Participants Blog
Breaking Barriers
Maria in Ecuador shares about her relationship with her students
Its been one of the greatest surprises so far!
Lindsey in Nicaragua shares about the mutuality of relationships.
Service is quiet acts of kindness founded on love for others and the world around us.
Erynne in Nicaragua discovers that true service requires being free of one’s ego!
And I am feeling everything just…everything.
Hannah describes her first days in her island community in Ghana
My community has got advocacy down, I’m just here to help-out.
Jennifer humbly reflects on her impact on her local Ecuadorean community.
Now, I have stories to fill in the simple lines of a picture of Ecuador on a map
Nicolas shares his excitement of discovering Ecuador.
We Are All Different But Equal
Kara (STU/Ghana/2010) is saddened by how some Ghanaians associate being white with being superior and hopes her presence this summer can help people see that everyone is different but equal.
There is something that amazes you every step of the way
Daniela describes discovering a sense of freedom as she learns to “Do Nothing!”
Week 1
Before meeting my actual host family that I was going to be living with for the next 3 months, I was dropped off at my host sister´s house in Tegucigalpa. Although the car ride from Tegucigalpa to El Guante was relatively short, there were vast differences in the environment, people, and the interaction between people. Tegucigalpa is a large city and El Guante is a small community. This became apparent to me, as we were getting closer to El Guante and further away from Tegucigalpa. The loud, overcrowded, and busy streets were slowly replaced with a green scenery, animals and only a few people that were seen walking along the side of the road. We arrived on the Saturday night before mother´s day and so much of the extended family were already at the house for their celebration of the day. I was briefly introduced to my host father along with his children, their spouses and their children. The only person I had not met yet was my host mother, whom I ended up meeting later on that night. She greeted me with a hug and made me feel right at home. My first impression of her was that she was a warm and welcoming individual. As the week progressed I began to notice seemingly irrelevant characteristics of the town. One major one being the way everyone says hello to each other, literally. There is never an incident where two people, cars, or what have you, cross each others paths and never exchange some kind of greeting. This characteristic summarizes my first impressions of this town. El Guante is a small, tightknit, traditional community.