Grade 9 student traveling to Africa

Fifteen year old Tanaya Johnson will be traveling to Africa on a mission trip starting in June. The confident Providence School student will be leaving on June 19, but requires additional funding for her trip.

Emily Plihal
Smoky River Express

A Providence School Grade 9 student will be traveling to Africa this summer on a teen mission, which she says will be a major eye-opener for her.

Fifteen-year-old Tanaya Johnson is going to Malawi this summer on an Aids Orphan’s Rescue Units as part of a foot washing team.

“We will be cleaning their feet, and putting new socks and shoes on them,” says Tanaya, who explains there are a number of things the group of teenagers will be doing to help the orphans. “There are 18 kids on my team from across North America.”

Tanaya will also be traveling door-to-door with the 18 kids explaining Evangelism.

“I thought it would be such a great experience to see how others live,” says Tanaya. “I think it will be life-changing experience.”

Tanaya will be leaving on June 19 from Calgary. Her travels will begin with a two-week boot camp in Florida, where she will learn the basics of living in Africa.

She will be learning to cut wood, digging by hand, how to launder her clothing also by hand, in addition to a number of other basic life skills.

“The boot camp will allow us to get used to their climate and way of life before we go,” says the mature teenager. “We’re lucky to go in our summer, because it is their winter and will be a little cooler than in their summer months.”

Tanaya explains that the time difference will be very hard to get used to. She says she and her parents have discovered that at 9 a.m. here, it is 7 p.m.

Tanaya’s mom Sharon says that although the idea of sending her 15-year-old daughter on a trip across the world sounds daunting, she is excited about the experience her daughter will have.

“It is such an awesome experience for her to have,” says Sharon.

“She will see how hard the life can be in the village of Chipoka,” says Sharon. “She will be gone to Africa for three and a half weeks, in Florida for about two weeks, and she will have the opportunity to see London for a whole day.”

Part of Tanaya’s trip includes a day long trip to London, England. Here she will be visiting Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. Starting out from Calgary, Tanaya will then fly to Florida, then to Washington, London, Nairobi and finally to the country of Malawi.

The Republic of Malawi, according to Wikipedia, is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast and Mozambique, which surrounds it on the east, south and west.

The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. The name Malawi comes from the Maravi, one of the original Bantu tribes to inhabit the area.

The community of Chipoka, where Tanaya will be for the entirety of her trip, is located on the lake shores of Lake Malawi. Tanaya explains this is the third largest lake in Africa.

“I heard about this trip originally from my cousin,” says Tanaya. “She thought it would be a good idea for both of us to apply for the mission to see if we could go together. She will be on the mission with me, so it will make it a little easier for me to be so far away from home.”

Tanaya will be leaving on June 19 from Calgary with her cousin. Her trip will come to an end on Aug. 11 when she will come back to Canada.

The trip will cost Tanaya and her parents a total of $5,600, which she explains she is still about $2,000 short.

“I am accepting donations, and bottles and cans for recycling,” she says. “We will also be holding a garage sale in McLennan on June 13, but are unsure of the location, so just watch for signs in town that day.”

Tanaya explains we have so much to be thankful for in Canada and North America in general, and she thinks this trip will make that message stay with her for the rest of her life.

“We’re so lucky to live in a country like this,” says Tanaya. “We should work harder in our lives to reach a goal, we have so many amazing opportunities.”

By living in the third world country for over three weeks, Tanaya will learn skills our grandparents, great-grandparents and other ancestors had to use in the past.

“We will be hand-washing our clothes and dishes, sponge bathing in a 5 gallon bucket, and sleeping in a tent,” says Tanaya. “We also get to put on puppet shows, dramas, and sing songs for the orphans. The rescue unit goal is to provide nutrition, medical care and education to the orphans.”

After the three and a half weeks in Chipoka, Tanaya will spend a week in Florida for debriefing.

“I’m excited and kind of nervous,” she says. “I think it will be very emotional to see how different their lives are.”

For more information on teen missions visit www.teenmissions.com.

If you would like to help Tanaya on her mission to travel to Africa, you can phone the Johnson residence at 780-324-2279.

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