Last December, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Cusmapa, Nicaragua on the Sheil service trip with the Fabretto Children's Foundation. Of course I had a ‘fun’ time and was grateful for a chance to ‘give back’ to those we might consider to be ‘disadvantaged’. Those were the experiences I anticipated going into this trip. However, that trip affected me in ways I never could have imagined. My eyes were opened when I saw the poverty that is a daily reality for many people, people with lives, dreams, and families just like you and me. I made friends with a child who doesn’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. Sharing a water bottle with this child for a week is something I will never forget.
Many of the things I witnessed have become things I question every day. I don’t have answers, but I now have a desire to use my life to seek answers. So this year, I have the privilege of going back to Nicaragua, this time, as a student leader. I hope that my fellow students will become impassioned with the desire to serve as I was last year, and that they will come back with a better understanding of what it means to be poor, what it means to be human, what it means to serve, and what it means to live and work in true solidarity.
While sometimes revisiting the memories from last December is difficult, I would never want to un-see, un-hear, or un-feel any part of it. I cannot wait for the new ways in which Cusmapa will change my life this trip. And I would like to ask you to please consider contributing to my efforts or to Fabretto, which so positively impacts the lives of many Nicaraguan children.
Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers, or financial contributions!