So a friend of mine just sent me this post….and it was like WOW. It really does make me think. And it's not just about white boys or girls, but people coming from the "developed world" to help the "poor, underdeveloped" people of the world. I think it's a must read for anyone doing, considering, or invited to Peace Corps. The paragraph that really hit me was:
"Our mission while at the orphanage was to build a library. Turns out that we, a group of highly educated private boarding school students were so bad at the most basic construction work that each night the men had to take down the structurally unsound bricks we had laid and rebuild the structure so that, when we woke up in the morning, we would be unaware of our failure. It is likely that this was a daily ritual. Us mixing cement and laying bricks for 6+ hours, them undoing our work after the sun set, re-laying the bricks, and then acting as if nothing had happened so that the cycle could continue."
This really hit me because it made me think of all the times I've gone on service projects and built a house or fixed a hospital or build a retaining wall….with no experience! Yes, we had maybe an hour of training, but is this service really about helping someone else or boosting egos to say "oh, there was that time that I did construction to help these needy people and that makes me good". This article makes me give what I do a second look…makes me think about what my intentions are in service and how although service is great, service without adequate tools/skills may not be so useful. Definitely take some time to read this.
Talk to you all next week!!
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