Former U-46 teacher travels the world to help the needy

Eleven countries in 11 months.

That's the itinerary for a 25-year-old Elgin woman who recently embarked on the trip of a lifetime.

Before summer arrives here at home, Rachel Iverson already will have spent a month in each of five Latin American nations: Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

In June, her passport will be stamped in Thailand. In July, she'll be in Africa, visiting Kenya and Uganda in their winter months, then dropping south to Tanzania, where it will be spring.

Returning to Asia in October, she'll take a month in a country yet to be determined, then wrap up her globe-trotting in Malaysia before heading home after Thanksgiving Day.

At least that's the plan for now. The route could change. It already has, most notably by detouring past Haiti due to the cholera outbreak.

“Around the World in Eighty Days” it's not. While speed was vital to Phileas Fogg in the Jules Verne classic, Iverson's adventure is about slowing down, soaking in the culture, and serving the people.

Iverson is one of about 50 young adults traveling together with The World Race, a ministry arm of Gainesville, Ga.-based Adventures in Missions. At each destination the group breaks off into teams who partner with missionaries already in the country.

“What's unique is that we're doing a variety of things,” Iverson said. “We figure out what it is that they need, and then we'll do whatever it is.”

She said that could include construction projects, teaching English, working with orphans, caring for the homeless, feeding the hungry, fighting human trafficking or evangelizing on street corners or door-to-door. Depending on the need, the agenda might be different every day.

During January in the Dominican Republic, Iverson and her team spent much of their time doing children's ministry, praying for people and making friends, including a 109-year-old woman.

Iverson wrote in her travel blog about a girl named Yakaity who had been severely burned:

“She broke their hearts and mine as well, as we helplessly watched her cry out in pain. Over the next three weeks we saw her transform as we helped provide her with medical care and visited her every day. On our last day of ministry, she was no longer a helpless victim in constant pain, but a smiling little girl full of spirit.”

The World Race group also found themselves in the right place at the right time when fire broke out in a home across the street from where they were staying — with four children trapped inside. One team member pulled the kids out, while others were able to put out the fire and help comfort the children. After the smoke cleared, they helped clean the house and fed the kids.

The trip costs participants $14,300 each for food, travel, visas and other expenses, but most of the tab is raised through donations from family and friends. It's a hefty amount for anyone to handle on their own, but especially for a former kindergarten teacher who found herself part of last year's reduction in force at Elgin Area School District U-46.

It was while Iverson was searching for new teaching opportunities, possibly even overseas, that she stumbled across The World Race website. Having been on two previous missions in Kenya, where she taught school and worked in orphanages, she was attracted to the idea of returning to Africa.

“I really kind of fell in love with the country and the people while I was there,” Iverson said, “and I wondered if I could go long-term.”

Since Kenya was the only country she had visited, she also wondered if she could ever love another. When she found The World Race, she realized it would offer the chance to learn not only about other cultures but also, along the way, about herself.

“The director of the World Race talks about a whisper that you hear that there's something more, and I've kind of felt like that for a while,” Iverson said. “There has to be more to life than just the every day. I saw (this trip) as a way to discover who I am and what my purpose is.”

With a 40-lb. backpack to lug around on her small frame, it won't be easy. She packed only a week's worth of clothing and a few toiletries, with the intention of doing laundry and shopping locally to replenish supplies. She has a netbook so she can keep in touch with family and keep up her blog — where Internet access is available, of course, which can't always be assumed.

A place to sleep isn't assumed, either. Host families, hostels or a half-dozen spare beds in an orphanage are always possibilities, but there are no guarantees.

“We are carrying tents, so if there isn't a place to stay we will be using them,” Iverson said.

Language barriers? English is spoken widely, but if translators are needed for, say, Swahili, the travelers just say “hakuna matata.” No problem. The team has a budget for hiring interpreters. Language shouldn't be an issue for the first five months anyway, since at least one team member speaks Spanish already and the rest will have quite a bit under their belts by the time they leave for Thailand.

These things are small matters, though, when the purpose of giving a year out of country is to build relationships and find ways to make a difference in people's lives. That's what energizes Iverson for hopscotching around the world.

“I'm really excited to work with some of the kids, especially the orphans in East Africa,” she said. “My passion and desire are to minister to them and hang out with them sand love on them.”

With a schedule of 11 countries in as many months, she'll have plenty of time for loving on kids. And plenty of stories to tell when she returns.

Readers can follow Rachel's journey online at racheliverson.theworldrace.org.