Hands of Hope reach 'round the world

In their small way, five teen girls are set to change the world — and themselves in the process

By Jim Hart

The Sandy Post, Nov 3, 2009

There’s a lot of excitement among the young women who comprise the Hands of Hope team.

The group of seven, including five teenage girls and two adults will travel during the holiday break to Uganda in central Africa to serve the needs of people living in a culture totally foreign to almost everyone from Sandy.

About 70 percent of the needed $22,000 has been raised, according to Hands of Hope founder Mikki Proffitt, and the airplane tickets have been purchased for the trip.

The girls still have six fundraisers left to conduct to earn the rest of the funds needed to complete the trip and serve the Ugandans they will live with for three weeks.

But this trip is more than just another mission to a developing country, said Proffitt, who is a drug and alcohol counselor.

This entire effort, which will encompass nearly a year’s time, is a rite of passage for these teenagers from childhood to responsible young adults.

Through her dedication to this cause, Proffitt has acquired a unique and diverse group of girls essentially as members of her family. She is now “mother” to girls who are transforming their lives into responsible young women.

Proffitt will accept nothing less.

Almost six months ago, the girls were floundering in and out of dangerous activities. Today, these young women, ages 16 and 17, are planning to do what would frighten many adults.

They want to reach out to a Third-World country and make a difference in the lives of its children – especially HIV-positive orphans, children of prostitute parents and street kids.

Most of these girls had been living lives with few boundaries, and they had been faced with challenges that many teenagers haven’t encountered. Without the guidance they needed at critical times, they often made choices with frustrating consequences.

But once they had committed to Hands of Hope, they had to make a choice: follow Proffitt’s lead, continue to trust her, stay within her boundaries and respect her values – or go on probation and face expulsion from the group.

Last year, Proffitt said, most of the girls were living difficult and risky lifestyles.

“A year ago,” she said, “two of them were failing school and all but one of them were using drugs and/or alcohol on a daily basis.”

But through Proffitt’s efforts and with help from some volunteers and especially the focused work the teen girls did, they are transforming their lives.

The Hands of Hope are not only reaching out to less fortunate Africans, but also they are reaching inward to bring change within each of the girls.

“I believe all of them are now straight-A students,” Proffitt said. “I’m so excited to see the results of investing in the lives of five beautiful young women. I am so proud of them; there aren’t words to describe how I feel about each one. They have changed my life.”

Paul Hunter and his Next Generation Ministries of Colton will assist the group while they are in Africa. They’ll also be accompanied by Jan LaFontaine, an award-winning photographer and author who will document the group’s journey from Dec. 10 to Jan. 1, 2010.

This effort is a huge step in faith for Proffitt as well as for everyone else associated with the project – mainly because it is a first for everyone except Hunter.

Proffitt is trusting the girls will respond and continue for nearly a year to focus on their individual goals. She’s trusting that people will have faith in these girls and the worthiness of the goals. And she’s trusting that people will respond in ways that assist them to raise the needed funds. When Hunter recently bought seven airline tickets on his own credit card with a promise that Proffitt would pay him back in 30 days, she knew that was a huge gift of trust.

Proffitt said choosing to make the trip in December was another step in faith. The alternative would have been to continue fundraising for another five months and make a much shorter trip during spring break. But that would have been too easy.

Having the puzzle pieces fall together to create a winter trip, Proffitt said, was “miraculous.”

“It would be easy to plan our fundraising and go in the spring,” she said, “but there would be no lesson for the girls. It would be just grunt work (to raise money).

“There’s a bigger lesson here, that there’s someone bigger than they are who has bigger plans for all of us than what we can imagine.

“I’m taking a step in faith believing that, and sharing that with them.”

Proffitt said this work also is building community because the families of the girls are now interacting with other families and joining their children in this work.

But nothing can prepare any of the seven women for the culture shock they are destined to experience when they leave the airport in Uganda and travel to the small village where they will live and work

And when they return to their homeland, it will be a passage from the past to the future – from the old year to a new year filled with hope and many poignant memories.

They’ll board the plane in Africa Dec. 31, 2009 and get off the plane in Portland Jan. 1, 2010.

“These girls will honor all the changes they have made by leaving something in Uganda from their old life and then come home to a new life,” Proffitt said. “That was our goal; that is our fate.”