Abigail Warren ’16 | Staff Writer

While many high school students spend their summers vacationing and enjoying their time off from school, Kitty McKay ‘16 has spent her last three summers helping countries all over the world through missionary work.

McKay said she was indecisive when first contemplating whether or not to go on these trips. The choice was not easy, but with much time and discussion she came to a final decision, she said.

“My heart was really heavy to go on a mission trip, and I kept not wanting to go,” McKay said. “But I was talking to my family friends about what I wanted to do with my life, and I guess I just felt I had to go.”

What also contributed to the decision of committing to go on the mission trip was that one of her five other siblings spent their summers overseas doing missionary work as well, McKay said.

McKay’s first missionary trip started the summer of her freshman year, she said.  She traveled to Zambia, a country in Africa, to take part in a water filter team where the team learned to clean water for the people of Zambia.

The summer after Zambia, McKay traveled to Ecuador in South America, she said. On this mission trip she was assigned to dig out a two-mile long trench to reroute a clean waterway for a ministry. Additionally, McKay got to climb Mt. Cotopaxi in Ecuador.

The summer going into her junior year, McKay traveled to Tanzania, another country located in Africa, she said. Here, McKay worked to build schools for  children. On this trip as well McKay got an opportunity to climb another mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro.

“Out of all the trips I would have to say Tanzania was my favorite,” McKay said “Although I loved them all, Tanzania is the one that stood out to me most.”

These trips took a lot more than just getting on a plane McKay said. Every trip came with a great deal of preparation in order for everything to run smoothly. Every volunteer is required to have both a yellow fever and malaria shot to protect against diseases. Strict measures in clothing attire are also required due to different culture beliefs, McKay said.

[quote_center]“Each trip has both its ups and downs,” McKay said. “Being on this trip, you learn a lot about who you are while facing many challenges that you have to overcome.”[/quote_center]

McKay learned about the idea of embracing and caring for other cultures, she said. The best thing she experienced was the love she felt from other countries and the love she was able to give back to them.

But aside from  positive outcomes on these trips, she also had struggles. Being away from family and friends was hard enough, but on a more serious note McKay worried about survival.

“One of the biggest challenges I faced was staying healthy when the living conditions were quite primitive,” McKay said.

On these trips McKay met all different kinds of people, she said. The idea of all of these mission trips is centered around teens from the United States coming together to spend two full months working for the underprivileged in foreign countries.

Not only has McKay seen growth within herself from these mission trips but many around her have seen the difference as well, said McKay.

“These trips have impacted Kitty in more ways than I think she or I could even consciously express,” her sister Bella McKay ‘14 said. “However, one of the biggest things that has developed in Kitty through these summers us her intensity and wild ambition for life.”

Good friend Ryley Kerik ‘16 agrees.

[quote_center]“Kitty has overall become very enlightened through these trips. They have opened up doors for her and have given her insight to the world around her which has made her a more grounded person,” Kerik said. [/quote_center]

Kitty said she plans to go on going on another trip to Madagascar this summer where she will be driving all over the country, from village to village, on motorcycles to provide literacy classes and medical relief. This is a trip that one of her siblings went on a few years back,and is a trip she has been wanting to go on.

Bella said, “She (Kitty) has a vision for her life and she will continue to fight for it, regardless of the oppositions.”