Answering the call

When it comes to taking mission trips, Parker Lipke is unequivocal: This is what God wants him to do.

Lipke, 13, is an eighth-grader at Jackson Junior High School and has traveled twice to Swaziland, a country of a little more than a million people in southern Africa. And if Lipke had his way, he'd be on the next plane back -- yesterday.

"God's called me there," the straight-A student said on a recent afternoon. "It's kind of my home. I feel like it's where I belong."

It's also a long way from where he sits, not only in terms of physical distance, but culturally and economically. So why does an American boy with a comfortable home decide to travel to a country where people eke out an existence in shanties made of rags and go without basic necessities such as food and water?

"Because you've gotta say yes to God," he replied.

Parker Lipke and his Swazi friend, Caleb, are pictured at Project Canaan in Swaziland.Submitted

During his trips to Swaziland, Lipke has spent time helping out at an orphanage filled with children whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS. It's part of a 2,500-acre reserve called Project Canaan, which also includes a farm.

While adults are taught job skills and agricultural techniques, orphans and other vulnerable children are schooled, fed and loved in a structured environment that stands in stark contrast to life outside the compound.

Lipke's love for the children and their plight was such that when he returned from his first trip to Project Canaan, he became angry and withdrew from family and friends.

"When we came back, he was a different kid," his mother, Ashley, said.

Instead of being a normal, active, mischievous boy, Parker became angry and quiet.

Parker Lipke of Jackson shows a bead giraffe made by Swazi artisans with Project Canaan, which he visited on two mission trips to Swaziland over Thanksgiving breaks. Lipke's Swazi friend, Caleb, provided the footprints for the Love sign that Lipke got as a Christmas gift a year ago.Fred Lynch

"He said, 'I don't want anything for Christmas. Don't get me anything,'" Ashley added.

The contrast between the plenty in his own life and the desolation in the Project Canaan kids' was just too much for Parker. So he started raising money to go again.

"He worked his tail off," his mother said.

Now, instead of fundraising for another trip -- which he'd dearly love to do -- Parker instead is helping raise money so the children at the orphanage can have new bunk beds.

"He's halfway to $3,000 in only two weeks," Ashley Lipke said.

Parker Lipke of Jackson shows a Swaziland flag that he got while visiting the country on a mission trip during Thanksgiving break. Lipke's Swazi friend, Caleb, provided the footprints for the Love sign that Lipke got as a Christmas gift a year ago.Fred Lynch

A heart for Haiti

For Kate Harding, a junior at Central High School in Cape Girardeau, the story is similar, but the destination is different. Harding's passion lies in Haiti at a place called Respire (pronounced res-per-ay).

It's a ministry begun by a 24-year-old American woman named Megan Boudreaux that cares for orphans and child slaves known as restaveks, along with other children in need. Harding's mother, Becky, had organized medical missions to the area in past years, and then her daughter saw the conditions there when she traveled to the tiny island nation last summer.

"I fell in love with how they had nothing, but they had everything," Harding said. "They don't care about materialistic things."

As with Parker Lipke, seeing the living conditions in Haiti made Harding realize just how much she has in her own life.

"I feel like I was there to help them, and they ended up helping me," she said.

The first thing she noticed after arriving in Haiti were trash piles everywhere, because curbside pickup isn't an option. Roads are made of dirt and traffic is chaotic. While the streets are often filled with pedestrians, those who do have cars honk to let others know they intend to turn, sometimes with 20 people piled in a rickety truck -- all of which adds up to a great deal of noise.

Meanwhile, housing usually consists of tarps and tin sheeting cobbled together into shacks, and grocery stores don't exist -- just open-air market stalls dotting the landscape.

"The people are beautiful, and the culture is amazing, but once you get into the villages, you can spot the restaveks by how unkempt they are," Becky Harding said.

The child slaves are just one reason she and her daughter returned to Haiti last week for a two-month stint. And likely will return again.

ljones@semissourian.com

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