Because of Kaylin Ackerman's compassion for her community and for the world, her mom, Janet, nominated 15-year-old Kaylin to be this month's Amazing Kid. "She is one of the most compassionate, patient, and tolerant children I know," Janet said. Kaylin's compassion is sincere and unfailing as she reaches out to family members with special needs and assists her dad at the dental clinic that he maintains for underserved people. Kaylin is motivated to serve others because of her love for them as well as her love for and devotion to God. "She has always had a sweet, kind spirit," Janet said. As Kaylin grows older, she is becoming even more patient and compassionate to the people around her without regard for the praise of others or even gratitude from the ones she is showing kindness to. Any good act done with a right spirit contains its own reward, and Kaylin said that her heart is filled whenever she is helping someone else to make it through a troubling experience or a difficult day. Kaylin provided a particularly extreme illustration of her admirable attitudes and traits during a trip that she took over the school break last spring to Chad, Africa on a mission trip with her dad delivering dental care to nomadic tribal people. This was not Kaylin's first mission trip
Kaylin Ackerman
An Amazing Kid
but was the most difficult one, since it took her to the middle of the Sahara desert where she endured primitive living conditions beneath a burning sky that raised temperatures to 140 degrees in some unshaded spots. Kaylin continued working, smiling, and showing compassion while living on a diet consisting largely of goat meat and millet, plus sleeping outside beneath the stars, and one night huddling beneath the lashings of a desert sand storm. Kaylin's service to impoverished desert people extended beyond simply attending to dental cavities or merely cleaning teeth, she formed friendships with those people whose lives were so completely different than her own. The missions pastor who managed the trip expressed amazement at the quality of Kaylin's engagement with the people in Chad, and the maturity of her responses to the challenges of travel and service. The pastor declared that youthful Kaylin proved to be one of the best team members of any that ever went on one of those Chad trips. Through her experiences in Chad, Kaylin learned the reality that the impoverished people she met, living a desperate existence on the edges of starvation in the Sahara desert, shared with her common capacities for love, good humor, joyfulness, kindness, and by laura page"Kaylin is motivated to serve others because of her love for them as well as her love for and devotion to God."
goodness. She discovered that the sense of shared humanity transcended such things as missing iPods, cell phones, public utilities, and public education. The trappings of civilization have no effect upon people's desire for compassion and their capacity to form meaningful relationships. Kaylin learned that a generous spirit doesn't depend upon bank accounts or material goods; things are not important; age doesn't matter; social status counts for nothing; ethnic differences are unable to divide loving hearts."As Kaylin grows older, she is becoming even more patient and compassionate to the people around her without regard for the praise of others or even gratitude from the ones she is showing kindness to."
Kaylin's experience demonstrated the power of the human spirit to transcend boundaries of age, culture, and language. Furthermore, in Chad Kaylin learned once again the reality that people may not be able to control circumstances or solve other people's problems, but anyone can make a difference in another person's life by acts of compassion as simple as a smile or a gentle touch. We are impressed with this young woman and are glad to honor Kaylin Ackerman as September's Amazing Kid. Do you know an "Amazing Kid" between the ages of five and 18 years old that is worthy of this award? To Nominate an "Amazing Kid" go to www.110mag.com and click on The Amazing Kid Nomination link. September 2010 * www.110mag.com 51 PHOTO BY RUSSELL BYRNE
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