Ethiopia at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships

Transcription

Life changing. Life changing. Life changing. It changes your life. This has changed my life. It definitely changed my entire outlook on life and everything. It sounds cliché but it really does. It changes your life in one way or another. I had never been out of the country before so it was really going to be, I thought, a fun experience. And I was kind of nervous, too. I had no really idea what to expect. It was a long, long flight. The longest flight I ever took. I don't think any of us slept one wink. We were just sitting there like, "Okay... Are we there yet?" Just getting off the plane and being over in Ethiopia it was shell shocking. Once we got in the van and started driving in that's when kind of the poverty hit and were just looking out the window in silence like, "Wow, this is a lot different from America." The every day things we take for granted, people over there don't have it. People have to struggle to survive each day. You know, the biggest challenge was just putting away sadness and just continuing to serve. We went to this small village and put some wrap around the houses so the rain wouldn't come in. Then we were just swarmed with children that just wanted to play. We got to play with the kids. It was our first real interaction with the people there and they were so happy. We visited a village. It's pretty much where the outcasts of the city go. And a lot of these people are suffering from leprosy. The fact that we would we would touch them... You know to some people they're seen as unclean and, to them, being there and spending time with them, and doing what were able to do was pretty incredible. One woman, she said, "It's not about what you give us. It's that you came. It's that you cared enough just to be here and that means the world to us." And hearing that was like... whoa. I expected to see a lot of despair. I came to find quite the opposite. I was just overwhelmed with how truly joyful they were. And it was contagious. They're so kind, so happy, just generally care about people. And you would never know what they're going through or that they go to get their food from a dump. I find myself, with basketball especially, just complaining about the littlest things. I have to wake up at 7 and run or something like that and then we go over there and they literally have nothing at all but they were definitely the most joyful people I've ever been around. It's so amazing to see the dynamic of people who aren't in possession of so many material things. And how joyous and how full their hearts are with love. The people of Ethiopia definitely were beautiful and hopeful in a way that I had never seen before. It kind of changes the way you think. I don't know. I just feel like my career and future opportunities have kind of changed because of this trip. I think that's the case for a lot of people. You know, if everything works out, NFL and stuff like that, you know, I feel like I will be more of a giving person. Before I was just more concerned about... I mean, everybody likes to buy nice stuff, don't get me wrong. But I feel like helping people that don't have much, I feel like that would be more impactful than having nice shoes and clothes. Well, it's made me want to travel a lot more. Not just sightsee or experience different things but to help people. So I would love to be able to go back or go somewhere else and just help people to achieve what they want in life. I would definitely like to go over there, somewhere in Africa at least. Maybe if that would a career or something like that. That would be awesome. I've been given a great opportunity, and you know, our school paid for and that's the least we could do. You know, is to give back a little bit. We're given such a platform so we need to be able to give back and use what we have to impact others' lives. I think it's really important for people to see that there's so much more to being a student-athlete and there's so much more about being at the University of Kentucky. This University is based off a lot of character, you know. And there's a lot of moral values that the University is based off of and they stress those values in athletics as well. Mitch Barnhart is all about giving back. Just the fact that he wants to do it. He doesn't have to do this but that he wants to do it. And Jason Schlafer went with us. He kind of led the charge on this whole trip. I think that it shows that we value that. Like they want to help grow athletes that care about others. I think it's incredible to see that a place that should be so centered around winning is also centered around developing the person and developing our athletes into good people. Making sure that once we're finished competing we're prepared to do more and to be more. And it just really shows how invested they are in us outside of the realm of athletics. I mean I think that really says a lot about the priorities of this institution and that's one of the reasons why I'm so proud to be an athlete here. It's been a privilege to play at a university like that. I just want to thank everyone that was involved and really encourage them to continue to do it because if it can change one other person's life like it did mine it was completely worth it. This is something that I will remember for the rest of my life and I think that the others can say that, too. So, just thank you.