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Ten University of Dayton students today arrived in Lusaka, Zambia, without their baggage but with hearts filled with anticipation about the adventure ahead.

"This trip is one that will be filled with hardship and challenges, but all of those will be equaled by the beauty, joy, laughter and love which will inevitably come to them," trip leader Toby Hills '15 wrote to parents this spring. "Your child is going to come away from this experience feeling absolutely blessed."

Hills, now on his third service-learning trip to Zambia, encouraged parents to write letters that he will hand-deliver to the students. Here's mine:

Dear Ali,

I wasn't wild about your idea to spend six weeks in Zambia this summer - even though I couldn't place the country on a map.

I now know this sparsely populated, impoverished land about the size of Texas is rich in culture and natural beauty. It's the home of one spectacular waterfall that most of us will only marvel at in photos. And it enjoys a reputation as one of the safest countries in Africa.

These are all reassuring facts for an anxious mother to embrace as her 18-year-old makes an 8,000-mile journey around the world to live in a wondrous, new culture.

Unlike other countries in the region, Zambia has avoided an Ebola outbreak, but it lives with an HIV/AIDS epidemic. The statistics are staggering. A reported one in seven adults lives with HIV, with AIDS orphans making up half of all orphans in the country. In the villages, you'll see children whose growth and brain development have been stunted by malnutrition. Families mourn the death of loved ones all too often.

This enormous health crisis in the midst of overwhelming poverty will open up your eyes to a world few Americans will ever experience. In the words of activist actor Martin Sheen, "Remember this above all: One heart with courage is a majority."

I admire your courage.

At your age, I boarded an airplane for the first time in my life - not to travel to a developing nation to teach youth but to visit my grandmother in Florida and enjoy a week of beach living. Your summer will not be a walk on the beach as you sacrifice so much of what we take for granted. Daily showers. Reliable electricity. Ridiculously expensive coffee. Tweeting. "I need a break from the First World," you said.

I admire your selflessness.

You are unlike many of your peers, who are chasing after a college degree like a carousel's brass ring. You want more in life than just a piece of parchment and the economic security it promises. You want a life with meaning.

I admire your perspective.

This spring, I introduced you to my favorite author, Anne Lamott, who writes simply and eloquently about what it means to live a life that matters. Remember her words from a commencement address at Berkeley a decade ago? She told graduates, "Every single spiritual tradition says the same three things:

1) Live in the now, as often as you can, a breath here, a moment there.

2) You reap exactly what you sow.

3) You must take care of the poor, or you are so doomed that we can't help you."

I admire your compassion.

You are ready to change the world, but this trip will change you. After traveling 14 hours from the capital city of Lusaka to a remote village to teach children, you will struggle to return to the life you left.

"Once you go overseas and experience life in a different way, you are changed. And you can't really come back to the life you had. You look at everything differently. Even little things like why are there 64,000 brands of toothpaste or peanut butter and then there are places where food doesn't get to the people who need it. It just makes no sense and is overwhelming," says my friend Ann Hudock, senior vice president of international programs for Plan International USA, who recently returned from living and working in Zambia.

Encouraged and supported by the Marianists at the University of Dayton, Ann boarded a plane for Sierra Leone after graduation. Her journey to Africa 25 years ago set her on a career path in international development that led to living in Hanoi and Lusaka.

"The rural areas in Zambia with grinding poverty and dispersed population make it so hard to change things," Ann observes. "Yet there are amazing people doing just that. …But in big ways, experiences like this can make you rethink what you want to do in life. And, that's wonderful but daunting."

In life, we're only promised the moment. Use this moment to immerse yourself in Zambia. Make new friends. Be open. Ask questions. Reflect. Read. Pray.

Above all, be yourself. You are a gift to the world.

With much love and prayers,

Mom

- Teri Rizvi

Teri Rizvi is the founder of the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop and executive director of strategic communications at the University of Dayton.