South Florida students seek help for once-in-a-lifetime trip to Zimbabwe: ‘I need this opportunity’

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Ten students at Miami Central Senior High School are hoping to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Zimbabwe, allowing them to explore and learn more about new cultures.

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They’ve done whatever it’s taken to make it work. But they’re running into trouble paying for it.

“I was just grateful, so grateful, having the opportunity to go to Africa,” student Chase Harrell said. “I knew when I first entered the room and he was telling us that we’ll all have the chance. I just knew I had to make an impression. I was like, no matter what, I need this opportunity.“

To get a chance to go on the trip, students like Harrell had to write 200 to 300 words on why they wanted to go, maintain at least a B- average and have good attendance.

“Right now, it’s hectic, I just spent so much money yesterday, trying to get everything together,” student Nevah Jimenez said. “It’s really hitting me that, oh my god, I’m really going to Africa for two weeks. The farthest I’ve been is Las Vegas.”

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Parents aren’t taking the opportunity lightly either.

Student Rayshad Derden’s mom, Sharina Williams, said she knows how invaluable of an experience traveling to Zimbabwe would be for her 11th-grader.

“Since birth, we haven’t been apart that long,” she said “When he travels, I travel. Yeah, he’s my youngest child.”

Edwin Sheppard, the director of the Blindfolded International Student Cultural Exchange Program ― or BISCEP ― which is organizing the trip, said he’s dealing with budget cuts and previous donors being unable to give.

He said he’s determined to make the trip happen.

“Funding has been challenging, because we were on the verge of cancelling and we really need it now, because we are 21 days out,” Sheppard said.

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BISCEP has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover expenses.