Posted on Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Seven Westminster College students recently volunteered for a week at the Bethel Orphanage and the Oasis Boys Home/Vocational School in Mexico.
"I was both amazed and gratified to see these students adjust so easily to any situation. They walked right into the unknown with confidence and a desire to help, and never - not once - complained about being uncomfortable," said Carey Ann Meyer LaSor, Westminster's Young Presbyterian Scholars Program coordinator who accompanied the students.
Dr. William Evans, associate professor of education, also accompanied the students along with his 12-year-old son, Samuel. "We painted, repaired walls, and mostly interacted with the kids. We were blessed with the gentleness of the children and saw the love they shared. We also went to the poorer neighborhoods and the dump, where many people lived off the food or found things to recycle to earn money."
When the students returned from Mexico, they each chose a special word to describe their feelings about their experience and presented them at a Chapel service.
Claudia Brown believed that "joy" encompassed what she felt. "I spent most of my time with the younger kids. One boy who had cerebral palsy couldn't, or wouldn't, enjoy playing with the other kids, so his interest centered on music. I'm a music major, so I sang to him while pushing him on a swing. He smiled at me the whole time."
Alex Davis, the student leader of the group, chose "peace" as her word. "I was full of peace while I was there. I don't understand why, but I saw God at the orphanage. Kids at peace shared their toys, prayed together, and the older children helped the younger ones."
Kylee Bennett thought she gained "patience." "God showed me patience when I kept making excuses not to go on this trip. He told me to take a deep breath and let Him work through me."
Alex Alfieri thought about "kindness," not his, but the kids at the orphanage. "They gave their own few presents given to them for Christmas to the poorer kids in the villages. The kids welcomed us and reached out to us even though we were strangers."
Lindsay McCarty saw the "good" in people. "Some people are good no matter where they are. We need to think like children, to hold hands and to give hugs."
Jennifer Steele thought a lot about "faith." "I met lots of people who had faith. They would ask us to pray for them and they had faith that good things would happen to them as a result of these prayers."
Daniel Chesky thought about "self control." "Self control is not doing what you want, but doing what God wants you to do. I realized that using my time to work or play with the kids meant a lot to the kids and meant even more to me."
"We had wonderful, mature discussions about what poverty really is and how we impose our ideas of what is good upon people who already have values. I was honored to have these students represent Westminster College," LaSor said.
Contact LaSor at (724) 946-7365 or e-mail meyerca@westminster.edu for more information.
