| THE WALL |
PROFESSOR JENNIFER SHEPHERD DID NOT FEEL COMPLETE. Yes, she taught students who were hungry for knowledge. Led meaningful research, chaired Gonzaga’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Published papers, won grants, started a photography business, and competed in triathlons, even completing an Ironman. Still she longed for something else. Then in 2002 her husband, Kurt Niven, an electrical engineer, traveled to Ghana for work. That July she packed her bags and joined him for 10 influential days.
“I HAD NEVER FIRST-HAND SEEN POVERTY AND SUFFERING,” SHE SAID. “THE CHILDREN THERE HAVE NOTHING COMPARED TO U.S. KIDS, BUT THEY’RE HAPPY. I’VE NEVER SEEN MORE JOYOUS KIDS. THEIR EYES ARE SO BRIGHT. “The greed and selfishness that we see in the United States wasn’t there. I offered this little snack bar to children who were following us. I think there were 12 kids and they shared the whole thing.” She wanted to help ease the hard life led by Ghanaian children, but didn’t know how. Back home in Spokane, she sponsored two brothers through secondary and trade school. This started her thinking about adoption. Her vision clarified into a desire to adopt two siblings who were close to kindergarten age. For the next several years, she and Kurt focused on financial stability. In February 2010 they returned to Ghana after an adoption agency there matched them with two girls. International adoptions are rarely easy, and although Shepherd and her husband quickly fell in love with the girls, the process took several months to complete. She returned to Ghana once again in May, taught at the orphanage school and lived with her daughters for three months while the immigration process ground forward. It was, she said, an important developmental stage in their relationship. The sisters, Therisa, 5, and Fair, 7, continually tested her loyalty. “They didn’t want me to take a shower without them. They were terrified if I closed the door,” she said. “If I left the orphanage they were so fearful that I wasn’t going to come back. It just took day, after day, after day of consistency.”
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GONZAGA MAGAZINE | WINTER 2014
A WATERSHED MOMENT IN GHANA THE SERVICE OF FAITH AND PROMOTION OF JUSTICE CAN UNFOLD IN MYRIAD WAYS BY ELI FRANCOVICH (’14)