FROM FARGo A tO FARAWAy

Finding Purpose Among the Kids of Nicaragua

BY ROxANE B. SALONEN // TIM OLSON PHOTOGRAPHY

s a young girl, Katie Olson became accustomed to her father scurrying around the house each February in preparation for his annual trip abroad.

With curious eyes, she’d quietly watch him pack his passport, clothes, and other personal items, then meticulously tuck in his photography equipment — tools he’d use to bring back pieces of another world to her.

Often, she’d gaze at the snapshots on the fridge of her overseas “siblings” — kids her father had sponsored to help them receive an education, clothing, and the Gospel message of hope. Sometimes, they seemed to gaze back, beckoning her.

Her sophomore year of high school brought a chance to accompany her father, local photographer Tim Olson, to Nicaragua to help construct a school through Latin America Childcare. “It was incredible, and it spurred me to want to speak Spanish,” she said.

The overseas experience also helped lift an invisible veil Olson had been blind to while attending a local private high school. Observing children wearing damaged shoes and the same clothes day after day quickly put things into perspective.

She can’t erase from her mind the scenes of children who live in the stench-filled garbage dumps and spend their days scrounging for scraps of food and pieces of plastic to build waterproof shelters.

“The kids there are so dirty but so beautiful. I have pictures of them with dirt covering their faces, and sometimes when kids are kids they’ll play and they’ll start to cry, so you can see tear marks etched through the dirt on their cheeks,” she said. “It just shows that these kids try to be tough but they’re just kids on the inside, and they just want to be loved.”

Olson chose North Dakota State University to double-major in Spanish and international studies, but even before arriving, she had another chance to return to Nicaragua the summer after her high-school graduation — this time without her father.

Though some questioned her decision to board a plane heading for another country solo, Olson had no such qualms. “I just had a passion to go speak Spanish and love on children who don’t receive love,” she explained. “That first time I went, a piece of my heart came alive that I didn’t know existed. So … it wasn’t like I was going to the opposite end of the world to the deep dark jungles, but to my other home.”

She’ll never forget when the missions group she worked with discovered they needed another translator, and asked her to fill the role. Though nervous, her fears melted the moment she opened her mouth and translated the first sentence. “I was even translating words I don’t remember learning but was able to say,” she said. “I was having fun, I was filled with peace and I didn’t even struggle. It just came out!”

Like her father, Olson now makes a yearly journey to South America, though her travels mainly take place in the summertime. Nevertheless, daughter-father paths cross in serendipitous ways through their missions work. Katie has directly participated in and felt the effects of her father’s sponsorship more than once.

“I’ve been sent to the grocery store to buy the beans and rice or oil, or even things like toilet paper, or cookies for the kids. I’ll have the list and I’ll realize, Oh, this is for my ‘brother,’ and hey, my Dad’s name is right here,” she said. “I have pictures of me handing these bags to the kids my Dad sponsors. He gives money and I get to hug the kids he’s helping. It’s full circle; not everyone gets to experience that.”

Olson said she’s largely funded her trips through her personal savings and making small sacrifices, like bypassing frequent trips to coffee drive-thrus. And though she feels personally called to missions work, she believes there’s a place for everyone in the world of compassion.

“Nobody’s purpose is the same, so trying to piggyback along with what someone else is doing, maybe, yes, but it’s more important you find the spark that makes your heart come alive and be a light to others,” she said. “The most important thing for me to do is to show people God’s love and let them know there’s hope, and that can happen wherever I go, whether Fargo, Nicaragua, or in the middle of an ocean in between the two. You don’t have to go somewhere to be special. You just find what makes you come alive and be who you are wherever you are.” [AWM]

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