The first time I traveled alone was in my first year of university when I ventured to volunteer in Nicaragua. A few months before taking a flight only to be met by a group of strangers, I was sitting in my chemistry class at Felmey Hall when a recruit arrived to spread the word about an organization I had never heard of, GIVE Volunteers. With little research I was convinced this was a step I needed to take and signed up. Fast-forward to sit awkwardly in an old school bus filled with 30 other volunteers, traveling down a gravel road to a small fishing village on the country’s western coast. Although the first 12 hours were a bit awkward and intimidating, I grew to love that group of strangers and some of them are still my good friends now, four years later. We started in the small town of Jiquilillo building houses for single and abused mothers and made our way to Little Corn Island, teaching children and working with a recycling program.
Poverty in some of these places was high, I saw things that I had only seen on the news before and never thought I would experience first hand. But I also gained a new respect for the world, for my family and friends and all that we have. Little did I know at the time that this trip would change who I was, how I saw the world, and what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
It was when my flight landed in Chicago that for the first time in my life I felt passion for something. I had done things before that I liked, like cooking and taking art classes, things that I thought would be fun to do, but I had never yearned for something like this passion before. I have spent the last two weeks traveling and volunteering in Nicaragua. And those two weeks were the most significant weeks of my 18 years of life. Sometimes it was scary, I wondered why I was going, I got sick and I missed home and my mom, but the more I did and the more I feared, the more I grew and the more I realized that the best things in life take cape. on the other side of fear. I had to overcome my anxiety to get on that plane and it ended up taking me on an adventure I will never forget. That adventure sculpted me as an individual. It led me to love for my internship and the work I do in the community.
When I was first offered my internship at Marcfirst, my friends told me I was stupid for not looking for an opportunity that would pay me. I knew it would take a relatively long time and while doing the work for free was not my first choice, it was an organization that consisted of something that I fully supported. It was that passion of giving up the community of doing good and helping others no matter how it came out. I am currently seven months into my internship and loving every second of it. I would put in more if I had the time, money means nothing to me and I fully support the work being done. It has shown that money is not the ultimate prize in life, and that happiness in what you are doing with your life is.