This week, eight UK student-athletes, along with members of the athletic department staff, are participating in a service trip to Ethiopia. On the trip are Megan Moir from women’s golf, Brooke Keyes and Kayla King from women’s soccer, Kayla Hartley from gymnastics, Grace Trimble from women’s tennis, Kastine Evans from women’s basketball, Emily Holsopple from rifle and Aubrey Lamar from softball. Each athlete was nominated by her respective head coach for this trip.  On these blog posts, you’ll find the personal views of the athletes as they share their unique perspectives on their service and learnings in Ethiopia.July 25, 2012Kastine Evans – Women’s BasketballThe tricks of the trade. Something that was evident on our trip today. As we stood outside a house in Debre Zeit, we looked in at the beautiful landscape.  The fully bloomed trees and flowers, a garden, coffee trees and mango trees filled the front yard. The swings hung from the bamboo tree as the family greeted us. Samy, Ruth, Rebecca and Abigail welcomed us with great smiles.  Samy and Ruth came to Ethiopia two years ago from India to serve the poor in the community of Debre Zeit.  They were renovating their house to accommodate guests who come their way to serve the poor, and we were there to help. We split in groups and some began painting the rooms inside the house. Five-year old Rebecca wished for a Pepto-pink color room, the hallways were re-painted white and the doors grey. Brooke and Megan began painting the floorboards where fatigue began to hit. They sat on the floor, with one hand holding their body in the upright position and the other hand painting the floor board.Outside, some group members fixed up the garden and flowers. They made a flowerbed with handmade bricks that were purchased on the side of the road and brought back to the house by donkey and carriage. They quickly began to make a trench to place each brick along the fencing of the house. Weeds were pulled in the garden and various landscapes around the house. We each worked with someone from Ethiopia who knew so much about the tasks. Each plant had a purpose and no materials went to waste. It was fascinating to see how knowledgeable they were about everything. The language barrier did not bring as much difficulty as I assumed, and we were able to communicate with hand signals and a positive attitude.I spent the morning working with a local man who was handcrafting bunk beds for the girls. He measured each metal bar to create rails and we drilled holes into his carefully marked points. The drill was plugged into the wall that would spin the drill and we manually lowered the drill to the exact point. As a first timer, the precision was hard to master, but together with Abebe (a kind, smart Ethiopian leader who is travelling with us), we were able to create consistency in my work. It took time to make the template for the other three bunk beds, and it was crazy to see the lights in the house flicker as he turned on the welder. We sanded the rust and primed the frame for them to paint another day. It was so rewarding to be able to give the girls a bed that they will be able to use for many years.Kayla Hartley – Gymnastics Samy and Ruth welcomed us with open arms, feeding the whole team lunch and dinner. As we walked in to the house this morning we saw three chickens in the yard. Guess what we had for lunch… chicken! Some of the girls saw the chickens being decapitated and they quickly came back in the house; no longer ready to eat chicken for lunch anymore. For me, I didn’t witness them being prepared for lunch so I had no problem trying the VERY fresh chicken. Amazingly it tasted like chicken, though it wasn’t as tender as the processed chicken I’m used to but it was still very good. We had potatoes grown from Samy and Ruth’s garden for lunch, and beans and other vegetables for dinner grown by the two. For dinner we also had eggs from the chickens, potatoes and bread. Both lunch and dinner were all homemade and wonderful, giving the team a great home cooked meal away from home. After dinner, Samy took the time to tell the team that he was grateful for us coming and helping renovate his house. He explained how he and his family arrived in Debre Zeit with very little and it brought him great joy for us to go and help paint and make bunk beds for him and his family. Samy explaining all of this and how he felt was such a great thing to hear, because we came here to serve the people of Ethiopia and knowing that they really appreciate it shows how far a good deed can go. Knowing he had absolutely nothing and that we could help get him closer to his goals was a wonderful feeling.