'Restore Humanity' Aims To Globalize Hearts

Sarah Fennel Reaches Out To Children of the World

Last updated Saturday, October 20, 2007 9:40 PM CDT in Our Town

By Bettina Lehovec
THE MORNING NEWS

"I want to give these children an option, show them that we're here to support them, that there are ways they can take care of themselves. ... My hope is that they become empowered within themselves and know they can do whatever they want to do."

Friends, family and community have rallied around the cause. They raised nearly $20,000 for Restore Humanity last year and donated 40-some boxes of school supplies and clothes.

Fennel and friend Kimberly Clinehens planned to deliver the goods in January. A last-minute change in South African law meant Fennel couldn't ship the clothing as planned. She donated it to Hurricane Katrina victims on the Gulf Coast instead, purchasing shoes and clothing when she got to South Africa.

She and Clinehens documented their journey with hours and hours of home video, crafted into a polished documentary by Free Thinker Productions when they returned.

Fennel aired the documentary at a public screening at Mount Sequoyah on Oct. 10. She introduced it as "a thank you to Fayetteville," crediting the community for its support. Parents at the Montessori school, where Fennel taught last year, started the avalanche of giving. Friends and associates of her father, longtime restaurateur Joe Fennel, also got involved.

"This couldn't happen in a lot of places," Sarah said. "Fayetteville has a real sense of community. People just care about other people."

The second annual Restore Humanity benefit at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville is slated for Nov. 17.

'The Connecting Factor'

Fennel first traveled to Africa in 2005. She's had a lifelong fascination with the continent, fueled in part by her family's travels to other Third World countries when she was young. They never went to Africa, but spent time in Jamaica and Belize.

Fennel's brother Joey, now Joseph Israel, must have been bitten by a related bug. He's an acclaimed Reggae artist with deep ties to Jamaica.

Sarah spent three months in South Africa as a volunteer. The experience opened her eyes to a variety of ills -- crushing poverty, the ravages of the AIDS epidemic, corruption in the agencies charged with providing aid. She was shocked to realize that some of the resources intended for people in need were siphoned off for private gain. She began to think of starting her own nonprofit, where funds raised would reach those in need.

She promised the children she met that she would return. She asked each one what gift he most wanted, expecting to hear toys and games. Instead, almost every child told her he wanted shoes. To Fennel, that was confirmation of the poverty they endured.

She shared her experiences with pupils at the Montessori Children's House in Fayetteville after her return. Fennel taught French, Spanish and culture at the school in 2005 and 2006. Pupils took her stories home to their parents. A grassroots aid effort was born.

"I started to realize, the more and more people I talked to, that people really wanted to help," Fennel said. "They just didn't know how. I was the connecting factor. ... I was in a position to really help a lot of people. I just went for it."

The 57-minute documentary details Fennel's return to the people and places she'd visited in 2005. They included a home for orphans and at-risk youth, a home for foster children, a hospice program and a related support group for children with HIV. Fennel and Clinehens distributed their gifts -- colorful backpacks filled with school supplies, small toys and shoes.

The children's delight was palpable, Fennel said.

"The joy in that room had a texture." Still, she wondered if her small gifts could make a lasting difference. A hospice nurse who served as a mentor assured her that they could.

"If you give joy to a child, he'll never forget it," the nurse said. "That could be the source that gives him hope."

Fennel plans to continue supporting the programs in South Africa, but she's also set her sights on a loftier goal. She spent September in Kenya with a friend's mother, making plans to convert the woman's country home into an orphanage.

She hopes to house 30 needy children, Fennel said, as well as reach out to others with community aid. Tribal warfare and a high rate of AIDS have left many children without parents. Malnutrition and illness are rampant. Two children died while she was there.

It will take $50,000 to renovate the cement structure and furnish it for children, Fennel said. She's approaching regional and national foundations for the funding. Once the orphanage is open, she envisions continued grant funding and a "sponsor a child" program to keep it operating.

"I went there not knowing if it would work -- and came back positive that it will," Fennel said. "It's just a matter of raising the money. I don't know who that's going to come from or how we're going to get it, but I know that we will. I won't stop until we have it."

'Peaceful Warrior'

Fennel's implacable faith attracts others to her cause.

"She's a natural 'peaceful warrior,'" said Colleen Pancake, co-owner of Free Thinker Productions. "There's a lot of strength in her, the ability to inspire other people through her convictions. ... She made an impression on us."

"She has determination and chutzpah," added Pancake's partner, Jonathon Carlson. He applauded her foresight in shooting footage for the documentary. "Getting the message out is half the (battle)."

A sense of destiny propels Fennel forward. She's believed for many years that she has a purpose to fulfill. She loved working with children at The New School, but some inner sense told her there was more.

"Once I started Restore Humanity, the anxiety went away. I felt at peace."

She sees God's hand in the sometimes capricious unfolding of events. If she'd received word of the change in South African law governing donations even one day later, the clothing she'd gathered would have been on its way to South Africa to be destroyed. As it worked out, the donations benefited needy people in the United States, while Fennel contributed to the South African economy with her purchases.

She'd thought about starting a project in Ethiopia instead of Kenya. She prayed for guidance -- and her friend's family contacted her the next day about opening an orphanage.

"I believe in an Almighty Creator," Fennel said. "To me, he's doing everything. I feel really blessed to be a part of it."

She's also very mindful of family support. Fennel lives at home with her parents as she pursues humanitarian projects. An interested benefactor has pledged to support her so she can focus on her work. Her father's position in the community has helped garner awareness and funds.

Greg Mack, owner of Taylor Mack Advertising, first heard of Restore Humanity from Joe Fennel. He's provided some of the advertising Sarah uses at a reduced rate, impressed by her willingness to take action for her ideals.

"It's one thing to give lip service (to a worthy cause). It's another to raise the money and go over there and follow through. You can dismiss it as idealistic and think that the hard work will eventually derail her, as it has so many others, but it seems to be energizing her.

"She's really, really committed," Mack said.

Fennel's mother, Jean Ann, described her daughter as compassionate, driven, independent and smart. Once she sets her mind to something, she doesn't stop until she's achieved it. Road blocks are only invitations to find a new way.

"She rolls with the punches, picks herself up and keeps going," Jean Ann said. When Fennel found out as a college student that the friend she was going to travel to Italy with couldn't go, it didn't deter her one bit, for example. She went on her own with only a day's notice.

"Anything she sets her mind to, she's going to do. She's stubborn. ... People who know her well believe in her. She has such a passion (for this work)."

Clinehens agreed. She had doubts about Restore Humanity at first, she said. How far could it go? The month in South Africa changed her mind.

"There's something about Sarah. I'm not sure how to pinpoint it. She's going to make it big. She's got that drive. She's got that compassion."

Watching a movie such as "Hotel Rwanda" with her friend is an intense experience, because Fennel feels the pain so personally, Clinehens said. She has an intense interest in world geopolitics, spending her days researching social, political and economic inequity.

"Sarah's very compassionate, very intelligent, thoughtful, generous, caring -- basically anything good you can say," Clinehens said. "This is definitely her calling. She's the right one for this job."

She also brings warmth and relational skills to the task, Clinehens said.

"Any person she comes across ends up loving her to death. I saw that in the people in South Africa who had met her before. The young girls in the HIV support group cried when she left. They didn't want her to go. She definitely touched an enormous amount of people.

"Of course she wants this to go big, but her goal is helping out even just one person. That's all that matters to her."

Restore Humanity Benefit

Date: 7 p.m. Nov. 17

Venue: George's Majestic Lounge, Fayetteville

Benefits: Humanitarian aid efforts in Kenya, South Africa

Entertainment: Joseph Israel and the Jerusalem Band, Dennis Collins

Silent auction: A variety of items, including beaded jewelry made by the Masai

Cost: $20. Tickets available through the Web site, at Bordino's, Sound Warehouse, George's and at the door.

Information: www.restorehumanity.org

Source: Staff Report

Sarah Fennel

Born: April 30, 1980, in Fayetteville

Family: Parents Joe and Jean Ann Fennel, brothers Joseph Israel, 30, and Cole, 21.

Education: Graduated from Fayetteville High School in 1998, from University of Texas at Austin with bachelor's degree in French in 2004.

Position: Founder and director of Restore Humanity

Words To Live By: "'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' If everyone in the world lived that way, we wouldn't have any more problems."

Source: Staff Report

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