,J1111io1 .1/J/Jy Smith dornmented her swnnH'I' in he,. hometou·n (i.linja, Uyundcz. lhmuyh pho1o171'uphi1 thot 1c•c1.,fe11t11red at Micl11i9ht Oil Coffee /Io11se in Sew·cy, Arkansas. I Photo by Becrn Riley Junior Abby Smith returned to her roots in Jinja, Uganda in June 2015 as a fellow, or missionary, for the KiboGroup. According to kibogroup.org, the nonprofit missionary effort focused on empowering communities through "creative development initiatives in East Africa." Smith and two other Harding students, juniors Lindsey Luter and Sarah Roe,spent their summerforming relationships with the people in Ugandan villages while immersing themselves in the African culture as Kibo Fellows. Smith was no stranger to Jinja or the Kibo Group. Her parents, Darren and Becka Smith, along with five other U.S. families, including the Abney family, founded the nonprofit organization in 1998. Senior global economic development major Zach Abney was part of the group that created the Kibo Fellows program the summer of 2014. He and Smith spent the first seven years of their lives growing up in Africa and described the impact this had on them as second-generation Kibo Fellows. "Because of our connections now that we have, because we are second generation, it allows us to have a unique opportunity to act on those passions using Kibo Group," Abney said. The small community of missinoaries grew close during their time in Jinja, according to Smith. "Our group was my family," Smith said. "It was like I had 20 brothers and sisters. They are the kids I grew up with, and to this day, I would do anything for them." Kibo fellowship mentor Harrison Dell be1ieved in the positive change fellows like Smith, Luter and Roe could bring to impoverished communities. "Many people in East Africa (because of Kibo) are learning that their problem is not a lack of resources," Dell said. "Real poverty is a lack of community, a lack of trust, a lack of hope and a lack of education." Throughout their time in Uganda, the fellows pa1ticipated in all aspects of the Kibo Group, including helping at the Source Cafe. The Kibo Group created the cafe as a "redemptive" I :J~ PEOPLE business, se1ving local coffee and fares while providint~ jobs directly and indirectly to over 100 communit) members, according to the Kibo website. The fellows were involved in four main projects: empowering women to take care of themselves an their homes, digging wells and teaching the community how to fix them, planting Mvule trees to promote rural development, and participating in community sanitation eff01ts. After several years in Jinja, Smith and her family moved to Bristol, England where her dad pursued his doctorate. The family lived there for a year and a half until they relocated to Springfield, Missouri. Although she no longer lived in Jinja, missions continued to be a pa1t of Smith's life. "I am so blessed to be a pa1t of something like Kibo Group and have learned so much working with their staff this summer," Smith said. "They taught me how to love God passionately, serve whole-heartedly and how to live relentlessly for God and who He is."
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