(From left) Rod Wildman, 2nd Mile Missions; Nancy Wildman, 2nd Mile Missions; Megan Kendall, Lincoln Elementary.
(Photo by Alyssa Richardson)

It was with tears, hugs and words of encouragement that Warsaw Community School staff and teachers, as well as the family and friends of Lincoln Elementary School first grade teacher Megan Kendall met yesterday evening to say goodbye and good luck to Kendall.

At 5:50 a.m. this Friday, Kendall will board a plane in Chicago to travel to the Dominican Republic where she will teach English to preschool students at the Second Mile Education Center which services 800 students from preschool to high school for the next year.

After 3 years teaching at Lincoln Elementary, where Kendall herself was once a student, she explained she was driven by her first trip to the Dominican Republic as a teacher while a student at Taylor University.

“They have nothing but they are so full of joy and they have taught me so much more than I feel I could have ever taught them,” explains Kendall of her first trip to the Dominican Republic in 2009. “I just see the hunger down there. They have nothing but they have everything. They are the happiest people you’ll ever be around.”

Though this teaching trip inspired Kendall to continue pursuing her work in the Dominican Republic she admits, immediately after her return, the road back to her pupils was not an easy one to find. After her return to Taylor University to graduate, Kendall sought out different teaching work in the Dominican but notes nothing turned up immediately. It was not until she met Rod and Nancy Wildman of 2nd Mile Missions at Warsaw Community Church that her dream began to bloom again.

“I wanted to return to the Dominican but it just seemed so far fetched,” explained Kendall. “Rod and Nancy spoke in church about the school they had started in the Dominican and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to sponsor a child and help someone by not being there. I wrote a letter and thanked them for the opportunity and expressed my interest in the Dominican but I still wanted to help in a bigger way.”

It was when the Wildmans shared their story about the House of Hope, a recently constructed orphanage in the Dominican Republic that Kendall, moved to tears during church, decided God had moved her to share her passion for the Dominican with them as well. In July, Kendall was contacted by the Wildmans and her dream to return as a teacher in the Dominican Republic became a reality.

“I know without a shadow of a doubt this is what I am suppose to do,” said Kendall with a smile. “I’m just anxious to get down there and see what God has in store for me.”

“Megan will be teaching English to all the little kids,” explained Rod Wildman. “To have an American teaching English is really exciting. Most of our kids would not have the opportunity to go to school if we did not provide it for them. And if they don’t go to school, there is nothing for them. The boys would be into drugs, or stealing or manual labor for the rest of their life. Girls, prostitution is about all they have for the rest of their life and trying to get married but they usually end up with kids and no guy to support them. It is just a cycle of poverty. Our goal is to get them an education and try to end this. We really want them to stay all the way through high school.”

WCS staff, friends and family offered prayers and words of support and encouragement for Kendall. For those interested in further information on 2nd Mile Missions, sponsoring a child at the school visit www.2ndmilemissions.org. Those interested may also offer sponsorship and donations to Kendall and her classroom by emailing Kendall at [email protected].