Pathway to Mexico – Fourth Grade Part II

My discovery in fourth grade that I could help other people by learning Spanish may have been forgotten with time if another defining experience had not occurred that same year. Though the circumstances surrounding the event were tragic, it was that very tragedy (combined with the vision and action of my twin teachers) that lit a fire in my little ten-year-old heart that has yet to go out. From October 29th to November 3rd of 1998, Hurricane Mitch hit the Central American states of Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, killing thousands and leaving millions of people homeless in the wake of catastrophic flooding (click here to learn more). In response to this tragedy, however, a formative life event was suddenly placed on my life path: I became involved in my very first humanitarian project.

My two teachers came to us (their students) with the news of Hurricane Mitch and asked us if we were willing to do something to help the people of Honduras who had suffered the most from the hurricane. Our teachers (I assume) purposefully put us in charge of the project (or made us feel like we were) to give us a sense of investment; and, soon enough, our class of 30 ten-year-old kids had organized a school-wide clothes drive. From planning, to collecting clothes, to ordering the delivery truck and loading it up with donations in front of my elementary school, I felt like we were making a difference. I felt connected to the people of Honduras in some small way—and I liked that feeling! By putting us in charge of the project, our teachers not only taught us about the world, they also empowered us with the experience and confidence to do something about the problems we saw in it—even as ten-year-old elementary school students.

I look back now at the Hurricane Mitch clothes drive or the moment my classmate handed me the book of Spanish vocabulary and I can see little seeds being planted along my path of life. Those seeds had to be nourished by hundreds of other individuals, experiences, teachings, and 'unnoticed' defining moments to get me to where I am today, but I can look back at the clothes drive or the small and seemingly insignificant gesture of a fellow fourth-grader and know that those experiences are somehow connected to who I am and the path I have chosen to take. My life in Mexico is closer now than ever before and it both frightens and excites me. And, despite the fear, I am grateful that this is where my path has led me because I know that it is there where the seeds of service and Spanish will fully come into bloom.