For Walter Heiser, a graduating senior at St. Anselm’s Abbey School in Washington, D.C., a recent trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo gave him the opportunity to live out his faith and practice what he has learned at his school.
The visit to the Central African nation to work with a non-profit organization providing accessible health care in remote areas, Heiser said, was “a memorable service opportunity… (where) I exhibited love through my actions.”
“I love rendering service to others in my community and in the world because I know that service is a form of love of neighbor, and that when I am in the service of my fellow man, I am in the service of my God,” he said. “My St. Anselm’s education has reinforced the importance of serving others in my life.”
St. Anselm’s is a Benedictine-sponsored, all-boys school for students in the sixth through 12th grades. Heiser is the son of Marie-Stella Heiser and is a member of St. John Neumann Parish in Gaithersburg, Maryland. At his parish, he is active in St. Vincent de Paul Society, distributing food to the less fortunate.
An American of Congolese origin, Heiser said he felt called to serve there because “the people of the Congo are my brothers and sisters, and giving back to the people in need is the least that I can do to pay homage to my motherland.”
While in the Congo, Heiser helped to paint a health care center, and gave a demonstration about environmental safety to children. One of the children in the village touched his heart and Heiser helped that young man with his education.
Heiser recalled that one day in the village of Kinzau, he saw a young boy about 13 years old walking back from the school building by himself. Since it was the middle of the day, all the other children were at school.
“I asked him why he was not with the rest of his peers, and he said because he could not pay his last trimester’s tuition,” Heiser said. “I asked him how much it was, and he told me 6,000 Congolese Francs, which converts to a mere $2 U.S. dollars. I had spare pocket change and decided to pay for the boy’s tuition.”
That experience not only changed the young boy’s life, but Heiser’s as well.
“I had a much-needed epiphany that revealed how valuable the little money we waste on mundane futilities here in the western world is to communities in rural, impoverished communities,” he said. “I believe that everyone deserves to pursue their dreams, attain their goals, and live comfortably.”
He said he wanted to make sure the young boy continued his schooling because “knowledge is power and sets us free. With a solid education, anyone can teach others the crucial values needed to improve the world.”
When he returned to St. Anselm’s, he shared his experiences with his fellow students.
“I explained to them how my perception on life shifted when I was in the midst of the rural villages as one American teenager. I explained the story of the schoolboy and how his tuition is something that here in the U.S.A. we take for granted,” Heiser said.
He said that in addition to telling the students and faculty about the poverty he encountered in the Congo, he also made them aware of “the beauty of the country – the landscape, food and culture.”
“I also made sure to emphasize that in the Congo even though they do not wield much material wealth, they have the wealth of humanity. They do not have much, but at least they have each other,” he said, adding that he “reinforced the notion of loving our neighbor.”
After the talk, Heiser said, “multiple students and faculty members approached me asking how they could contribute to the efforts in the Congo. It brought me great joy to see how eager they were willing to serve a people not of their own and of a distant land.”
Among his favorite classes during his four years at St. Anselm’s, Heiser includes Arabic language classes, Christian ethics, and African-American literature. Outside of the classroom, he was a trumpeter in the Jazz Club, spirit director of the InterHouse Council, and a member of the Model UN, the history and chess club and the Arabic Honor Society. He was also a junior varsity member of the school’s soccer, basketball, track and lacrosse teams.
In the fall, Heiser will attend New York University on a Liberal Studies Scholarship and Global Pathways Scholarship. He plans to eventually major in international relations and public policy.
Speaking of how his faith influences his life and his future career, Heiser said, “The second greatest commandment that God gives us is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Service and charity are both forms of loving thy neighbor. I see all humans as equal no matter their ethnicity or socioeconomic status. We are one family under God.”
