Alexis Pfeifer of Mars with some of the children she helped while on her mission trip to Africa. She began her trip in May with a group of other students.

Alexis Pfeifer of Mars journeyed to Africa for volunteerism and adventure.

She made the trip from May 12 to June 9 with a group of 34 students from International Student Volunteers, a California-based nonprofit.

“I thought to myself, ‘Wow, this is an opportunity that I'm never going to get,'” said Pfeifer, a journalism student at Kent State University.

Her experiences began at the Children of Hope Daycare in Red Hill, South Africa, which is supported by African Impact, an organization that coordinates volunteer missions to the continent.

The daycare was at the top of a mountain and surrounded by hundreds of tiny shacks, barely large enough for families to sleep in.

Huge, green jugs held the water for the community and were hoisted above ground to protect them from the animals. It was considered unfit for consumption by the volunteer group.Pfeifer spent mornings during her first two weeks teaching 1- and 2-year-olds at the daycare.The mornings with the toddlers involved teaching numbers and colors, coloring time, crafts, story time, nap time and recess.Pfeifer found an unexpected assistant in a youngster named Prince. He was fluent in both English and Xhosa, a native language, and served as a translator for Pfeifer.“He was so smart,” she said. “He definitely made an impact.”Pfeifer spent her afternoons coaching netball teams of 10- to 13-year-olds. Netball is similar to basketball.“We did some good coaching,” she said with a laugh. “It was so awesome that we got to participate in that.”The volunteer group was well-supported and stayed in a house funded by African Impact.Pfeifer's trip also included traveling with her team throughout South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique.Pfeifer was amazed at the diversity of the lodgings.“We stayed in this one hut where you had to crawl to get in,” she said.

At another location, they were instructed to lock the door to keep baboons out. They were told the baboons knew how to open doors and sometimes even found the keys, unlocked the doors, and raided the huts. Bars were placed on the windows to keep the four-legged robbers at bay.Another part of the trip was spent at an elephant sanctuary.“They were right up close and personal with us,” she said. “They gave us a kiss.”Pfeifer said she thought the sanctuary was one of the positives on a trip in which she saw both crippling poverty and stunning generosity.“There are people out there who want to make a difference,” she said.Pfeifer thought she was prepared for the things she would see in Africa.“I knew it would be bad, but I didn't expect it to be that bad,” she said. “It was shocking.”Although the other students had been strangers to Pfeifer at the start of the trip, they left as friends and keep in touch through Facebook. They are already planning next year's trip.

Elephants cross the river at Kruger National Park in South Africa.

Two Butler County college students recently participated in mission trips to Africa. Among the sites to see were the giraffes that roam at Kruger National Park in South Affrica.