Durango High School junior Mason Miller is an impressive wide receiver on the football field with his skill and athleticism. What Miller is doing off the field might be even more impressive.
Miller and his family went to Kenya for a mission trip with their church, Summit Church, in December. Before their trip and last football season, Miller and his family were thinking of ways they could help the students and kids in Kenya.
The Durango football star realized touchdowns could be a way to do it, by raising money through his games. Last season, Miller raised $800 dollars for a cause. However, Miller didn’t know was the cause would be until he went to Kenya.
Miller met with Thomas and Mirab Agutu in Kenya. They run the Nyogaya Foundation, which provides food shelter, education and shelter to widows and orphans in Kenya. The Agutu’s told Miller about how the Dominion Model School in Homa Bay, Kenya, could use milk to help the schoolchildren.
“They said that a cow there would cost nearly 800 U.S. dollars,” Miller said. “I looked at my parents and my parents and I talked to him and told him, ‘This is the perfect amount of money for the kids to have a cow to get to get milk.’ So it was amazing last year. So we thought, ‘Why don’t we do it again?’ Because now more people know about it, and depending on my success of the season, we should be making more money this year for it.”
Miller’s touchdowns for Kenya initiative is going through the whole season. People can pledge a certain amount of money for each touchdown Miller scores. He said most people now are pledging between $10 and $15 per touchdown.
The money goes through Summit Church in Durango and the money will be used by the church the next time it has people go to Kenya for the church’s mission trip. People can reach out, pledge and donate by emailing touchdownsforkenya@gmail.com
Miller isn’t sure of what he’ll provide the kids this year. It depends on how much he raises. He hopes to have enough money to help provide dorms, beds and rooms for the classrooms at the Dominion Model School.
The mission trip to Kenya was for 2.5 weeks in late December 2024 to January 2025. It was Miller and his family’s first time in Kenya.
It was a culture shock for Miller to go to Kenya and return to America. He realized there’s a difference between living life and trying to survive it. The Kenyan people don’t have as much stuff as Americans do, but they live so large in a way that blows your mind, according to Miller. He realized how much stuff he had access to back home and he was fine without these things for 2.5 weeks in Kenya.
“Some electronics, it would be some foods, drinks, just like interactions with other people, how we treat each other, or just money, how important it is for me to buy that next thing, just kind of those things,” Miller said. “It's a huge culture shock, as well as what you get educated on. There's so many things that I learned from that trip that I wouldn't have learned here in America. It’s not connected to the school system; they're so connected to nature in ways that we sometimes aren't. So it was amazing.”
Miller and his family started the 2.5 weeks in Kenya in Nairobi helping out at an orphanage for kids who have parents struggling with AIDS and other diseases. The mission group worked with HOREC (Hope For Orphans Rescue Center), an organization that provides critical care to those affected or infected by HIV/AIDS.
The mission group also worked with the Agutu’s to help mix foods and package up the food for communities across Kenya.
They also helped the Jewels of Obaga; jewels is the name for widows in Kenya.
Each jewel community picks one woman out of the community to get a new house. The homes are built using sticks as the structure and then the gaps are filled in with mud. Miller helped build two mud homes and while it was hard work, everyone’s spirits were high as the jewels were singing and dancing throughout the build.
The last destination for the mission trip was the Dominion Model School. Miller saw how the school emphasized class and being a good person. The kids were dressed nicely and they had presentations of dance for the mission group.
Helping out at all the schools was a relatable experience for Miller. He was an orphan and was adopted from the Democratic Republic of Congo when he was 3-years-old.
“Whichever school we walked into and seeing a kid, small, no hair, maybe this little bit of a belly, just reminded me of myself when I was really young, because I was in that exact same position,” Miller said. “But all that made me really think was just like how important having belief in the people around you is and everything else because I was in the same position.”
“Even though we couldn't communicate with each other, me and the little kids, it was like we're already understanding each other. Hopefully, these kids see me as a symbol of hope and not a just an American trying to show off their superiority.”
It was amazing for Miller to see kids who are more athletic than him and anyone he sees in America. It was grounding for him to know a lot of these kids won’t get the chance to do whatever they want to.
He’s even more grateful for his friends, family and his future after the experience. Miller has Division I schools interested in him. He worked hard in the offseason with those kids motivating him. He has one touchdown through three games so far this season.
“I just can't believe it because I used to be that malnourished, little orphan,” Miller said.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
