By Michael S. Hoey
CORRESPONDENT
Jennifer and Ryan Hellpap of Delavan, were scheduled to arrive in Kenya, Africa, on Tuesday ready to begin serving the Peace Corps on a 27-month humanitarian mission.
Both have a history of volunteering their time, but this experience will be a full-time proposition until it is completed.
“It should be very rewarding,” said Jennifer Hellpap, 29. “We have heard that the people who do it get more out of it than they give.”
“Being Christian, I think it is our responsibility to give back,” said Ryan Hellpap, 32. “When we travel, it is easy to see that we have so much more here than what other countries have.”
Jennifer Hellpap began volunteering while attending Marquette University. She volunteered at soup kitchens and Habitat for Humanity and traveled to New Orleans to help after Hurricane Katrina.
“I have a passion for serving and volunteering,” she said.
Ryan Hellpap also started volunteering after high school with various local fundraisers, helping English language learners and young people, career coaching, and volunteering with the Hunger Task Force and after Hurricane Katrina. Ryan Hellpap has also served on a world mission board for the Kingdom Workers through his church in Milwaukee and was a co-chairman of the Performance and Development Group of Human Resource Management of Metro Milwaukee.
Jennifer and Ryan Hellpap have been able to volunteer their time when it was available while going to school or working. But, with the Peace Corps, they had to go through a nearly two-year application process and then get their lives in order to be out of the country for 27 months.
Jennifer Hellpap said the couple decided when they got married in the Dominican Republic two years ago that this was what they wanted to do, so they lived in a small studio apartment in Menomonee Falls rather than buying a house, did not start a family and avoided any long-term contracts for things like cell phones. She said because they are working for the Peace Corps, payments on their student loans can be deferred until they return.
The couple had to do things couples their age rarely do like arrange powers of attorney and wills. They also had to prepare their families for the reality that they were going to be living in Africa for more than two years.
Some advantages of serving with the Peace Corps, the couple said, are getting paid, having the protection of the U.S. military, having their medical and dental needs covered, access to life insurance, and the name recognition of the program. If they ever do decide to leave the Peace Corps then they will need to make sure they have a plan in place for their health needs such as inquiring about health insurance and finding a life insurance policy that works for them both. They may want to check out this Guide to extending expiring term life insurance if they want to look at renewing it where possible so they can be protected in civilian life.
The two were formally invited in January to go to Kenya – a place that had an opening for two people with their qualifications. Kenya originally was not high on their wish list of places to go. With each having some Spanish language training, they said a Spanish-speaking place was first on their list with the Pacific Islands coming in second. Africa was maybe a third.
That being said, Jennifer Hellpap said they are willing to go anywhere, and Kenya is one of the places they would prefer to go in Africa. Kenya is known for its safaris and Mount Kilimanjaro. It also appears to be a relatively safe place to volunteer, though there was some political turmoil in February. The county has dangerous bordering countries like the Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia. Jennifer Hellpap said she and Ryan will stay far away from the borders with those countries.
Ryan Hellpap said Kenya is 99 percent Catholic and is English-speaking. The country is very conservative and the City of Nairobi appears from his research to be the only area of the country volunteers have been advised not to spend time in because of the presence of a very militant Muslim population. Everywhere else in the country appears to be very welcoming.
As for their safety, Ryan Hellpap said, the No. 1 injury for Peace Corps volunteers is automobile accidents. Ryan and Jennifer said they both feel safe.
Jennifer Hellpap was raised in Burlington and Elkhorn, moved to Delavan when she was 10 years old and graduated from Delavan-Darien High School in 2002. Her father, Jeff Muth, was born and raised in Delavan and still lives here with Jennifer’s mother Julie Muth.
Jennifer Hellpap graduated from Marquette in 2006 with a degree in biomedical sciences and has worked in sales for Direct Supply, a Milwaukee long-term health care equipment company. Jennifer Hellpap resigned her position to pursue this opportunity and is not sure what direction her career will take when she returns.
Ryan Hellpap grew up in Oshkosh and graduated from Winnebago Lutheran Academy in Fond du Lac. He has a degree in human resources and economics from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and is a certified professional in human resources.
Ryan Hellpap said he thinks his career path will be in the hospitality industry in Oshkosh. He said he never envisioned leaving Oshkosh, but he has about 10 years of experience in hospitality working with golf courses and an opportunity to manage the Palmer Course at Geneva National brought him to this area.
More recently Ryan Hellpap spent three years working for Manpower in Milwaukee. He too resigned his position to go to Kenya. Both Ryan and Jennifer Hellpap say they have not burned any bridges with their employers and both feel they should have opportunities to return to them if they so desire upon their return.
“It will be a life-changing experience,” Jennifer Hellpap said. “We will see where it takes us.”
Both of them have extensive experience traveling internationally, so going to Africa is just a new stop for them. Jennifer Hellpap has visited several countries in Europe and studied abroad in Ireland. Ryan Hellpap has traveled all over the United States and has been to Spain and the Caribbean.
The two actually met in Delavan at the old Waterfront Restaurant on the Inlet. Jennifer Hellpap said they were both there on a Wednesday night that happened to be St. Patrick’s Day and struck up a conversation. They were both coming out of recent relationships, so they decided to be friends. Things started to get serious just before and during a trip they made to help Hurricane Katrina victims in 2008.
Jennifer Hellpap said one thing that convinced her Ryan was the one for her was his willingness to come over and help her out daily after she fell and broke her hip. Ryan Hellpap said Jennifer’s willingness to do anything to help people was a big reason he fell for her.
“I was impressed to see how much she cared for folks she had never met and how hard she worked,” Ryan said.
Ryan Hellpap said they took a day trip to the Grand Isle while in Louisiana, watched the sun go down together, and the rest was history.
Jennifer and Ryan Hellpap were scheduled to leave Delavan on Monday and fly to Philadelphia where they were to complete a final round of paperwork and orientation. On Tuesday, they were scheduled to fly to Kenya to begin a three-month training on culture, safety and the Swahili language. The training will take place at a village called Loitokitok, about two hours south of Nairobi at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro.
When the training is over, the couple will be paired up with a village in need with a host family that has been trained for their stay. Jennifer Hellpap said the core expectation of Peace Corps volunteers is to be willing to serve even under hardship. She and Ryan are expecting to live without plumbing, running water or electricity but they are required to have their own separate space that can be locked. The host family will help them integrate into the community.
Once they are integrated into their village, Jennifer and Ryan Hellpap will do something related to community economic development but are not sure exactly what that will entail. Ryan Hellpap said it could be something like helping someone at a farmer’s market learn better ways to sell their wares or teaching basic computer skills.
Ryan Hellpap said no matter what they will be doing there will be an AIDS awareness component because the disease is so prevalent in Africa.
Jennifer Hellpap said she is excited to experience an exotic culture and the challenge of being in a third-world nation.
“We will get to see what we are made of,” she said.
Jennifer said she is also looking forward to a cultural exchange in which she and Ryan will share American culture with the Kenyans and they will bring back some Kenyan culture to the United States.
Ryan Hellpap said he sees the experience as an opportunity to show the positives America has to offer since the United States has gained such a negative image over the years. He also hopes to show Kenya what the American dream is all about. He said many in third-world nations seem stuck in their ways of doing things and stuck in whatever social class they were born in. Ryan hopes to show them they can move up.
In any case, Jennifer and Ryan Hellpap are confident they will get as much out of the experience as the Kenyans will.
