Meet Your Media Team (pt. 1)

Our departure date is less than three weeks away, and I wanted to give all of our readers the chance to get to know each of our team members. I'll be posting a profile every day, so be sure to check back.

My name is Kelley Foyt, and I'm the journalist/photographer for the trip. I'll be writing all of the blogs and keeping everyone up-to-date on all of the daily news.

About me:
After graduating from high school in 2008, a friend convinced me to take a journalism class, and I instantly fell in love. I started writing for Palomar's school newspaper, The Telescope, and took the fast track from there to getting my journalism degree. I spent a huge amount of time soaking up everything in the industry: I went from being a writer to chief editor of the paper, plus I took any and all classes related to the media industry. In 2009, I interned for a semester at the Poway Chieftain, and in 2010, I interned at the North County Times. Last semester, I received my associate's degree in journalism.

Why I want to go to Nicaragua:
My whole childhood, my mom and I listened to stories from one of her best friends who had grown up in Zimbabwe. I moved from Michigan to California in 2004. My mom decided to organize an estate sale so we could raise money to donate to a group in Zimbabwe (we decided on a women's university based on our friend's recommendation). The project turned into a community event, and we managed to raise $10,000 to donate, which was enough to buy computers for the entire university.

My mom saved up money for three years, and eventually her and I were able to take a trip to Africa to visit the people we had helped. I was able to see firsthand just how much of an impact one person can make in a community's life. My mom spearheaded this project that had this massive domino effect on the entire community. The women's university had grown from a classroom full of students (which was in someone's house) to an entire campus. I met one of the founders of the university, Dr. Hope Sadza, and she had the same energy and passion that I saw in my mom.

This is the type of passion that makes a difference in the world, and this is the same passion that I see in Valishia Savage and Dr. Christine Brody, the two women who have organized this trip. I consider myself lucky to be able to be a part of this life-changing journey and to document it each day. I look forward to meeting each of the patients in Nicaragua because I think the surgeries will change my life just as much as it changes theirs.