Affton Family Preps for Year-Long Mission to Belize

The members of the Kuhnert family of Affton has a lot of planning to do. In seven weeks, they are packing up their family of seven and moving to the Central American nation of Belize, where they will stay for a full year, teaching and doing community service.

Andy and Julie Kuhnert have five children, ages 11, 9, 7, 3 and 1. Andy is a teacher at Buerkle Middle in the Mehlville District. Their children attend School.

The “Seven in the Sun,” as they call themselves on their blog, are not making this move under the auspices of any established program, as most such programs to Latin America require a three-year commitment—too long, the couple believes, to make with their young children.

Instead, they are raising most of the money themselves, with the help of their friends and family. They have already raised a quarter of their monetary goal in just two months time, Andy Kuhnert said.

“We’ve just gotten a ton of support,” Julie Kuhnert said. “We sort of hesitated to tell people what we were doing, originally. We really thought everyone would think we were crazy. I’ve just been shocked that it hasn’t been that at all.”

With the help of their supporters, the family is holding a pasta dinner and raffle fundraiser Friday evening at St. Dominic Savio Church. The event lasts from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and features live music from friends Adam Kreff and the Muddy River Ramblers. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children. The grand prize in the raffle is a pair of VIP Cardinal Club tickets for May 18.

The Kuhnert’s supporters also offered up storage space, helped preparing the family’s house to be rented out for a year, and even provided a large chunk of frequent flier miles.

Andy Kuhnert said the original interest for their move came from his wife, who he said has always had a love of Latin American cooking and culture.

“I’ve thought about doing something like this, really ever since I was in my early teen years,” Julie Kuhnert said. “When we got married I think I sort of mentioned something to him at some point, planted the seeds, ‘Have you ever thought about that?’”

The impetus for the trip came four years ago, when a developer planning to redevelop their neighborhood began moving to buy their house. The prospect of suddenly not being tied down to any property seemed like a good opportunity to pursue Julie’s ambition, the Kuhnerts said.

The redevelopment never went through, and they kept their house. Still they continued the planning and research they had started and decided to make the trip anyway.

The connection to Belize came through a former member of St. Dominic Savio Church, Father Dick Perl, who became a priest stationed in the southern part of the country. Through Perl, the family hooked up with St. Peter Claver Volunteer Program of the Missouri province Jesuits. In Belize, they will be based out of Perl’s town.

Andy Kuhnert took a week-long trip to Belize last year, but other than Cancun, Mexico, the rest of the family has not traveled to the developing world.

“There will be some culture shock,” Andy Kuhnert said. “There are still some fears and anxieties, the fear of the unknown.”

Andy plans to work with the local school system, while Julie’s service will focus on economic development and teaching craft skills she has learned through her work with the Girl Scouts. The older children, who will be attending school in Belize, will also be participating in the service element of the family’s mission trip.

“This is a family mission,” Andy Kuhnert said.

The couple will be keeping a blog to chronicle its experiences for friends and family back home.  Andy and Julie said that in the end they can only do so much for the small Latin American nation, which has widespread poverty and very little industry to support its economy. The bigger impact may come from the example they set for others in their home country.

“I’m just hoping that people realize that if we can do this, they can have the courage to do whatever it is they're supposed to be doing with their life,” Julie Kuhnert said.

The family hopes to leave for Belize on June 25.