I’m not extremely religious or spiritual, but I do believe in being blessed. I believe that I, and everyone on this adventure with me, is blessed. I feel lucky to have been welcomed into the lives of the other people on this program- people who I would have never otherwise met.
I cannot speak for the others, but I feel blessed to have been given this opportunity by my parents- to take time off from figuring out my future, to simply be and enjoy myself (Ironically, while taking time off from my future, I figured out that I want to be a Nurse Practitioner, which would be another blessing- to help others for a job). I feel grateful to my parents for insisting that I earn money to help pay for this program by working multiple jobs over the past eight months.
So far, this experience had shown me how skewed my priorities have been. Growing up in Fairfield, Connecticut was such a blessing and an opportunity to get a good education. Yet, there is a lot of materialism there, and it’s easy to have a sense of being owed things, which I shouldn’t expect. Don´t get me wrong, there are wonderful people where I grew up, but there are also people that don´t understand what is really needed and what is extra. At my HS, the majority of upperclassmen have their own car. In Guatemala, there are many families who don´t own one car, let alone multiple cars.
I knew that my reality wasn’t the reality that most people face in this world, but I didn´t want to face the truth.
You tell me if you think I’ve changed:
In Antigua, I felt blessed that I don´t have a tin roof on my house in the States. I felt blessed to have a house at all- a place to call home.
In Pasac, I felt blessed that I could hear the roosters of the village calling at three in the morning, every morning for the entire week (I know that this may sound sarcastic but I am really not). I felt blessed that I was allowed to bring five shirts on the trip, while we were living with people that owned one, maybe two, shirts, and interacting with people who wore the same shirt everyday.
In Xela, I´ve felt blessed for the jobs that I’ve held. I admit that at the end of January I was ready to be done with work for a while, but I realize now that I should be grateful for the option to take a break from work. There are, no doubt, in every place we have gone and will go that aren’t as lucky. I feel so blessed for the option to go to college to get a better job and make a life worth living for myself.
I write this to thank anyone who has helped my group to get where we are!
Ta Ta For Now,
Becca Lee