Brittany Cornejo – A Love Story

In 2011, I first went to Belize as I felt “stuck” personally, spiritually and professionally. My father was dying, my best friend moved across the country, and I was considering leaving an ever stressful job. A friend, who owned property in Belize, suggested that I go and spend some well deserved “down-time” on the white beaches of Central America.

By the second day, I was playing with children on the beach. They would find me during their lunch hour and after school. After a few days of this, a local man stopped me and said, “I have been watching you. Kids love you.” I thanked him for the compliment and admitted that I was a teacher. He continued, “Do yourself a favor, have those kids take you home.” So, after school that day, I asked them if I could visit their houses. I cannot properly explain the difference between the tourist side of the island of Ambergris Caye and the reality of some of the locals’ living conditions. No electricity nor plumbing is not uncommon. A 14’ x 14’ structure, with only a mattress, is home for too many families. Clapboard houses are built upon garbage dumps. When Trip Advisor named this island the #1 in the world in 2014, they obviously had not taken the short walk across the bridge.

I returned to Belize six weeks later with at team of 19 amazing students from the University of Sioux Falls. Our goal was to build a playground at the school located in this impoverished area. For 10 days, we created an infrastructure in the lagoon behind the school and then hauled sand to be the base for the industrial swing set that we erected. We brought 500 1bs of books and sporting equipment; we tutored, assisted a visiting dentist and simply loved on the children.

During this trip, I acquired a shadow named Brittany. She would not only follow me home every day, there were mornings that she would be sleeping outside my door when I awoke.

Very early, one Sunday morning, I opened my door, and there she was. I was heading to the beach to be greet the day and read. I always have children’s books with me, so I grabbed “Alice in Wonderland” for her. We read in silence for a long time. Then I asked her, “How is that reading level for you?” Frankly, “Alice in Wonderland” is more literally dense than most people remember. Her response and explanation is what first made me fall in love with her. She said, “Oh, Miss Kim, I am a good reader. I have to be if I want to get the job I want someday.”

Considering I am aware of the lack of professional opportunities for locals on the island, I held my breath and asked, “What do you want to be?”

She enthusiastically explained, “I don’t know if you have this television show in the States, but there is a show on our TV, where an old man goes around the world and saves the babies. I want to do this with him.” What this sweet 12 year old girl was describing was the Christian Children’s Fund infomercial. The brutal irony is that she had no idea that she was one of those children. It was then that I told her that if she never missed school and got good grades, someday I would try to bring her to the States for a year.

Brittany did everything in her power to make my promise her reality. Three years later, not only had she excelled in school, she figured out how to apply for a passport and a FI Student Exchange Visa. That May, when I arrived on the island, she was waiting to show me that she had held up her part and was ready to go. Brittany attended school in Sioux Falls during the 2014-15 school year.

Her return to Belize was brutal for all of us. Despite the fact that I would see her on a regular basis during my trips, not having her in my daily life was a heartbreaking. I actually went back to Belize with her as I, with the financial help of former students and family, sponsor numerous children and work at two schools on the island. June is a month where I need to be there in order to organize care-taking (food, supervision, etc for all my “street kids”) once school is out for summer. When Brittany and I went to the high school to register her for fall, they informed us that she would have to retake her junior year. This was a total “bait and switch” on the school’s part. Frankly, she was being punished for her good fortune. No negotiation was entertained.

Upon her return, Brittany was ostracized by classmates. At home, things were also hard.

By Christmas of 2015, I sensed something was wrong as Brittany was not answering texts or emails. When I arrived on the island in February, I discovered that she had not been in school for weeks. She was home helping with her mother’s new cooking business – they were serving lunch out of their house now. I have a good relationship with Britt’s whole family, including her mother, so there were a lot of conversations about the situation. According to her mom, Brittany was not the same when she came back from the states. She never slept and she got extreme headaches. Her mom had taken her to the doctor a couple of times, and they gave her a prescription. It never got filled because her mother had no money to pay for it. There is no mental health counseling on the island. All of the flags pointed to a severe depression.

While I was there in February and March, I got Brittany back into school, and she lived with me. When I left and she went back to her house, it all fell apart - again. She did not finish the year. In June, when I returned, she stayed with me.

When she is with me, Brittany is a girl I in which I fell in love. She is that open, highly communicative, smiling, lovely kid that I met five years ago and they young woman who lived with me in Sioux Falls. At her house, I see her physically shrink.

One morning, at breakfast, I asked her, “Brittany, what happened? How can you go from having so much going for you and attending O’Gorman High School to making chicken, beans and rice everyday?” She did not answer right away. She sat there for a long time as she chose her words.
“I don’t really know how to explain it. I would go to school, and I could hear the teacher talking, but I just got smaller and smaller. Pretty soon, I didn’t even feel myself in the room. I disappeared.” This is when I knew that I had to bring her “home.” It was also one of the most articulate description of depression I have ever heard.

Getting Britt back to Sioux Falls has included more and higher roadblocks than I have ever encountered. Brittany can only come into the States on an I20 status as she is not coming through an agency. There are no agencies in place in Belize, or most Third World Countries. The only schools that have this status near us are Sioux Falls Christian and Freeman Academy. Freeman Academy would have great because of its small size and rural community. Brittany would have bloomed there; however, the tuition and insurance is a total of $17,500. Therefore, Sioux Falls Christian is the more logical choice as she gets to stay home with our family, and is within walking distance to my mother’s.

Throughout this entire journey, SFC – and specifically, Peggy Wahl – have been warm, welcoming and excited about Brittany being a part of their community. Peggy even showed up at the airport at 10:30 pm on Friday with a “Welcome to Sioux Falls Christian” placard! During our initial school tour, everything about it just seemed like the right place for our new family.

Again, since I left my job to follow a life of service, I simply cannot afford the tuition currently due. Because school has already started, no tuition assistance is availble; we will be able to apply for that next year. I am also being deliberate in picking up work to afford her daily needs.

While I was in Belize, I resolved myself to focusing on getting her out of the country, which was ‘gut-wrenching.” There is a lot of Visa, guardianship, legal red tape, and Belizean/American politics, that I am skipping over, but rest assured, that it took a global village to get her back where she belongs.

The money raised will be used specifically for her tuition this school year 2016-17. Sioux Falls’ Christian’s tuition is $10,500. Also, there is a $250 application fee. They require the rental of a Chromebook. Furthermore, all students must have $500 in a food plan and $500 in a discretionary fund. Again, to be clear, our Gofundme campgain is to cover this year’s tuition. We will have a year to budget, save, earn and apply for assistance for next year.

Of course, people have questioned the sensibility of it all, as the finances seem substantial. Truly, I pray for clarity on this issue. Could that money better be spent on numerous children instead of just one child? However, the Holy Spirit keeps whispering to me and pushing me to continue to advocate for Brittany. This one child can – and will – make a difference for her own community someday. She may change the people who take a chance on her. I know she has changed me.


I thank anyone who is taking the time to read our love story. She is my Belizean daughter, and I need to set my pride aside and ask for help. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for any ideas or suggestions you may have. Thank you for considering to be a part of our extended family. I first went to Belize to get “unstuck in the sand.” I never dreamed it would be the children and, especially, Brittany, who would grab my hand and gently guide me to my current life, which is rich with faith and love.