Some people have the inner need to help people. They feel the need to give their time to help others. Nicole Dencklau is one of those people. In 2016, Dencklau and her mother went on a mission trip with their church to Haiti. Dencklau, now a sophomore at George Ranch High School, has visited Haiti two years in a row. She was only twelve the first time she went on the trip. She went with her church and traveled with her mother, a group of adults and six other twelve-year-old girls.  

The groups stayed in an orphanage with the children.  In the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, many people have resorted to living in tents in Tent City. After a catastrophic earthquake in 2010, over 1.5 million people were left homeless.  

“The living conditions are terrible, completely terrible. They use tarps as their roofs. They use metal containers as their houses. They will build straw houses and they have a tent city,” Dencklau said. 

Dencklau worked and played with Haitian children as part of the mission trips efforts. Children in Haiti, when not in school or working, often entertain themselves by playing soccer.  

“I remember playing soccer with the kids even though I really didn’t know how to play soccer and I was terrible. I still had fun playing with them,” Dencklau said. 

Even though Dencklau is doing good by helping those in need, the missions are still very trying and laborious work. It can be difficult to go to a country and see so much distress in the nation’s people. Compared to the United States the conditions and lifestyles are very different.  

“I remember seeing kids giving away things they didn’t even have.  They would give their food away even though they didn’t really have any food and they would starve just for you,” Dencklau said.  

After having such a life-changing experience Dencklau hopes she can continue to serve people in this way.

“I definitely want to be able to continue to do these mission trips to other countries. I want to go to Uganda because I want to see more little kids,” Dencklau said.