How School The World Creates Lifelong Bonds!
This past February, I was absolutely honored to have the opportunity to travel with School The World on a trip to Panama, where we built both a playground and a classroom for a rural community called "Hato Rincón". This experience was extremely enlightening, I learned so much about the culture in the community, along with creating meaningful bonds with the children and their parents. The children who I met during my service trip were nothing short of wonderful, and I found that the language barrier between us was never an issue. The phrase, “Actions speak louder than words” truly stood out to me during this trip, proving that the most important memories in life aren’t always centered around dialogue.
Along with the bonds I made with the children in Panama, I also made lifelong friendships with the other students on the trip. I connected with the students from other schools attending the trip, along with forming a deeper relationship with the girls from my own school. While working, we all grew close together while also having an absolute blast. My favorite part of working at the community was painting murals in the classroom that we built, along with outside existing classrooms. The children in the community would join us while we worked, and were very eager to help us. It truly exhibited how excited the children were to have us there, and they seemed extremely grateful for everything that we did. They loved to play different games with us, my favorite activity was painting the children’s faces and letting them paint mine.
There is nothing in the world that I would trade for the time I spent in Panama, it was an experience I hold dear, and I hope to attend another trip soon. School The World is an extraordinary organization and I believe entirely that all teens should have the experience of traveling with them!