This summer, JR Merit Executive Vice President/COO Duncan Bagley traveled to Malawi with his daughter Addison on a 14-day mission trip sponsored by her school, Kings Way Christian, in partnership with non-profit organizations Food+Water+Shelter and Warm Heart Ministries.

Five adults and 11 students traveled with 28 bags totaling 1,400 pounds of supplies, including baby clothes, baby bottles, clothing, shoes, and soccer balls as well as feeding supplies.

Food+Water+Shelter and Warm Heart Ministries have a feeding program established to support guardians that have taken on orphaned babies.  They also work closely with an orphanage in Lilongwe called Afriana. The maternal mortality ratio in Malawi is one of the highest in the world, making ongoing support for orphaned children a vital need. Warm Heart Ministries also operates a farm project that promotes economic opportunity. “It’s all about economic opportunity. Everyone is working hard, moving every day to make the most of opportunities.”

The group also had an opportunity to visit and provide support at Dzaleka Refugee Camp. “Many people don’t understand that it’s illegal for refugees to work without a green card or citizenship in Malawi. There are 55,000 people at this camp, many of them children who were born in the camp. They have no country and can’t get a visa. But they still have hope. They just want a chance.”

Duncan, is grateful to have been able to share this opportunity with his daughter. “It was really neat for her to see a different perspective of the world, different than what is portrayed in America and on social media. We saw a whole spectrum of economic development in one village, from clay houses with dirt floors and thatch roofs to concrete homes with glass windows. Walking is the primary mode of transport, followed by bicycles, then motorbikes, and cars. Meeting the people was the most memorable part of the trip. Everyone is hustling, they don’t have nearly what we have in America, and yet they have such joy. It reiterated for me that joy is a choice, regardless of your circumstances.”

The group also had the opportunity to experience a safari, seeing animals of all kinds.