As Emily Morris sees it, one person’s acts of kindness can truly make a big difference in the lives of others.

Morris, a Windham resident, recently returned from the African nation of Kenya where she spent nearly four-and-a-half months helping to improve the lives of women with HIV and AIDS, AIDS orphans and vulnerable children.

She was an unpaid volunteer – working some weeks as many as 80 hours – for International Peace Initiatives, a small nonprofit organization that inspires and empowers people to overcome disease, conflict and poverty.

Through its core programs, IPI pays school fees and other expenses to keep AIDS orphans in school, helps women become financially independent, provides financial help to college students, and promotes peace and nonviolence.

During her time in Kenya – an experience she calls “amazing” – Morris helped to make a difference in the lives of others. “Being there, working with these people, it really did give them hope and happiness,” said Morris, adding: “Obviously, it’s a small, little ripple in a big pond.”

Working at the grassroots level Morris, 25, worked with community-based organizations at the grassroots level from the end of November through mid-April. Much of her time was spent in Meru, a town affected by HIV, AIDS and poverty. She encountered widows raising children alone because their husband had died of AIDS. Children whose parents had succumbed to AIDS being raised by their grandparents. Poor youths sitting on a street corner all day while getting high by inhaling glue.

“They all kind of looked like the kids from the musical, ‘Oliver.’ They all just kind of like had rags on,” recalled Morris, who bought the youths bread and candy when they asked her for money.

Morris provided ideas and feedback while women were being trained to make jewelry to be sold to support themselves. When women were being trained to helped fill sacks with soil and other ingredients to grow their own crops, Morris documented the training to determine if the program was feasible for others.

“The most important thing we were doing for these women was just letting them know there was a support system out there,” said Morris, who was excited to see a sense of hope in their eyes. “That they weren’t alone, they weren’t isolated, there were many others like them and that they were valuable members of society. They had something to contribute. Just because they’re living with HIV and AIDS doesn’t mean they should go into hiding somewhere.”

One project that IPI is working on is the construction of a home that will provide food, shelter and a nurturing environment for some 80 needy children in the Meru area. Morris helped write its children protection policy and started the registration process for the house to be state-approved.

Organizers hope the house, with its solar roof panel, goat and rabbit pens, bio-gas kitchen stove and large garden with drip irrigation will serve as a model for sustainable development.

Morris graduated from Salem High School in 2002, studied journalism at Boston University, and earned her master of science degree in international and European politics from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in November 2007.

When she heard Dr. Karambu Ringera, the Kenyan woman who started IPI, speak about the organization last year in Waltham, Mass., Morris was inspired and immediately offered to help.

“I had always been interested in going to the developing world and volunteering,” said Morris. “In my master’s program, you learn about all these issues going on in the developing world – the poverty, the disease, the violence. I’ve always been someone who wanted to see these things for myself. I really wanted to go and see if I could help in any way.”

Money that Morris had saved money from working and a loan from her parents made her stay in Kenya possible. Food was inexpensive and Morris lived in Dr. Ringera’s home.

At IPI’s office in Meru, which had about five people, Morris was the only American and the only volunteer. Some locals donated their time.

“It was a challenge at times to get all the things done that needed to be done,” said Morris. “But people there work really hard, so you’re kind of inspired to get up and go and do all sorts of things even if you’re tired.”

Morris lived like a local. She ate the local food, went to birthday parties, funerals, a wedding and church events. And she shared her technology. The Kenyans were fascinated with iTunes from her laptop and loved discovering how her digital camera worked.

Communicating with others wasn’t difficult. While people speak a tribal language and Swahili is the national language, most people knew enough English, the official language, to converse with Morris.

But in some parts of Kenya, particularly rural parts, her race apparently made her a sight never before seen. Morris sensed she was the first white person locals local were seeing in person.

“I was very used to being stared at,” she recalled. “At first, I was a little uncomfortable, of course.”

Morris spoke to her parents by phone every Sunday.

She blogged about her work a few times and tried to stay in touch with people through email, but Internet connections were slow and spotty.

Morris didn’t have a TV and didn’t know much about what was going on in the world outside of Kenya. Busy with work, she actually found it nice to “tune out.”

Obama mania
Morris arrived in Kenya after Barack Obama had been elected president, but she was there when he took office. When Kenyans learned she was an American, they wanted to know about Obama.

Pictures of Obama – the son of a Kenyan man – were displayed on public transportation vehicles. Posters of him were being sold. Parts of the country had celebrated a public holiday when he had been elected. The names “Obama” and “Michelle” were the most popular names for babies. “His picture was everywhere,” said Morris.

Morris was surrounded by hundreds of screaming, excited Kenyans in a bar as they watched Obama’s presidential inauguration on a large screen. When he delivered his inaugural speech, everyone fell silent.

“You really realize the impact that America has in even the farthest corners of the world,” Morris said. “People know who we are, what we do. And everything our government does reverberates back down to these people.”

Helping others – and feeling good about it While Morris was in Kenya, Dr. Ringera took in several youths who had no place to live. Morris helped them prepare for school, took trips and made dinner with them. It was one of the best parts of her stay.

Morris threw a Christmas party using some of the $1,000 she was able to raise back home after writing letters to a couple of Salem area newspapers. She distributed about 90 bags that included food, underwear, socks, T-shirts, pens and pencils.

“If you give a child a pencil, it’s like you’ve given them a computer,” said Morris. “It’s really a big deal.”

She also gave some of the money to a young man who would not have been able to finish school in Uganda without the funds.

Sometimes, Morris reached into her own pocket to help others. When she noticed the dirty and cracked feet of an elderly grandmother, she bought the woman two pairs of shoes. She bought groceries for people. She paid for a sick child to be treated at a clinic because his mother had no money.

Even though she has returned home, Morris plans to keep doing her part to brighten the lives of people in Meru.

She plans to send money to people, including the girl who cleans Dr. Ringera’s house and is trying to support her family.

She’s going to sell jewelry for the women who made it. A necklace sold for $10 would provide them with more money than one person in Meru could make in two weeks. Morris would also like to donate computers. “There’s a lot of things that could be done over there with just a little bit of money,” she said.

Morris wants to stay involved in international work. She would like to someday get a job with the United Nations. She hopes to make another trip to Kenya. In June, she plans to take the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Officer exam.

“I would encourage people to go volunteer anywhere in the world,” said Morris. “If you have any free time or any spare money at all, you can go to a place like I went to, even for just two or three weeks. The impact you will make – these people will remember you for the rest of their lives, just be so happy that you’re there. It will be a very gratifying experience for you, and it’s a way of fostering good relationships between cultures, too.”