With the school year coming to end, Air Academy students are already beginning to plan their summers. Some will go on vacation to exotic places, visit friends and family, take a rambling road trip, pursue their sports careers by joining a club sport, get a job, or simply lay out by the pool and enjoy the beautiful Colorado weather.

Other students will have the opportunity to travel overseas for missions trips with their churches, youth groups, and other organizations. Last summer a group of students from Air Academy including; myself, my brother Carter Rodny, Cole Pearne, JD Walton, Connor and Cori Campbell, Cassidy Olsen, and Julia Helle all had the chance to travel to CURE International in Kenya to work at the hospital. Once again this summer, several Air Academy students will be traveling back to Kenya to work at the same hospital.

Cure International is a hospital with locations all across the globe in places like Afganistan, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Philippines, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, and Zambia. Their mission statement is simple, “Heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Most of the children that CURE serves have either cleft lip, cleft palate, clubfoot, or an orthopedic problem; all of which are disabilities that are often seen as a curse in their communities. CURE likes to serve “children who, because of their disabilities, are often the very last.” This means children who are last to be included, last to be protected from abuse, last to be afforded dignity, and sometimes even the last to be given food in their own homes. CURE believes in both physical and spiritual healing and is based on relationships and relational care. They believe, “The overall value of your work is not only impacted by how much you get done, but also by your attitude in doing it. Work hard, but focus on the relationships with the staff and patients. Each volunteer is asked to honor, encourage, and submit to our in-country staff.”

CURE, founded by Scott and Sally Harrison, started in 1996 and the first hospital opened in 1998 in Kijabe, Kenya. Over the course of twenty years, CURE has established a presence in 29 countries, performed more than 226,000 life-changing surgeries, and exceeded 3.1 million patient visits.

Air Academy students spent their time hanging out with patients and families awaiting surgery, helping in the busy kitchen, building prosthetics for orthopedics, doing maintenance around the facility and checking up on families who have completed surgery. Cori Campbell, a sophomore who went on the trip, said, “I loved waking up every morning and seeing bigger smiles on children who had nothing than I’ve ever seen on children who have everything [back in America.]” The experience was truly humbling and eye opening for me and others on the team. I realized that missions weren’t about giving handouts to people Americans viewed as “poor,” but instead about connecting with people and serving their needs.

For more information, or to donate, go to https://cure.org/.