Maryland Community News

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Published: Monday, June 27,
2011
Middletown pair
head to Uganda on mission trip by Tripp Laino
Staff Writer

Judy Willson is no stranger to the approximately 27-hour journey to Uganda
it’s a trip she’s made six times since 2007.
Willson, 57, of Middletown,
attends church at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Braddock
Heights and will make her seventh mission trip to the country on Thursday; her
second trip this year and third since August. She founded the Nyakishenyi
African Mission, Inc., in 2007 and has been making regular aid trips to support
the mission. She said the trips to Nyakishenyi, Uganda have provided a variety
of different supplies to the village’s residents, from medical supplies and
clean water to animals to be raised for livestock.
But she said the trips
also provide a gift to her, allowing her to experience an entirely different
culture and help people in need. During the trip, Willson said she stays in the
village when she’s working on projects that need direct involvement, or in area
hotels when working on other administrative projects.
“For me, it’s been a
blessing in my life and in my family’s life to be able to contribute in this
kind of time that we’re in and it gave me something to look at beyond myself and
my financial situation,” Willson said. “When you see how people sustain on just
their faith alone, you learn that there’s nothing here that could compare to
what they go through. Mainly it’s just the fact that I’m able to do something
outside myself to help people.”
Willson said the major current project is
construction of a $78,000 medical center which will provide health care for the
community.
“There’ll be more expense to that,” she said, adding that the
medical supplies will be the biggest cost. “The main objective is to make sure
the money arrives safely, it’s there and the finances we need to continue
building, and to make sure the committee is there to continue. That’s really our
main goal is to get that clinic going to maintain and oversee. We don’t just
give it and just drop it.”
And Willson won’t be alone on this trip. She’ll be
joined by 18-year-old Riley Delchamps, a recent Gov. Thomas Johnson High School
graduate who said she’s been waiting to take the mission trip since she was 14.

“I first heard about it when I was 14, and I wasn’t old enough to go,” she
said. “Since I turned 18 this year, I figured it’s the perfect time to go. …I’ve
always been interested in travel; I’ve always really been interested in mission
work. The way Judy talked about it; it seemed like such an amazing
program.”Willson said the majority of the funding comes via grants and donations
from members of the church’s congregation. She said she was “excited” to have a
young person join her on the trip, and said she was excited to share her
experience helping people.
“This year’s the first time we’ve had someone
step up to the plate to take the journey to cross the big pond from our parish,”
she said with a laugh. “It’s very exciting because as a mother and grandmother,
it’s neat to take someone from the younger generation and give them that kind of
exposure. It’s going to be a meaningful event in her lifetime.”
Willson said
sharing her trip with someone else would allow her to see the experience through
fresh eyes, and that she was looking forward to Delchamps’ point of view.
“I
have to not let it be a distraction to me, but some of the best part is having
someone else have this exposure and then to critique it,” Willson said. “For
them to give me an honest opinion … It’s more exciting than going by myself.
It’s much more fun to have someone to share it with.”
Delchamps, who will
attend Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. in the fall, said the trip isn’t her
first experience with a mission trip. She said she visited Honduras for a week
last year, and has participated in a mission trip to St. Paul, Va., where she
and other volunteers do home repairs and other similar aid activities. But even
though it’s not her first time helping people on a mission trip, she said she’s
excited for the month-long journey.
“It’s an experience I’d love to have,”
she said. “I love working with other people. [I’m looking forward to] meeting
the people and I know I’m making a difference. We’re going to be visiting some
of the kids that my church has sponsored.”
And while some soon-to-be college
freshmen might be content to spend their pre-college summer at home on the
couch, Delchamps said she was glad to have such a fulfilling activity to spend
time on.
“I really like that it gives me something to do so I’m not just
sitting at home waiting for college,” she said. “I’m not going to miss home as
much as I think. I’m just so excited.”
tlaino@gazette.net