NASHUA — When Bishop Guertin sophomore Kenney Muise heard about a mission trip to Zambia through her math teacher at Nashua Catholic Junior High School, she knew she wanted to be a part of.

“I told my parents that I really wanted to go on it because I've been doing service projects throughout the summer,” said Muise, 15.

Though they could have written her a check to cover the forthcoming trip, which could cost up to $5,000, her parents proposed a more creative route. Muise's mom, Kim Crider, an Air Force brigadier general, has been active for years at the Nashua Farmers Market, which opened for the season two weeks ago.

“I knew that we were (seeking) an ice cream component to the Farmers Market,“ Crider said, “so when Kennedy said she wanted to go on this mission trip I said, 'Well, we could give you the money, or you could earn the money.' ”

They did the research, got the permit, found a second-hand ice cream cart in Connecticut, and by last July the business was off the ground. The business' name, Kiki's No Ka Oi, comes from Muise' nickname and the Hawaiian word for “number one.”

Every Sunday at the Nashua Farmers Market she sells chocolate, vanilla and cookie dough ice cream, as well as lemon and mango sorbet and ice cream sandwiches. The products comes from Annabelle's Ice Cream in Portsmouth, as it was important that they have a natural, local ice cream.

But of all the things one could sell at a farmers market, why ice cream?

“Because we like ice cream,” Muise said with a chuckle from behind her stand. “We're just ice cream lovers.”

The business started last July, and with the Zambia trip still two years away, Muise said she's close to the halfway mark for her savings. “It started early because I knew that it would take a while. It started like three years in advance.”

The journey will be led by Bishop Guertin's Brother Don Tardif.

“Brother Don goes to Africa every year, and he has created a connection with this village that they always go to,” she said.

“You work on an orphanage and dormitories for other students. You usually bring a lot of supplies and you just kind of fix up their schools.”

In addition to her Sunday gig at the Nashua market, she also works special events at Greeley Park, as well as the Nashua Symphony and other nonprofits.

Though scooping ice cream seems simple enough, Muise quickly learned that getting a business going is more difficult than she thought. The trickiest part is getting permits from the city. Muise can sell prepackaged ice cream at most venues, but she's only allowed to scoop at the farmers market and at specified events at Greeley Park in Nashua.

The initial investment — between the cart, a trailer, insurance and permits — was about $3,500. Proceeds are split four ways: one part fundraising, one part capital reimbursement, one part wages and one part goes to the various organizations where she peddles her treats.

More than anything, Kiki's No Ka Oi is teaching Muise some of life's fundamentals.

“It teaches her that anything worthwhile in life takes sacrifice and work,” said her dad, Jim Muise. “We want to teach her and instill in her that if this is something you really want to do you have to work at it.”

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Simon Rios may be reached at srios@newstote.com.