Meet Jessica Chibueze:

Jessica Chibueze first visited Uganda with the intention of exploring an African country other than her native home Nigeria. She figured it’d be an exciting experience as an 18 year old back then to spend the summer before her freshman year in an East African country.

2 years and 2 trips later, the purpose behind Jessica’s trips to Uganda has evolved to include a deeper and much more rewarding meaning. On her second trip, Jessica had a spiritual awakening that changed her perspective on life. Since then she has gained what she calls an obsession with offering aide to those in developing countries. Inspired by her newly found connection to Christianity, Jessica started an outreach program where she teaches children the importance of hygiene as a preventative measure against disease by bathing and clothing them.

In her own words,

“I’m a 20-year old Nigerian American living in the United States who has been going on summer mission trips to Uganda for the past three years. After my first mission to Uganda, my life was impacted greatly. After this trip, I decided to major international Studies and minor in Nonprofit Studies in hopes to secure a career dealing with international development in Africa.

On my second trip to Uganda, I started a initiative to advance public health by teaching young children the importance of hygiene as a way to prevent diseases that the doctors on our mission team would commonly come across during the medical outreach programs we conducted. In 2012, I was able to bathe and clothe 20 children. In 2013, I had a modest goal of bathing and clothing 40 children, but was successfully able to outdo my goal and tend to 60 children.

This July, I intend to continue my project my bathing and clothing 100 children. As an act of sustainability, I want to raise enough supplies to be able to give them enough toiletries to last each of these 100 kids for a year. I also intend to raise money to help support other young Africans to go with me to Uganda this year.

My ultimate goal is to replicate this initiative and establish in Nigeria in the upcoming years.”

In 2012, Jessica was able to clothe and bathe 20 children despite the many challenges and adversaries she faced. She recently returned to Uganda with the goal of assisting 40 children and to her surprise she was able to bathe and clothe not just 40 but 60 children. These Uganda trips include doctors doing checkups for everyone in the villages, but she began to also focus on the youth and what could benefit them the most. Jessica’s 2012 visit was to teach kids how to maintain good hygiene, so she raised money for clothing  & supplies such as toothbrushes, soap, wash cloths. These simple things & knowledge she provides them would assist these children with what’s needed to prevent being diagnosed with certain diseases.

Jessica was impacted by the fulfilling sense of accomplishment that comes with social service and more importantly, she also became aware of how others treasure the privileges others often take for granted. One of her most memorable experiences was photographing the children that she worked with and capturing priceless smiles, faces and moments. By stepping out of her comfort zone to help others, Jessica built relationships with extraordinary people and experienced a sense of fulfillment that most people don’t have the opportunity to experience. When we asked Jessica what “Africa is done suffering’ meant to her she said “ Africa is done being stagnant” and that “there are people willing to rise up out of the norm to take a risk and do something to change the status quo of the continent. It’s an exciting thing really.” With leaders like Jessica already making impacts on the continent, we are just as excited about Africa’s future as she is.