Seven months in to a year-long journey to help the world

Back in October, Young Achievers introduced readers to an extraordinary family on a mission to help the world - the Lewis family.

Since July, Jackson Lewis, along with his father, J.D. Lewis, and younger brother, Buck Lewis, have traveled the globe on a mission they like to call "Twelve in Twelve."

The concept is simple - travel to 12 countries in 12 months, helping people along the way. At each stop, the family volunteers at organizations that could use their help.

The trio has journeyed across the Himalayas, worked alongside elephants in Thailand, played with orphans in China and wandered through Red Square in Moscow.

And we recently received an update about the family's journey. Seven months into their year-long trip, they have made it to Kenya.

The Lewis' spent their time working with the Health Education Africa Resource Team and School Communities Offering Projects that Empower. In Nairobi, they also visited Nyumbani, an orphanage for children with HIV. They then took a trip to Kibera, an AIDs-stricken slum in Africa.

J.D. Lewis writes in the family blog: "As we descended the dusty road, there it was. The famed Kibera slums… so unique, so surreal. Almost unbelievable, it felt like a backdrop on the lot at 20th Century Fox. Miles and miles of rusted tin shacks for as far as the eye could see. A wasteland… a village for those unable to afford better, a haven of need and disease, and sometimes violence."

Their next stop is South Africa. To follow the Lewis family blog and learn more about their travels, visit twelveintwelve.org.