Senior Madilynne Wiggins had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Swaziland in southern Africa in June.

Wiggins said, “I can’t even begin to describe the amount of overwhelming feelings I had! I knew that I wouldn’t have my parents, and sadly I knew that I wouldn’t have the comfort of First-World technologies like my phone.”

Wiggins traveled to Swaziland with her youth group from First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu.

“I left all this behind to go do God’s work in a poor country that needed our help. This is that story,” she said.

The group took two days to reach Swaziland.

On the first day , Wiggins and 13 other members of her youth group painted, gardened and dug trenches.

After a week, the group traveled to another village to dig out massive boulders.

One experience that Wiggins remembers is the prayer circle for a boy whose name was Zweli. Seventeen-year-old Zweli was dying of AIDS.

“The boy was the whole experience for me because I saw the reality of what life was like for many of these kids, and I also got to see God’s work and put his hand over this young man.”

Wiggins’ trip to Swaziland was an unforgettable experience for her.

“Traveling to Swaziland broadened my way of thinking and things that I have seen and put everything that I do into a whole new perspective. I have also learned that you don’t need to go to Africa in order to help people,” she said.

Wiggins said, “There are people in Hawaii that could use our love and support. By traveling, your outlook on life will change forever and you will get a deeper meaning of what life is like for others instead of just staying in our little bubble and living our preppy lives.”