My name is Rebecca Kuntz and I am a 20 year old from the suburbs of Chicago. I’m currently a sophomore at DePaul University majoring in Peace, Justice, and Conflict studies with a focus on African Aid and Development and a minor in documentary film and community service studies.
During high school I worked for my school’s television station, LTTV, and learned the ins and outs of studio production, truck production, and film. I had amazing opportunities to work on thousands of productions, intern and job shadow in Chicago, and work with some incredible people in the film and television industry.
I graduated high school in June 2011 and spent the next 3 months in Ghana, West Africa volunteering with Light for Children, a non profit focused on HIV infected and affected children in the Kumasi area. During my stay I lived with a local host family, ran a sexual assault prevention program, taught at a free summer school, worked in orphanages, sought sponsorship for HIV positive children, filmed and photographed, produced my own documentary, and most of all, fell in love with Africa.
I came back to the US in September 2011 to start college at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia but knew my heart was still in Africa. I finished the fall semester, came back to Chicago for the first time in 6 months, and realized SCAD wasn’t the place for me. The curriculum and environment wasn’t what I was looking for so I decided to transfer to a new school in the fall.
I need to get back to Africa. I needed to be back with the people who inspired me the most, to be under the African sun, and to be in a place I left I truly belonged. So I found a college gap semester program in East Africa, and I left two weeks later (February 2012). I spent 3 months in Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda with 4 other college students and 2 leaders volunteering, learning Swahili, living with host families, doing adventure activities, and loving ever minute of being back in Africa.
I’m currently building an Education Center in Ghana with Light for Children. We hope to create a computer lab, library, and community center for the surrounding villages for people to come and grow, learn, prosper, laugh, and learn. These kids need a place to be kids, a place to relax at the end of long days, and a place to feel like they belong and are loved. This center is one of my biggest dreams and with your help it can come true. Consider making a donation to the center here.
I currently am the Head of External Relations and Media at Light for Children Ghana, and Africa Ambassador for Carpe Diem Education.
In early 2014, I will move to Ghana to work for Light for Children full time, run the Education Center, and start caring for orphans, widows, and the unloved. My dream is to be a mother to 10+ and create opportunities for the children and families that inspire me daily in Ghana. I am jumping in with my entire heart and life and seeing where things take me. I know there is a beautiful journey unfolding.
I believe…
in the power of education.
children are the future.
everyone has something to contribute to this world.
getting lost is half the fun.
Africa is where I belong.
in a life of “oh wells” instead of “what ifs”.
orphans matter.
in pursuing your dreams with all you’ve got.
I believe in living life on purpose.
Some important posts along the journey I call life:
Graduating High School
Why it took me 5 days to get in Ghana via Virginia and Ethiopia
First Impressions of Ghana
The day I met “my kids”
Projects in Ghana
The day my life changed because of one little boy
Orphanage Work
Motorcycle crashes & village hospitals
The power of color
Leaving Ghana
Transferring colleges and a semester in East Africa
This is for you
Mufindi, Tanzania
A semester in 12 minutes
Henry update
Why I didn’t quit college
Living two lives
My kids
The Education Center
Storyteller
A letter to me
Blessing
A Letter to Blessing’s Mother
5 life changing announcements
