Kenyan envoy thanks Brighton students for fundraiser

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Ever since she took a geography class in ninth grade, Kara Andrews has wanted to help people in Africa.

Now a senior at Brighton High School, Andrews and her classmates are doing just that.

The Brighton High student body officer helped determine that the school's fundraiser this year would be to raise $48,000 for the "Give a Dam" campaign sponsored by In Our Own Quiet Way, a Utah-based nonprofit organization aimed at helping people in underdeveloped countries help themselves.

The campaign is an effort started this summer by Quiet Way and Actionprofiles.com to raise money to build 1,000 earthen dams in Kenya over the next 10 years. Brighton students plan to raise enough money to build four of those dams.

So far, the students have more than $24,000 pledged and $9,000-plus in the bank. They have until Dec. 19 to raise another $24,000.

On Thursday, Peter N.R.O. Ogego, the Kenyan ambassador to the U.S., canceled an appointment in Connecticut to visit Brighton High and personally thank the students for helping his country.

Ogego spoke to students about how the U.S. has helped Kenya many times in the past, giving scholarships to young Kenyans and providing food and other supplies during the drought in the '70s.

"It is you young men and young women who have stepped up to help us," Ogego told the students. "I cannot thank you enough. I encourage you to continue with the great American legacy of giving. Thank you all for 'giving a dam.' "

Ogego said Kenya's drought conditions are serious, and to see American youths wanting to help is inspiring and humbling.

Cache Guzy, Brighton High's student body president, said getting to meet and shake hands with the ambassador was an amazing experience.

"We never imagined we would be able to have an ambassador here," Guzy said. "It shocked us when they told us. I can't tell you how sweet this is."

He said the campaign really catches his peers' attentions, and he hears people talking about "giving a dam" throughout the school.

The school had a "Give a Dam" auction Oct. 22, when students pledged to raise more than $20,000. One student pledged more than $4,000. Guzy said the students who pledged money will be going to neighbors and businesses and working personally to raise it.

Diamond Hancock, a senior at Brighton, said student body officers recently were asked to donate $50 each to the campaign. Hancock said she worked at her dad's business for eight hours and then did yard work at a neighbor's house for three more to raise the money.

"I'm so excited," she said. "We can really do this. We can help people far away."

Two directors at Quiet Way, Holly Sue Hatfield and Crystal Miller, said they were moved to tears during Thursday's assembly.

"This entire thing is just amazing to me," Miller said. "What these students are doing will have a long-lasting impact. They are going out of their way and saving lives."

For more information about In Our Own Quiet Way or the "Give a Dam" campaign, visit www.quietway.org.

e-mail: slenz@desnews.com