Stories from Past Brigades

Catie:

My favorite part of the trip was being immersed in the culture and meeting the different families in La Garnacha and El Naranjo. These families are so close with each other and are such hard workers. It was so inspiring and helped me look at life with a different perspective. One moment that stood out to me was with a little two year old boy who could not stop laughing every time I gave him a fist bump. He thought it was hilarious. Just the little things like this really warm your heart and I'm also glad I was able to go on this trip.

Linnea:

On the third day of the medical portion of our brigade we were in El Naranjo. Things were wrapping up so Mariana and I were chatting with a couple of the little girls. Well actually Mariana was talking and then translating for me. We were asking each other questions and I remember telling them they could ask me anything. So they turned to me and asked what my favorite thing to learn was. I thought this was such an unexpected and sweet question. Something I notice both in Honduras and Nicaragua is how eager the kids are to learn. And they're curious about our learning and they want to learn from us. And in this way we learn from them. In El salto when where we did public health, I sat down with Maria Josefa and some of her kids. When I asked her kids their favorite thing to do they said they were learning to read and that was really exciting. These children encourage/inspire me to learn more. Since these last two trips I've become very sensitive to people saying they hate school, even if they don't really mean it. I still find myself dreading to go to class somedays. But these children love to learn, and I'm reminded of that everyday.