By Kathryn Moore
Staff Writer
Instead of going through the typical college routine of classes, homework and social events, junior psychology major Kierstie Kirby is experiencing a semester of hard work in a Third World country.
Kirby is an intern with Mission of Hope, an organization that provides education, health care, job training and orphan care to the poorest Haitian residents.
Kirby discovered her passion for the Haitian people in July 2012 during a mission trip with a team from Fellowship Bible Church in Jackson.
“My team visited Mission of Hope, and I was amazed with their goals and vision for the country,” Kirby said. “Little did I know [that] those short seven days would change my life drastically. I knew God was calling me to Haiti for an extended amount of time, but I wasn’t sure how that looked for me.”
Kirby did not expect to be accepted into a five-month internship program with Mission of Hope the following spring.
She raised about $5,500 in three months for travel and living expenses during the internship, moved out of her apartment, gave away her dog and worked with her professors to determine her options for finishing her degree.
Kirby moved to Haiti in January, where she is one of eight Mission of Hope interns, five of whom are college students from across the United States.
Kirby works primarily with locals in the village of Titanyen, located about 500 yards from the organization’s headquarters and a 30-minute drive from Haiti’s capital, Port au Prince.
She also works with its orphanage, Village of Hope, which houses 64 children aged 15 months to 18 years, with the plan to expand to care for 150 children by 2015.
“We are raising the kids in a strong Christian environment in hopes they will grow up, attain jobs of influence and be the ones who win the nation for God,” Kirby said.
Kirby said she has learned many lessons about what it means to truly rely on God.
“I feel like we, as Americans, myself included, tend to put God in a box,” Kirby said. “We say we have great faith, but no one has faith like an unemployed, single Haitian mother of 7 whose youngest baby is sick, and they’re all hungry. She has no fear the Lord will not provide.”
Elyse Messick, sophomore elementary education major and Kirby’s “little sister” in Kappa Delta, has been able to talk with Kirby weekly through Viber, an iPhone app that makes calls through the Internet.
Messick said she has seen evidence of a change in Kirby’s life.
“A few months ago, she was just a college girl centered on herself and her friends, and now she has a whole new worldview,” Messick said.
Kirby’s internship ends in May, and she will return to Jackson and continue to work toward earning an undergraduate degree.
She is on track to graduate in December 2014 but hopes that with summer and winter classes, she will be able to graduate with her class in May 2014.
“My plans after graduation are up in the air,” Kirby said. “At this point I would love to pack my bags and move to Haiti. I would love to be a child psychologist at MOH and just live life alongside my Haitian brothers and sisters.
“But as we all know, our plans are rarely the same as God’s … so I’ll go where he sends me.”
