, located at 4100 University Ave. in West Des Moines. Ten percent of all business for the evening will go to benefit orphans in Congo.
Currently in Congo, there are approximately 100,000 orphans and the average age in the nation is only 16. If the teenagers can raise an additional $10,000, temporary housing could be established for Congolese orphans.
"We want to be able to go and say, 'Here is this gift,'" Naomi Norris said. "To be able to go with that already in hand would be wonderful."
While in Congo for two to three weeks, Naomi Norris' sister, Rachel Martin, of Ames, will accompany her and the four teenagers. Martin is employed by an organization known as EFCA-Touch Global, which jumpstarted the program to assist orphans who have been impacted by AIDS. Martin has lived in Congo for 16 years and has a background in nursing, is fluent in three of the nations' predominant languages and will serve as a guide for the group. Naomi Norris' brother-in-law Jim Snyder, of Rockford, Ill., has lived in Congo for eight years and will travel alongside the group with a video crew to document their efforts.
The four teenagers will help plant gardens, provide seeds for food supplies and travel to villages with needed personal items for hundreds of children. They will also generate monetary support for the Elikya Orphan Home Project, which will be building homes for older orphans to live in.
When she was 11 years old, Naomi Norris made a life-changing trip to South America with her father, where they focused on serving the needs of others. Taking away a positive life experience, she said she wants her children to realize that the world is so much more than the everyday surroundings that they see and that one can make a difference if they believe in their ability to do so.
"I want them to have a bigger world than right here," Namoi Norris said. "I love living in Boone and I love raising them in Boone, but I want them to have world awareness."
The four teenagers said they realize that the trip to Congo will not only impact the lives of hundreds of orphans, but also the outlook they will have on life when they return home.
"The contrast is so overwhelming when you see it," Naomi Norris said. "It changes the way you think, it changes the way you want to raise your children, it changes the way you view humanity as a whole."
With the life expectancy only being 35 years of age in Congo, the four teenagers realize that there is a difference to be made and they all look forward to the opportunity for numerous reasons.
Jessi Norris, 13, said she cannot wait to meet the orphans and to let them know they are there to lend a hand. For 14-year-old Jenna Norris, it is all about the experience and being able to make a positive difference.
With many pressing issues in the world today, Roberts, 13, and the three other teenagers understand that it is the younger generations who must take up the cause to enact change.
"Just being able to meet them and show them that we can do this - it gets me more excited everyday," Roberts said. "Even though we're teenagers we can do this."
For more information about the effort, contact Naomi Norris at (515) 298-0627 or by e-mail at naominorris@mchsi.com. Contributions can be sent to EFCA-Touch Global, 901 E. 78th St., Minneapolis, MN, 55420, with the memo, "Hope for Congo 21009-390511." Any individual who is wishing to donate items to the auction may drop them off at the Boone County Fairgrounds on Saturday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., on Sunday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and throughout the day on Monday. More information and an auction list is available at www.kidsforcongo.com.
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