What Service Means to Us - A Student Perspective

Reflection Written By: Piper Bozick and Jaylen Deleon

Throughout these past three weeks, we have worked with kids from Cometas de Esperanza to teach them about physical, mental, and environmental health. These two groups were aged 13-17 and 10-12, and were the sweetest. 

Our first lesson with both groups was a physical health activity where our CIEE Program Leaders taught us a dance. This required concentration and appreciation for mistakes because it did take a couple of tries to completely learn the dance. After the dance lesson, each community took turns sharing our local dances. Students from the US would show them dances such as the Cupid Shuffle and then Cometas de Esperanza students would show us one of their dances to a Dominican song. It would go back and forth like this for the rest of the time we spent there that morning. Regardless of the language and cultural barrier, no student was hesitant to teach another their dance. I personally had students that I didn’t even know their names come up to me, grab my hands, and show me the dance. Slowly, I would understand the dance and then we’d switch partners, and I would be dancing with someone new. 

The following lesson was about mental health. While the activities differed based on the group ages, both focused on the idea that there is no such thing as bad or good emotions because all emotions help us grow as a person. By watching and participating in these activities, I can tell that everyone took something out of it.

Lastly, we taught the students about environmental health, which was the type of health they knew least about. We talked about how it is important to keep trash off the streets, stop cutting down trees, and stop burning trash. On top of that, we connected the ideas of mental and physical health to the environment and talked about how the environment can affect our health.

There were only three different days of health topics per group, but despite the short time, we connected with each group and formed tight bonds.

On our first day of service, I was pretty nervous to meet the children. I speak some Spanish, but I know that I am nowhere near fluent or have proper grammar 100% of the time. This caused me to feel like there was an even larger barrier between me and the people I was trying to connect with…The people I wanted to connect with. Despite this, the welcoming community I was introduced to allowed me to not be afraid to use my Spanish to start conversations with them. Additionally, lots of students were asking me words in English and how to pronounce them properly. There was an education flow in both directions, because we were both interested in each other’s cultures.

On top of that, I didn’t know that service would mean this much to me. When I was selecting which program I wanted to study abroad with, I had no idea if I was making the right choice because I was so interested in multiple different areas. There were certain things that I was taking into consideration for my selection, but service was not one of them. I know certain people picked this program because there was a service aspect attached to it, but that wasn’t my experience. I knew we were going to service, but because I had no idea what we were going to do, I didn’t know how I felt about it. That is until I got there. The moment I hopped off the bus and into the doors of Cometas de Esperanza, I knew I was going to love every moment I spent there.

I know if there hadn’t been a language barrier I would have been able to connect with them so much more because I had so much I wanted to say and sometimes I just didn’t have the words. However, the connections that I formed were sad to break when we said goodbye today. Yes, I have a lot of their WhatsApp numbers and, yes, I have their Instagram handles. We text all the time. But there will be something different about not seeing their smiling faces every day.

I am proud to say that I found more of myself on this trip and through this service than I ever thought imaginable. And I don’t want to just pack up my things, fly back to the US, and relive this experience as a memory. This program truly has shaped my future journey.

 As we left the camp today, I had an observation as we were boarding our buses. The kids from Cometas de Esperanza got on a run-down yellow school bus. The paint was chipping and the windows were faulty. However, we got on a pristine white shuttle, with fancy curtains, outlets, and cushiony seats. What makes us more deserving of this bus than the children from Cometas de Esperanza? They are extremely smart children who will make a huge impact in the future, so why can't they have such luxuries? It's just unfair. I find it strange how we will go back to our privileged lives after this trip. We experience feelings of guilt for leaving these kids behind, knowing they are so special and just as deserving of a life like ours. We feel the urge to just keep helping more. To help these kids become happier and live better lives. To help make changes to better their future. This is what the program has taught us. To strive for more. To solve problems, and do it with determination and passion.