J

anet Reeves, nurse practitioner at Dr. 

Bawa and Associates, and Zhalman 

Harris, photographer at VIP Destin 

Magazine, made an impromptu 

humanitarian mission trip to Liberia in 

West Africa. The two met at a dinner party 

in Destin where Janet became intrigued 

by Zhalman. His accent and mild manner 

prompted her to ask questions. When she 

realized he was once a refugee and orphan 

from a war torn country, she probed more to 

get information on the current situation in 

his homeland. After Zhalman had explained 

in detail the plight the country in which he 

was born was facing, and about his hope of 

going to give back and also look into turning 

the now public school his grandfather 

opened in the 1960’s to a private nonprofi t 

school to give kids a better education, Janet 

became even more interested. “Deciding 

to go to Monrovia came easy,” Janet said. 

“After going to Nicaragua 12 times on 

medical missions and working stateside with 

Hispanics and underprivileged people it’s 

like second nature to me to just go and do 

something good for those who are not in the 

position to do for themselves or just don’t 

have their basic needs met.” 

After three weeks of planning Janet 

and Zhalman began shopping, taking 

contributions, and procuring donated 

items. For their mission trip to Africa, they 

took over 250 pounds of items 

including clothes, fl ip fl ops, 

toys, books, vitamins, and most 

importantly medications for the 

kids who had some sort of illness. 

The two-man team visited two 

orphanages where Janet did 

some wellness checks and also 

saw kids with malnutrition, iron 

and vitamin defi ciencies, coughs, 

colds, ear infections, bronchitis, 

skin rashes, and parasite 

infections. 

Janet was able to see and treat 

over 60 kids. The two most serious cases 

were an 8-month old baby who was born 

without eyes and a 4-year old girl who 

was getting fed with a feeding tube after 

drinking poison, which had severely 

damaged her esophagus and stomach. 

The team left a 6-month supply of 

vitamins and iron supplements, a year’s 

supply of parasite treatment, antibiotics, 

and antifungal meds.

Now, the pair are back home planning 

another trip in 6 months to take back 

more than what they gave on their fi rst 

trip. Even though the trip in 2018 made 

a difference for the recipients at those 

orphanages, it is just a scratch on the surface 

because there is a lot that needs to be done to 

get those kids back on track. 

For more information, to make a 

donation, and to become a volunteer please 

visit AlethasHope.org.

story & photos by

 

Zhalman Harris

 

28 Give Care Share_Aletha's Hope.indd   1

10/28/18   11:26 AM