Kellen Sampson: Man On a Mission

NORMAN, Okla. - The prospect took Kellen Sampson a little bit by surprise. Africa? Zac Selmon, a junior tight end at Wake Forest, son of Sooner All-American Dewey Selmon and Sampson's best friend since their days at Monroe Elementary, explained the situation.

For two weeks in late May and early June, the pair, along with Selmon's father, sister Shannon, former Sooner Tommie Harris and 11 others, would be working at an orphanage in the war-torn West African nation of Liberia.

For more than 14 years, rebel groups had been waging an all-out civil war, killing thousands, destroying families and displacing countless others.

Sampson was familiar with the Selmon family's ties to the country. Zac's sister Lauren worked for Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse international relief organization in developing the Rainbow Town orphanage in the village of Gbarnga. During her time there she formed a bond with a six-year-old girl named Christiana whom the Selmons adopted in November 2004.

Liberia Mission Trip Photo Gallery

Christiana's stories about her homeland inspired Zac and Shannon to action. After speaking with representatives from Samaritan's Purse, they formed the Shine Foundation with a mission to further develop the orphanage.

The foundation's first goal was the construction of a school for the more than 80 children who call Rainbow Town home.

And so the phone rang with an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children half a world away - and Sampson answered the call.

"One thing I learned from my dad is a very strong work ethic," Sampson said, referring former OU men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson who is now the head coach at Indiana. "You can never give up. You always have to try. I didn't want to just talk about it, I wanted to try and make a difference."

The Arrival
When the team landed May 21 in Monrovia, Liberia's capital city, it became clear that the mission was going to be a life-altering experience.

Lauren Selmon, who lives in Liberia, met the group, showed around its members and acquainted them with the culture and the atmosphere.

They drove to a run-down hotel that was once the biggest resort in West Africa before the war. Rows and rows of dilapidated huts stood all along the road. Dozens of people had set up shop trying to sell anything they possibly could.

The hotel, the highest point in Monrovia, had been almost completely destroyed in the war. The structure had served as a fort to rebel forces who used the vantage point to survey the entire city. The walls were riddled with bullet holes and spattered with dried blood. They carefully ascended a winding staircase whose railing had been torn off. Every few feet a step would be missing, blown off during the fighting.

"As we were coming up the stairs and walking past where the elevator should have been we saw a woman and her five kids all under the age of nine," Sampson recalls. "She was sitting there chopping off fish heads. She sells the bodies and uses the heads for stew. It was dark and damp, and there just seemed like no hope. It was so depressing.

"Sitting on a box of ice which she was trying to sell also was a little sign that read, 'In God We Trust.' That put the whole purpose of the trip in focus. Through all the personal struggles and personal battles that these people are facing day-in and day-out, they still have their focus and absolute trust in the Lord. That felt so moving and so inspirational."

Sampson said he was struck by the toll that war can take on a nation. Three years removed from the last battle in 2003, the people of Liberia are still picking up the pieces.

"It was 14 years of non-stop civil war," Sampson said. "Fifty percent of the population is under the age of 16. You just see kids everywhere. The only adults I'd see would be maybe a woman with five or six kids following behind. Hardly ever would I see an old man. Thirty-five to 40 - that's probably the oldest you'll see because everyone else was killed.

"You'd stop by buildings and they're half blown off. You'd be driving, and the roads are awful because they have so many potholes, and you wonder 'is that where a mortar blast hit and killed 30 people?' You see blood and you wonder 'whose blood is that?' and 'why are there bullet holes everywhere?' You just wonder why things are the way they are."

The Mission
The missionaries were divided into four teams: a construction team, a dentistry team, a pastoral team and a support team. Sampson and the rest of the construction team set to the task of erecting the school building for the children of Rainbow Town. They worked the brick and mortar, but the local construction style was much different than what they were used to in Oklahoma. Sampson said he and the others often felt they might have a more important purpose there.

"Our focus changed mid-trip," Sampson said. "We realized that getting the school built was important but a lot of times we were almost in the way. After a few days we decided we needed to devote all of our attention to hanging out and loving on these kids."

The 80-plus children who live at Rainbow Town know all too well the pain and cost of war. They are there because their mothers and fathers were killed. So were older brothers and sisters. Some were displaced, their families broken up. Most of them don't even have birth records. Their whole lives have seemingly been destroyed.

That is why Sampson was so stirred by the prevailing attitude he found among the orphans.

"The thing that's amazing is that they're already so well-versed in the Christian faith," Sampson said. "You didn't have to preach to them. It was more like they're preaching to you."

He continued, "We wanted to just spend time with them, and love on them and show them that other people care and that there are people in this world that aren't crazy for war."

Besides their work at the orphanage, the group helped the people of Liberia in several other capacities.

Dr. William Blum, a Norman dentist, provided dental care to more than 100 patients at the orphanage and in the surrounding villages in Bong County. There hadn't been a dentist in the area since before the war began.

The pastoral team, led by Miami, Fla., youth minister David Keasler, held a conference for 55 local pastors. Sampson sat in on one of the sessions and was blown away by the peoples' desire to learn the Bible.

"They're so thirsty for hope and so thirsty just to be civil again," Sampson said. "They totally immerse themselves in the Word. It was amazing how much energy they put into learning."

One of his fondest memories from the trip, Sampson recalled, was participating in a faith revival with villagers.

"The energy they have in the church is just so much different than most places around here," he said. "They're dancing in the aisles. At one point it looked like a conga line. I totally just jumped in the middle and grabbed someone's waist, then somebody else grabbed my waist and we were just going around in a circle."

The missionaries also visited a leprosy colony to provide minor medical and dental care and to hopefully boost the spirits of the people there.

The Reflection
Stepping off the plane back on American soil, Sampson seemed different. It wasn't the deep, dark tan forged from two weeks in the African sun, or the scraggly beard from 14 days without a razor. It was something on the inside that had changed.

"For 14 days I did not take a single hot shower," he said. "I did not step in a single air-conditioned room. I was lucky to have a roof over my head. I had no concept of time. I had no concept of anything except trying to make 85 orphans' days a little better.

"To be so completely un-self-centered really puts all the things that we do here in focus. It was fun to be able to step outside your own skin and be this totally high-energy, high-octane guy that's going to make the kids happy. I wasn't worried about another workout. I wasn't worried about practice or a big test coming up. The only thing I had to worry about was trying to figure out a new game to play with the kids. Trying to figure out how to play soccer was probably the biggest stress I had."

There is still much work to be done at Rainbow Town and throughout Liberia. The Shine Foundation, where Sampson now sits on the board of directors, is still working hard to gather donations to finance a return trip next May.

In the meantime, Sampson's experience with the children of Rainbow Town will stick with him forever.

"I can't wait to go back. I miss it," he said. "I can't say I'm homesick, but I'm sick for Liberia."

- by Brian Dude, OU Athletics Media Relations

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For more information on the Shine Foundation, write to:

The Shine Foundation
2725 S. Berry Road
Norman, OK 73072