MSU Reclaimed Project board member speaks about work in Southern Africa
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – A fraternity at Mississippi State University is helping change lives here at home and a world away in southern Africa.
Jesse Carver, a board member with Reclaimed Project, spoke today in Starkville about the organization’s work in Lesotho, a small country in Africa, and just up the road in Marks, Mississippi.
The non-profit, based in Fondren, is the philanthropy of MSU’s chapter of Kappa Sigma, and the beneficiary of the fraternity’s annual Charity Bowl.
In just 2 years, Kappa Sig has raised more than a $1 million.
Members of the fraternity do regular service projects with Reclaimed’s The Village educational center in Marks, but during Spring Break, they take their service global.
More than 40 members went to Lesotho this year, where Reclaimed ministers to widows, orphans, and other vulnerable children.
They have built a high school there, and in a country where less than 16% have a high school education, last year they sent seven graduates to university in South Africa. This year, they plan to have more.
“Once you realize that an education and attention go a long way in a child’s life, it’s hard not to sacrifice my time and effort to go and take these 40 Kappa Sigs back. You know it’s kind of weird to hear an orphan in a Third-World Country say he wants to grow up, and he has plans for his future. It’s weird, but it’s also encouraging to see, like these kids have a vision. These kids have hopes and dreams. What was just an orphan, and he was given a loaf of bread and two weeks in the mountains chasing sheep, now he wants to go to school, and he’s got dreams,” said Carver.
The next phase of Reclaimed Project’s work includes a sports facility, and this Summer the group is taking a group of students from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes on a mission project.
