Jamie Biesiada
For Susan Ferrell, owner of the Raleigh, N.C.-based host agency Travel Experts, giving back to those in need is important.
"We're in the travel industry," Ferrell said. "The travel industry is global, and I think it's important to support our industry partners, and it's also important to do this kind of thing in places other than the U.S."
Ferrell — along with Travel Experts' director of operations Sharon Fake, manager of North Carolina operations Claire Canady, manager of technology and finance Heather McIntyre and even some independent contractors — has found a way to support both a partner and those in need: AmericaShare.
AmericaShare is Micato Safaris' nonprofit arm, and it operates with the goal of providing assistance and enrichment programs to the men, women and children who live in the Mukuru slum in Nairobi, Kenya.
From left, the Travel Experts team and guests with the children they sponsor: 10-year-old Justice and sponsor Heather McIntyre, 12-year-old Feiruz with sponsors Claire and Allan Canaday, 7-year-old Joyce with sponsors Sharon and Michael Fake, and Susan and Steve Ferrell with Mwanaidi and Justus.
AmericaShare accomplishes its mission in a number of ways, but one is offering the opportunity to sponsor a child's education, which Ferrel, Fake, Canady and McIntyre have all done.
For $1,650 annually, a child is sent to boarding school. They receive full tuition, books, uniforms and room and board.
"It was just something they otherwise would not have access to," Ferrell said.
Ferrell and Fake have been sponsoring children for years. In fact, Ferrell and her husband currently sponsor two. Canady and McIntyre started sponsoring children a few years ago.
For the first time, earlier this year, the four women traveled together to Kenya for a safari and, possibly more importantly, a chance to meet the children they sponsor in person, something Canady and McIntyre hadn't yet done.
"I think it was a huge success for everybody," Ferrell said.
"It's just an amazing connection that you form even before you arrive in Africa," Fake said.
She recalled seeing the children for the first time during breakfast at a hotel in Nairobi.
"Without hesitation, they run into your arms," she said. "They are so grateful for all that you are doing for them. They appreciate how their lives are going to be completely changed by the relationships that we have. ... It's really gratifying, and they're just beautiful children."
Ferrell said the chance to meet and spend time with sponsored children is one of AmericaShare's more unique aspects, setting it apart from other charitable endeavors.
"[It's] so different from just sending money somewhere to a fund," she said. "It's much more meaningful."
McIntyre recalled a particularly moving moment for her. She was on a bus to visit a community center, also an AmericaShare project, sitting next to the boy she sponsored, Justice. They passed his house, and he pointed it out to McIntyre.
"It was a metal shack that six people lived in," she said. "It just really made that connection — what we're doing for these kids and what their situation would be without us."
Canady agreed.
"We've been writing to them now for two or three years, and to actually get to meet them in person was honestly kind of surreal and just such a great opportunity to really, really feel you get to know them rather than just in letters," she said. "Now our correspondence with them is just so much more personal because we're actually writing to a real person we've actually met and we feel we have a bond with."
Supporting AmericaShare also has some other ancillary benefits. Traveling for the first time internationally was a bonding experience for the four Travel Experts executives, Ferrell said.
The support for the organization has also trickled down the Travel Experts ranks, with independent contractors sponsoring children. It has brought the network together both figuratively and literally, such as at events Micato has sponsored for the network at Virtuoso Travel Week (Travel Experts is an affiliate of Virtuoso). It also bonds a network of home-based agents at different level.