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Ashley Hayes reporting Nearly two dozen Utah teens with the organization YouthLINC are on their way to Africa, a country they've only seen in pictures.
The pictures aren't pretty; they show children orphaned because of disease and hygiene.
Organizers have briefed the students on diseases and hygiene, they've had numerous vaccinations. None of it phases them.
When we saw them off at the airport this morning, they couldn't have been anymore excited than if they were headed for the Virgin Islands.
Vacation for many young adults blur with images of partying, tanning and letting loose on white sand beaches. But look closely at what these high school and college students are packing in their bags. You won't find any bikinis.
Judy Zone, director YouthLINC: "We're not just packing for ourselves here. We're packing for a lot of people."
Thousands of people who live a world away from here.
Mark Goerlitze-Jessen, YouthLINC Member: "Today we're just packing up things. Supplies we're going to be taking back to the school and the orphanage."
In order to get to the supplies there, the students will fly 36 hours from Salt Lake City to Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the eventual destination being Nairobi, Kenya.
There are 22 students going with 10 adult volunteers.
For the Jessen family, this is vacation.
Sylvia Jessen, Family is traveling to Kenya: "We gave up a trip to Germany for the World Cup for this. My husband said I think it's more important to go to Kenya--so all three of us are going."
The last meeting before taking off is filled with chaos and the enthusiasm created from eight months of preparing.
Mark Goerlitze-Jessen, YouthLINC Member: "Each of the students, we had to put in 100 hours of services so we could get 1-thousand dollars donated."
There are 90,000 dollars of donated medical supplies; including solar powered hearing aids that will open a world of sounds to 27 deaf orphans.
Sylvia Jessen, Family is traveling to Kenya: "This orphanage has a lot of children left behind because of aids and lots of mentally and physically handicapped children outcast by their society.
Judy Zone, director YouthLINC: "When everyone comes back their lives are changed. They're different people...they'll never take for granted a running toilet, water they can drink out of tap...for a pretty long time they won't want to buy any clothes."
The students were able to make this trip because of donations and sponsorships from Rotary and various clubs and the individuals in the community. The kids wanted to thank everyone for their support.
When the YouthLINC team returns in three weeks, we are going to catch up with them and see if their experiences matched their expectations.
