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Trick-or-treating their way to Kenya

Stressed Out Nurses Weekly, November 5, 2007

On Halloween, they left their homes as a firefighter, a flamenco dancer, a scarecrow, and a blow-up pig, among others. Consequently, on their holiday break, they'll leave their homes and travel thousands of miles to work with AIDS patients in Maseno, Kenya. If you're having a tough time seeing the connection, it's understandable.

Meet Danielle Zolnik, AKA the blow-up pig. She and eight of her classmates in the nursing program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will use trick-or-treating as a fundraiser to help send them to Africa for a medical mission trip this December. "We're entirely raising the funds ourselves," says Zolnik, a senior. "It's just a group of friends doing a mission trip."

The idea came a year ago when seniors in the nursing school heard a lecture about the devastating AIDS epidemic in Kenya. Eight students organized a trip last December to volunteer at Maseno Mission Hospital, helping the lone doctor there provide care and education to patients. As is the case in large parts of Africa, AIDS is an epidemic in the area, and medical supplies and volunteers are tough to come by. Upon returning from the small town just outside of Kisumu, Kenya, last year's seniors passed on the information and the contacts to Zolnik and this year's class. "We're trying to make it an annual trip," Zolnik says.

Planning has been underway for a while, as each student going on the trip needs to raise $2,500 to cover the flight (17 hours from Chicago, in case you were wondering), food, and lodging. Zolnik says her fellow students insisted she become group leader. She was the ideal choice as she had previously helped organize a group of college students to raise $100,000 for the American Cancer Society through the Relay for Life. "I don't get much sleep to be honest," Zolnik says with a laugh. "But I don't require much sleep, so it works out nicely."

To read the entire story (plus a whole lot more!), please click here.

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