It was Friday morning, June 29, and I was boarding an Emirates airplane at JFK.I sat down and asked myself, why am I doing this again? For the eighth time, I was going on a 16-hour flight to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and then a five-hour flight to Nairobi, Kenya. It was going to add up to 29 hours in airports and airplanes. Why?

Let me explain. I am the volunteer director of the Maywood Rotary Kenya Project, a charity that my son started when he was 9 years old.