Trip to Kenyan town inspires teen's fundraising effort

When a message from George N. Onyango, principal of Sen. Barack Obama Secondary School in Kenya arrived in her e-mail, 15-year-old Rachel Wims already knew what it would say: Thanks.

But it said a whole lot more than that. When Rachel, of Gaithersburg, opened the attachments, she was showered with drawings and poems full of gratitude and thanks.

"We love you, Rachel, for the good heart you have. We love you, Rachel, for the hard work you have shown. We love you, Rachel, for the sacrifice just for us. You are really our role model. You deserve to be crowned a queen," one student wrote on a card with a hand-drawn flower in the center.

Just over a year ago, Rachel, a rising sophomore at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, traveled to Kenya on a week-long humanitarian mission as a youth ambassador for The Victims' Rights Foundation, a Gaithersburg-based volunteer organization, founded by her father, W. Gregory Wims, that supports victims of violent crimes.

In Kogelo, the rural town where President Barack Obama's father grew up, Rachel saw that improvements were needed. She started raising money through Facebook to update the science building at the Senator Barack Obama Secondary School.

She raised $5,000.

The money was used to finish a one-room classroom building with bright aqua trim. Where students once studied without doors and windows, subject to Mother Nature, they now have plastered walls, protection from rain, warmth and a locked space to keep their belongings.

"You have been kind to us and today I want to inform you that our students are happy and appreciate all that you have done to make their future shine by contributing heavily to ensure that they have facilities," the principal wrote.

Rachel also raised money to buy a year's supply of sanitary napkins for the school's girls, who told her that many female students drop out of the school each year because they cannot afford the personal items.

Last Thursday, Rachel was offered a donation of 100 books by Friends of the Library Montgomery County to send to the school.

As a show of thanks, the school rededicated its classroom building in her name, a gesture she and her mother, Michelle, found humbling and unnecessary.

"For me, it was just enough to know that the building was finished and they (the students) were getting what they needed," Rachel said.