Ayla Brooks
PUblished: February 8, 2006
When you’re 6 years old, the promise of mango ice cream is convincing enough to send you halfway around the world. Or at least that’s what Sarah Randall said.
Originally born and raised in Pensacola, Randall’s father found his calling as a missionary when she was a little girl. Hence a life of adventure, huge black ants and surfing killer breaks ensued.
Randall explained that the life of a missionary is “a whole lot slower and peaceful than living here in the city.” At the age of six, Randall’s father, mother and sister (still in uteri) moved to the Philippines, where they lived two hours from the barrio in a cement block hut.
“It was cool,” Randall said. “But you had to keep a bucket under your bed to use the bathroom at night to avoid the huge bugs.”
Randall lived in the Philippines for 10 years. Home-schooled by her mother who is a teacher, Randall’s mother also taught 300 to 400 children English during the week at the school operated by the church. On Sundays Randall and her mother would spend the mornings playing games and began a Bible club.
“The T-shirts made for the children’s Bible club were the only shirts that they ever owned,” she said.
Being 6 years old in the Philippines had its creepy and crawly side too.
“I was always a curious kid, and we had to pump well water for baths because the shower did not work,” she said. “Of course I had to turn it on and when I did millions of huge, black ants came out of the shower head and covered my whole body.”
After a short stint in London, the Randall family was moved to Cape Town, South Africa.
“That’s were I learned to surf,” Randall said. “It was awesome. My dad is a surfer and taught me.
“I did have a good scare there once while I was out on my board. I saw a dorsal fin as big as a sail and thought it was a great white shark. People get bitten a lot there. It turned out to be a whale shark and they don’t eat people, thank goodness.”
Randall met her best friend in Cape Town. She lived in the same tiny and crowded apartment complex. Randall said the community “looked at us oddly because people were not used to seeing a white [person] and black person be friends. But that did not matter to us, we were best friends.”
Randall moved from South Africa to Pensacola this past summer.
“It was very stressful transition,” she said. “Everyone here is in a hurry and not very outdoorsy. It will take a lot of getting used to.”
Randall started attending PJC this summer and says she would like to get a degree in journalism, “but I change my mind every day like a typical freshman. I don’t know what I will end up doing.”
Randall has that can-do attitude and will most likely be able to do anything she sets her mind to.