Passport needed to make trip to Africa

CADILLAC — A distraught mother is desperately seeking a solution to a stolen passport and driver’s license that are necessary for a flight to Africa on Monday.

Jan Brunink and her 17 year-old daughter Brittany are booked on flights that will take them to Kenya. Not only is Brunink counting on this trip to visit her daughter, Kristie, who is there on a study-abroad program, but she also has done the legwork required for the two to volunteer in an orphanage in Nairobi during their stay.

But plans were thrown into disarray last weekend when Brittany’s purse was stolen from her car in Cadillac West.

A classified ad in Tuesday’s Cadillac News pleaded with “whomever stole my daughter’s purse” to return the passport and driver’s license.

If that doesn’t work, there is one chance left — to spend all day Friday in Chicago begging for an appointment at the one office where a passport can be obtained in one day.

Jan Brunink has worked hard to pull together all the pieces necessary to make this trip, and she isn’t about to give up now.

As she looked at the weekend’s misfortune, Brunink turned to prayer for an answer.

“That’s what’s been so difficult,” she confided. “Is God trying to tell me no? Yet He opened up so many doors for us. I can’t quit until I have opened every door possible.”

The dream of taking this trip started last fall when Kristie returned to Grand Valley State University and began planning her study abroad in Africa. She specifically chose to study in Kenya after an intern program through Calvin College placed her in Tanzania, a country bordered by Kenya, four years earlier.

And then Brittany said, “Mom, we need to go to Kenya.”

With that nudge from Brittany, a senior at McBain Public High School, Brunink went into action.

“It’s taken three months of careful consideration and prayer and searching if this is God’s plan for us,” Brunink reiterated. “Every barrier in my way, God has put aside. So just when we started to feel totally at rest — this happens.”

Your local connection

To return the identification, please send to Box No. 2, c/o Cadillac News, PO Box 640, Cadillac, MI 49601. Or deliver in person to the customer service desk at the Cadillac News.

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