23 Aug 2018 10:57
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A few months before I left on a trip by myself to meet a bunch of strangers, I had been sitting in my Chemistry class in Felmey Hall when a recruit came into spread the word about a company I had never heard of, GIVE Volunteers. With very little research I convinced myself that this was a step that I should take and signed myself up. Fast forward to sitting on an older school bus filled with 30 additional volunteers, traveling down a gravel road to a small fishing village on Western shore of the nation. Though the first 12 hours were a little awkward and intimidating that I grew to appreciate that group of strangers and some of them are still my good friends today, four years after. We began in the little town of Jiquilillo building houses for unmarried and abused mothers and worked our way to Little Corn Island, teaching children and working using a recycling program.
Poverty in some of these places were high, I found things that I'd seen on the news before and never thought I'd experience first hand. However, I also gained a new respect for the world, for my family and friends and all that we've got. Little did I know at the time that this trip would change who I was, the way I viewed the world, and what I'd want to perform for the rest of my life.
I had done things I enjoyed, like cooking and taking art courses, things which I thought could be interesting to do but I had never craved something like this passion before. I had spent the previous two weeks traveling volunteering in Nicaragua. And those two months were the most purposeful weeks of my 18 decades of life. At moments it was frightful, I questioned why I went, I got sick and missed home and my mother, but the longer I did and the more I dreaded, the more I climbed along with the more I understood the best things in life are kept at the opposite side of fear. I had to elongate past my nervousness to jump on that plane and it ended up directing me on an experience I can never forget. That adventure sculpted me as a person. It lead me into the love of my profession, along with the work I do throughout the area.
When I was offered my internship at Marcfirst my buddies told me I was stupid for not searching for an opportunity that could provide pay. I knew it'd be time consuming and though doing the work for free was not my first option, it was an organization that consisted of some thing that I fully supported. It was that fire to relinquish in the neighborhood of doing good and helping others no matter what form it came in. I am currently seven months into my profession and I love every second of it. Volunteering would go in more if I had the time, the money means nothing to me personally and that I fully support the work being done. It's proven that money is not the greatest prize in life, and that delight in what you are doing with your life is.