Zumbathon raises funds for mission trip

The National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the professional student organization for anyone majoring in speech language pathology or audiology, is hosting their second annual Zumba fundraiser.

The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. on April 1 and costs $5 to participate. All proceeds will go toward a mission trip to Jacaranda, Kenya, hosted by the local missions organization Autism Advocates for Africa. Four Southeast Missouri State University students will be going on the annual mission trip to Kenya this summer, two of which are NSSLHA members.

"Basically it's like one giant dance party. There were will be a certified Zumba instructor, and it will be about 200 people just following the instructor and doing the same dance. It's a lot of fun," NSSLHA president Ellen Folley said.

Folley expects a large turnout for the fundraiser and is hoping to raise as much as possible for the students going to Kenya.

This is the first year Autism Advocates for Africa is taking members of NSSLHA and speech language pathology students with them.

"There are so many of the kids [in Kenya] that do have communication deficits and there is only one speech therapist in the entire country. We found that out last year," Autism Advocates for Africa president Michelle Outman said. "That's a devastating statistic, so it is very exciting that we're going to be able to bring two communication disorder students with us this year."

A total of 12 people are going on the trip, including missionaries, music therapists, autism therapists and speech language pathologists. They will volunteer at a school for children with special needs in Jacaranda, Kenya.

During the mission trip, the volunteers will typically stay for one to two weeks. They will first assess the needs of the children and speak to the primary educators and therapists about how they work with the children. They will then organize sports games, painting workshops, time to help the students with homework and conduct music therapy.

"One of the little boys we worked with last year has significant cerebral palsy, and our volunteers were able to work with him and he started repeating sounds for the first time," Outman said. "That was so exciting."

The group is looking forward to teaching and working with the children at the school again this year in hopes of achieving similar results.

"We do all of these things with the children, but then we are also teaching their therapists and their educators ways to work and do adaptive types of things in the classroom," Outman said.

The group also takes therapy, education materials and anything else that may benefit them to give to the students and teachers at the school in Jacaranda.

"Music is such a huge part of African culture and we were shocked to find out that they literally had no access to any instruments there at the school," Outman said. "One broken piano is all that they had, so we left a guitar for them and we left ten sets of castanets, rhythm sticks and shakers, so we're hoping to add to those things this year."

The trip is not only open to therapists but anyone willing to serve.

"Anyone is welcome to apply to go on a mission trip with us, and you don't have to have any specific skill except for a willing and servant heart because just the fact that you go and you show up there is such a blessing for them," Outman said.

The fundraiser is open to the general public and tickets can be bought before the event by contacting a NSSLHA member or can be bought at the door the night of the event. T-shirts may be pre-ordered for $10.