Volunteering in a developing country after studying the native language for only two years was an exceptionally rewarding experience in more ways than one. Hannah Ruckman, a student at Rampart High School, recently returned from a two-week medical trip to Peru, which proved to be an exciting learning experience. Hannah decided to volunteer with Adopt-A-Village International because her father has volunteered with the organization for three years. Hannah is very thankful to have volunteered with AAVI; in fact, she said, “If I was given the chance to do this again, I would do it in a heart-beat!”.
Mother Teresa once said, “Peace begins with a smile”. Hannah mentioned that the most notable moments during her trip to Peru were when she made her patients smile. She developed friendly relationships with many of the people whom she helped – especially the children. Hannah described one of her first days of the clinic where she met a little girl that she spent a lot of the day with. This little girl became best of friends with Hannah; in fact, Hannah said that saying good bye to her was one of the most emotional days of the trip.
Making new friends was not the only thing Hannah took away from this experience of a lifetime; she learned a lot about the Spanish culture and language as well! Before leaving Colorado Springs, Hannah spent lots of time preparing for her trip by practicing conversations with her Spanish teacher. This proved to be of great help on the trip. Hannah also took away a new sense of Peruvian culture. “One of the biggest culture shocks for me while in Peru was all of the poverty.” Hannah mentions, “A lot of the people live in one-room houses”. Her biggest piece of advice to anyone planning on doing an AAVI trip in the future is to be prepared to see some things that you have never seen before, but it will all be worth it in the long run because you will know that you are making a significant difference in somebody’s life.
