St. Paul’s High school takes an annual service trip to El Salvador to experience a new culture and to help those in need. Over this past summer I was lucky enough to go on this service trip to El Salvador. This country has gone through horrific times, such as war, brutal killings and many more unjust acts, including the wrongful treatment of the citizens. But behind all this hardship is a beautiful country that reminds one of paradise, that you seem to forget about its flaw’s and look at the positive and what the people are trying to change their circumstances.
While there for two weeks I had the opportunity to meet many new people and experience a whole other culture. I was amazed how these people were so poor but so happy, and while there one thing struck me as being a result of that, faith. The people of El Salvador took any opportunity to practice their faith no matter how long the walk was to get there or how hard they all found a way to take time out of their day to pray and reflect.
This sight changed my prospective on faith and religion as a whole, and made me think about the more fortunate back home and how we are wasting precious resources and treating it as nothing because we were born to believe that fending for one’s rights was the way to success in this world. If only everyone had the opportunity to see that people were doing great things with very little and working as a community to accomplish a similar goal, the world would have a chance to change for the good.
For instance, in a small community called El Faro consisting of maybe one hundred people, they all worked together to build a road that goes right through their community. Many would just think that they would lay the rocks on a dirt path and be done with it, but they would be wrong. The people of El Faro with levels were mapping out every last inch of the road, trying to make something perfect from what they had. Having the opportunity to help contribute to the completion of the road gave the entire group a feeling of success.
Even though we just carried rocks up from the river the people immediately accepted us and treated us as a member of their community. It was a great sense of accomplishment to see people working together. No matter how old, appearance, sex or physique, we all worked together as one. The service trip to El Salvador was the most enlightening experience of my life, and will not be forgotten.
The people of El Salvador inspired me to believe in the concept that it doesn't matter about the size of your home, or how much money you make, but if you surround yourself with loving people you care about and have faith for a better and brighter tomorrow, you can rise out from the bottom and make a difference in this world. These people gave me so much more then I could ever give them, and I hope one day I can do the same for someone else.