Service-Learning VIP: Kelsey

My heart swelled and a feeling of love permeated my entire body. I gripped Esebastian's coarse hand, while my other arm extended to Raul's tiny fingers; barely big enough to grasp my hand. I wanted to frame this moment, for soon I would be on a plane home. When it was time to say goodbye, Esebastian turned towards me, clasping both my hands in his palms. He smiled that toothless grin that had become so familiar to me over the summer. "No te vayas o voy a llorar" (Don’t go or I’m going to cry), he said, and suddenly that smile faded. "Vas a quedarse a dentro de mi corazon" (you’ll stay in my heart). I met his gaze. "Igualamente. Te amo" (It’s the same for me. I love you), was all I could manage.

When I left Peru after working in a remote village, I expected to be sad that the experience had ended, but instead I just felt lucky. As I peered out of the bus at the mountains that had been my home, I couldn’t help but smile. I had been able to build a connection with a community. An experience of profound service had been a dream of mine, and finally I was able to make it a reality. I spent my summer building a one-room school house in a village tucked in the Peruvian Andes. On my plane ride to Peru, while setting goals for myself, I wrote:

"I don’t know what this goal looks like exactly, but it’s called forming connections. It means living out that school presentation I gave on empathy and forming ties with people across the world. Creating those connections is what will extend my individual network of empathy, and only then will I be motivated to devote my life to somehow making a difference in the world. There's a picture on my bulletin board at home and it says 'Be Someone.' Ultimately I see this trip as a step towards moving out into the world."
- Excerpt from my journal: June 29, 2011

"Forming connections" didn’t manifest how I expected. I thought that creating these ties would begin with sympathy; I assumed I would feel badly for the people of Urquillos and therefore want to help them. However, after working day after day alongside these people- whether we were mixing cement, molding adobe bricks, stripping logs, or hauling rocks up the hill- I began to develop the utmost respect for them. I started to feel this overwhelming sense of love for Esebascion, my host "grandfather" who worked harder than most people I've ever met; Emeralda, the little girl who naturally gravitated to my lap; Nico, the coordinator for the project and the nicest, most accepting man; and every other person in Urquillos. Love became the motivation behind my work, and only then did I truly understand what it meant to form connections with people across the world.

I wasn't exactly sure how my experience in Peru would translate to my life in Colorado, but I knew that it marked the transition between focusing on self-improvement and shifting my perspective towards others. When I returned, I found that my desire for connections and motivation to help others carried over from Peru. As Student Body President, I am on a committee that disciplines probationary offenses committed by my peers. During my early high school years, it never fazed me when a student was suspended. However, just last week as I listened to a freshmen describe why he wanted to stay at CRMS, I felt this new sense of personal responsibility. I wrote:

"I am inextricably enmeshed in this school now; it is truly a part of me, and I am truly a part of it. Somewhere along the way, I have grown to care about the student body such that their problems become my own. It's an amazing feeling. It's exactly like in Peru: just as I set out on a service project because I wanted that experience, I decided to become a leader of this school because I wanted to immerse myself in a leadership experience in my own community. In Peru I met a people and a culture, and along the way my motivation for working was no longer about me- it was about them. That’s what I think is happening here. I’m entering into the realm of something bigger than myself."
- Excerpt from my journal: October 4, 2011

I think I’m going to love this newer place that I'm entering, and what I said to each person in Urquillos is true: "Voy a recordarla por siempre" (I’m going to remember it forever).

- Kelsey F., Visions Service Adventure, Carbondale, CO