Kevin Kinsall '16
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Master of Arts in Education
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Currently works as Webmaster for the Community Consolidated School District 93 in Bloomingdale, Illinois
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Traveled to Kitale and Tharaka, Kenya, on three separate trips to serve as a missionary
It started as a one-month summer mission trip to help children in Kenya, but Kevin Kinsall MAED ’16 found his second home in a community whose openness, strength, and generosity in the midst of poverty inspired him to do all he could to help others reach their dreams. Over three trips, he has spent more than 10 months with the people of rural Kenya, all while earning his Master’s degree in Education from McKendree.
You’ve traveled to Kenya on multiple occasions in 2014 and 2015. What are some of
the things you’ve done there?
Along with the [mission] team, I have been privileged to share the Bible with those
who asked, put up soccer nets and basketball goals for the children, and help Kenyan
teachers directly in the classroom. Most recently, I went on my longest trip for seven
months. Under the guidance of Senator Kyle McCarter and his wife Victoria, directors
of the NGO Each One Feed One International, I worked as a teacher for some of the
students who needed extra help with English and math. While the school hosted about
300 students, around 50 were orphans who lived on the campus where I stayed. By day,
I taught in the school. By night, I served as a house parent for all the boys living
on campus.
What motivates you to keep returning to Kenya?
The love the Kenyans share with me keeps me going back. I hope to travel to other
parts of the world to help children in poverty. Kenya is the rare place in the world
where you can come across a complete stranger sitting in front of their small, single-room
house made of dirt, and they will invite you in for chai and chapatis.
What are your plans for your future with mission work?
My mother and I are hoping to make a return trip to Kenya in the summer of 2018, but
while here [in the U.S.], we sponsor a couple of children in Kenya. The young man
I sponsor is named David, and he recently did so well on his KCPE (like the ACT or
SAT but taken in the eighth grade) that he was invited to board at a private academy.
Due to finances, he wasn’t able to attend, but I had a great opportunity to help.
It’s amazing what a small amount of money can do for someone in David’s position.
Because of this, he is on pace to end the generational poverty his family has seen.
I encourage everybody to find a way to sponsor children here in the U.S. and around
the world.
What can we do in the United States to be good global citizens?
Go to other countries, learn their cultures, and figure out ways the citizens can
be prosperous within their own motherlands. The whole point of me going to Kenya is
to provide ways to better the children living there, whether that’s in education or
just day-to-day living. I truly believe I have already interacted with Kenya’s next
great business leaders, doctors, engineers, teachers, and maybe even one day, the
next Kenyan President.
