As an undergraduate, I had incredible opportunities available to me. I achieved various goals during my time at Texas Tech and received several awards, but I think some of the most influential things in our lives are experiences.
In May of 2017, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Nicaragua. This country had never been on my bucket list, and truthfully I didn’t know much about it. Enrolling in the class was a last minute decision after being persuaded by my sister and having a conversation with the instructor, who encouraged me to take advantage of this opportunity.
We spent the entire spring semester in a class preparing for the trip, and still May rolled around and I had no idea what I was about to do. I had never been out of the country, so I had to get a passport and so many vaccines to prevent the Zika Virus and other threatening diseases. I was a little nervous to visit a third world country, kind of scared, but mostly excited to see what Nicaragua had to offer.
My time in Nicaragua is not something I can sum up in 500 words. People ask me about the trip and what I can say is, it was incredible. The people there survive and are so happy with much less than we have. It was amazing to see people manage their daily routines without the internet, clean water, or transportation. We were able to help students work on some of their projects where they raised chickens, grew fruit and then made jam to sell, and grew other produce to try and raise money to take home to their families. Women in a small village in the mountains spent countless hours making woven baskets out of pine needles to sell so they could feed their families. The music, the food, the environment was absolutely breathtaking.
The trip was a humbling experience to say the least. I have never wanted to work so hard for someone else before. I really learned what service meant in those few weeks. Someone told us during the trip, “You can’t change Nicaragua in a day.” Maybe we can’t, but the greenhouse we built in two days is going to help the people of Cusmapa, Nicaragua, for years to come. You might do little work in one day, you might not be able to seen the impact that you’re having, you might never know what good you did – do it anyway.
The smile of an eight-year-old girl, who is smaller than most five-year-olds in America, when she gets to drink clean water out of your water bottle is worth it. The excitement of a group of middle school boys when you play basketball with them is worth it. The appreciation of a community when you hardly did anything at all to help them is worth it. My trip taught me that it’s worth it to do good and be good. Those people are an inspiration to me daily, and I wouldn’t trade that trip for the world.
See more about our trip at: https://youtu.be/0limw_Dzoos