Written
by: Logan Ricke
Published
by: Anthony Ruberti
What I
have to summarize is a life experience that was so moving, so vast that I’ll
never be able to shake from my character. My winter service study abroad in
Haiti pushed me to leave the only place I ever knew (Southeastern Indiana) and
travel overseas to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. I came back
with images burned into my brain that will not soon be forgotten. Everything
from the streets to the people, from the water to the food was different than
what I’m used to.
Growing
up I was told to appreciate what I have and “you don’t know how good you got it
here”. Well, after a week in Haiti, these are some of the most useful life
lessons to learn and learn early. Being an average standing student at a major
university, I sometimes feel like just a number, but traveling abroad into a
foreign country with the intention of doing good, I realized that the native
people there didn’t care about anything other than my intentions. My intentions
were good and that was all that mattered to them. I was even looked up to by
students because of what I accomplished. The people there were so curious about
life at Purdue and how they could get the chance to study there. They wanted to
know everything about me: from how many years I had been in school, to my
favorite music, and even how big my family was. No matter how vague some
answers may have been like “I have ten people in my family,” they went berserk
with every response and would fire off more questions.
The
United States is more or less a big brother to developing countries, and I
understand now that it’s our duty to assist these less privileged countries in
their growth rather than sit idly by while they’re “crashing their bicycles”
time and time again. If we taught them “how to ride the bike”, they could do it
themselves after that. I think that is our role in the world, but this doesn’t
mean, “get in and get out”. I believe (after this trip) that we should teach
them how to help themselves. This method was what the traveling group practices
and what I believe will benefit Haiti the most in the long run.
Ben Franklin once said, “…I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy
in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.” This goes hand in hand with
this group’s mission, and even though this trip has ended, our mission isn’t
completed.
It was a privilege to get to see more of the world through this trip, and
I cannot begin to thank everybody involved with this trip for playing a part in
one of the most influential weeks of my life. Especially Dr. Russell and Dr.
Oliver for coordinating such a memorable trip, Thank You to Branly and Blucher
for their expertise of the area and patience with everybody, and lastly Thank
You to all participants and travelers of the trip.
We all truly made a difference and you’re all a pretty cool group of
people to travel with!
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