ASB Reflections

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ASB Honduras 2013

I am so excited to be embarking on my third trip with Central American Relief Efforts (CARE) to Honduras! This time will be very different, just by the simple fact that this is an ASB trip, which creates an atmosphere all its own. Besides the amazing work our team is about to do in Honduras, I am really looking forward to the relationships my teammates are about to build with one another and watching the special bonds form from this once in a lifetime circumstance that only an ASB experience can foster.I am thrilled to see how this group of people can open my eyes to new things that I have not yet uncovered during my past trips to Honduras and help educate me to new levels. I am also hopeful that they will find the same beauty I have found.

I am so eager to see the difference we can make during our time in Honduras and what impact we can make upon our return.

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SO SOON

When I  was offered an ASB team leader position for this trip back in the Spring of 2012, I realized right away that it was an incredible opportunity. When they told me that it was to Costa Rica to focus on sustainable agriculture, I was ecstatic. It seemed so far away then, and it’s so hard to believe that now in less than a week my team and I will be spending our first few hours at La Gran Vista. The process of getting the details of the trip together has been very different than I was expecting, but I am fortunate in that I have a great team and learning partners to work with. I am excited to spend time with everyone in a different context than meetings at school.

I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I’m a bit nervous for the trip. With any experience like this there are so many unknowns, ranging from what to pack to issues with traveling to the still unknown details of our direct service while we’re at the farm. As the trip gets closer, excitement is overtaking nerves a little more every day.

Can’t wait to see what “pure vida” is all about!

Best, Lara

 

 

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TEXAS!

I’m so ridiculously excited to go to San Juan with my team!  Only a week and a handful of days to go.  After going to Philly for the Midnight Run with some of my teammates, I can definitely tell that I’m going to enjoy my experience with my peers.  I can’t wait to learn about immigration rights and meet with the locals!

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ABC Atlanta

I applied to attend the ABCs because I was interested in the theme for the week, asset based community development (ABCD). When I read the description of ABCD, it reminded me Café Reconcile, a great restaurant and organization in New Orleans (check it out! http://reconcileneworleans.org). I had visited Café Reconcile my junior year of high school during a service trip, and its economic model has been imprinted in my mind. I did not know how to transfer that idea to ASB, however, and that is why I wanted to attend the conference.

My week in Atlanta helped to clarify that ASB trips can participate in asset based community development by finding community partners that focus on this. For example, during the week we volunteered at Healthy Belvedere, Atwood Community Gardens, and Park Pride by doing landscaping work. All of these organizations used Atlanta’s assets (weather, empty lots, neighborhood pride etc.) to address the obesity epidemic in Atlanta.

The week was about more than just ABCD though. Half of the days were spent in workshops about all the different aspects of an ASB trip or at speaker panels with local community leaders. Ideas were exchanged between all of the different programs. It was great to hear about the different methods used by other programs and to meet other students involved in their respective programs. Although the week was exhausting, I left Atlanta feeling renewed and full of energy for the coming school year and more ASB experiences!

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ABC’s

I didn’t really know what to expect going into the ABC’s in Atlanta. I’d never been to Atlanta before, and had only ever participated in one ASB trip. I wasn’t overly dedicated to the program, just very excited to become a trip leader. I didn’t have any major visions for ASB, our my trip for the next year. All I knew was that I had an open mind and a passion for enacting global change. This is what I brought with me to Emory University. I left with almost exactly the same things. However, this open-mindedness and passion had taken an entirely new form, one that completely understood the purpose of Alternative Breaks, Asset-Based Community Development, the meaning of having a group of strangers feel like family, and what it takes to make the impact I’ve always known I wanted to make.

Not only did I learn very thoroughly the eight components of a quality alternative break, I brainstormed ways these components could be revised to better the program at Lafayette. I fully understand what it means to build a community based on what it has, not what it needs. This idea is something that I have noticed several times since I’ve come home, and is something I will remember in the future as I start to develop programs in my community, whether it is next year in Easton or ten years from now. I’ve been inspired by the Alternative Breaks movement. Seeing how passionate others are about the programs at their school has motivated me to become part of the larger movement and try to get others to do so. I realized as I was in tears looking out the window of the airplane on the way home that the week I spent with Break Away was not your average Alternative Break trip. The friends I made and the ideas we exchanged has given me tremendous insight on what it truly means to be an active citizen.

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Heading to Haiti again!

There are some things that I have figure out over the years about my self, i love lacrosse and being involved in competition, I will do just about anything to learn something new, and most importantly I am never really satisfied.  When a friend was talking to me about ASB I knew I had to get involved and when I read the Haiti program description, I knew that this would not be something that would end  when I walked off the plane. Immediately after I filled out my application I began researching Haiti, looking at pictures reading articles about the earthquake. A few issues seemed to continue to keep resurfacing, the lack of infrastructure on the island, the lack of food and price of education; then I came across some information on the cholera crisis.  I began to read fact after fact about the lack of access to clean water and its effect on the community. I knew I had to do something and with my background in engineering and filtration I knew just what it was. I applied to Lafayette’s Grand Challenges program to build a water filtration system for people in Haiti with a few of my friends. After being accepted into the ASB program, then awarded a grant to build my system I was ready to go.

When we boarded the plane I felt prepared. Between my GCSP research and the preparation through ASB I thought I had a good mental image of what I was getting into but really, I had no idea. All of the photos you see on the internet when you google Haiti are not far off. Even a year out from the earth quake people were still living in tents. There were no traffic lights, houses and structures were still deformed from the earth quake, people everywhere carrying water or piled on trucks going about their daily tasks, even in our compound we had a limited water source that had to be trucked in. Everything that people said about a third world country came to life but no one really warns you about what is the truly amazing part about Haiti- the people. The optimisim and hapiness that these people have is just inspiring. They are pleased with the simplest things. One of my most fond memories of the trip was visiting a boys orphanage one afternoon. Somtimes getting motiviated to  visit the orphanages in the afternoon was difficult after a morning of hard labor in the sun and on this particular day it was especially hard. A few of us grunted and got on the truck, it went normally we taught a lesson on how to say colors in english, then we went outside and played with soccer and kick balls we had brought with us. The boys were so excited and they were having an amazing time until the soccer ball got kicked on the roof-the boys were pretty upset since there was aboslutely no access to the roof unless you scaled the building-which is exactly  of course what I did, i climbed the side of the wall and got the ball. When I threw the ball down just seeing the faces of the children made the terrifying attempts of getting of the roof worth it. Just a soccer ball made them smile from ear to ear. This is the kind of spirit and simplicity you never see in the states- and man was it amazing.

I had a lot of eye opening experiences when I visited Haiti. I have  brought the cause home by collecting cleats for an organization called “Goals Beyond the Net” from our athletic department  and  have been continuously raising awareness about the realities of the water conditions through my GCSP project. As I soon will embark on my second trip to Haiti, I can never express the amount that the ASB program has done for me and its role in inspriring me to just keep helping.

 

For more informtion on my project please email me or visit this link:  http://sites.lafayette.edu/grandchallenges/this-years-winners/

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Tennessee/ North Carolina

It has been a couple of weeks since we returned from our week in Tennessee, but feels like I only left yesterday. I still miss working on the deck, getting lost in the woods and swimming in the freezing lakes. The only thing element of the trip that I found disappointing was losing the fish game. Ed and Arleen Decker were fantastic hosts and Carla was a great cook. I especially appreciated their explanations of how the service projects that we took part in actually aided  the community. Picking up garbage in the forest is a lot less terrible if you know that there are thousands of people coming to the campground the next weekend for the start of fishing season and the park rangers will never be able to get the site cleaned up in time. I though that it was interesting to learn about Cherokee culture. They have a dry community and the two Cherokee that I talked to wanted to keep it that way; however, one of them seemed resigned that a proposed law for a wet county would pass, while the other one was confident that it would be defeated. Shorty believed that a dry county was necessary and that Cherokee were genetically predisposed to having alcohol problems, but he believed the law would pass easily. I’m not exactly sure what this difference in opinion with regards to the fate of the law says about Cherokee politics. Both people (Shorty and the Liberian at the youth center) seemed to be heavily involved in the Cherokee community and they were both very conscious of the historical identity of the Cherokee. From listening to both of them the proposed law seems like it is dividing the community. It is unfortunate that I was not able to talk to anyone in favor of the law, as I would have liked to hear their opinions as well as Shorty’s and the Liberians.

I had an amazing time on this trip and I would like to thank everyone on team Tennessee for a great time and especially Jocelyn for all of the work that she put in, to both prepare us beforehand and to make sure we had a successful trip.

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I have been back from our ASB trip to Tennessee for awhile now but it seems like I was just there.  I remember clearly the smell of the pine trees, the impressive waterfall sites, and the looks on everyones faces I saw after we completed a service project.  I do not want to be overly cliche and talk about how this trip completely changed me as a person and how I will never be the same… but there is one thing I need to say: this trip taught me that life is what you make of it.  It did not matter if we were swimming in a beautiful lake or just picking up garbage in a park, we were always having fun and enjoying life for what it’s worth.  We enjoyed each other’s company and took everything in.  This idea is very apparent in the Cherokee community we visited there.  I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet the Cherokees.  Everything they told me about their community was so interesting.  They were so welcoming and you could tell that they really enjoyed telling people about their community.  I am also so happy that I had the honor of meeting Ed and Arleen, our hosts for the week.  They are such amazing people with huge hearts (who also know how to have fun!).  Their program, “Once Upon a Time”, is so nicely organized and just a truly wonderful experience.  They could not have been nicer and they really helped us take a lot away from our experiences.  One night, we had a big reflection with all of the schools there as we made smores in their huge fire pit.  Ed and Arleen guided our conversation and made us laugh with all of their funny ghost stories.  It was so much fun.  I am so happy and grateful I had this experience and I would recommend this trip to anyone!

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Camp Baker Changed my Life

I hate to say such a banal term, but it is the only way to express my life, more so my thinking, post Camp Baker. I went to Camp Baker with only one expectation: to learn. WIth such a broad and general expectation, it was impossible to be disappointed.

My week at Camp Baker eliminated fears that I didn’t even realize I possessed. The night before we started service, I called my mom terrified about the events that would follow. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing nor say nothing at all. My mom gently reassured me that everything would be okay if my heart was in the right place. These words flowed so compassionately and genuinely because my mom  works in a home for individuals diagnosed with AIDS/HIV and once also had these same fears. I trusted her and she was right.

I went in and saw each individual as simply a person with a disability, but a person nonetheless. From the start I felt comfortable and wanted. Feeling wanted was the fuel that kept me going each day. Smiles, high-fives,pounds, half hugs and just interactions ( verbal or non-verbal) honestly made my day. Not only did this trip help me make strides with familiarity and  comfortability (is that a word?)  with humans with mental disabilities, but alos it taught me a lot about myself and how decisions should be made and who should make them.

Should majority always win? Or does democracy only ostracize the minority? What does that say about the minority? Are they wrong? Unwanted? Not important? Negligible even? Maybe this idea of “majority rules” is a coward way approaching dilemmas and ideas. Over the week in various areas of my trip, I found myself asking these questions. These questions stemmed from pondering about group dynamics, but one could also think of retarded individuals as a minority. If we always use this concept of “majority rules”, important individuals apart of the minority get left behind, simply for being part of the minority. I never thought about minority in the sense of ability. But to think that the individuals that I made a connection with at Camp Baker are part of this forgotten and ridiculed minority, truly makes me sad. I thank places like Camp Baker and students on various ASB trips around the nation for taking the time to reiterate and reinforce the notion that minorities should not be forgotten and tossed aside.

 

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Oh nooo, ASB trip over

Just like everyone else on the team, I can’t believe our week in Camp Baker is over and that we’ve now been back on College Hill for over a week. How can I properly sum up such a great week (if that’s even possible)?

 

Working at Camp Baker was definitely challenging at times, especially in the beginning when we didn’t have any guidelines about how to best structure the wellness and arts and crafts activities. Luckily, we were able to learn from our mistakes during the beginning of the week to make the activities better structured for the campers. The changes made a difference and everyone really benefited!

 

One of the highlights of my week was getting to know one of the weekend respite and afternoon campers named Ian. We arrived at Camp Baker on Saturday night and Sunday morning we were told to interact with the campers the next morning. I met Ian by chance. With him he had his sleep away duffel all packed and his favorite Disney toys. When I met him, he continually mumbled the same few lines over and over. I recognized that he was repeating a movie trailer because I picked up the words “coming to DVD and VHS soon.” Over the next hour or so I sat with him as he kept repeating the same few lines. Eventually, we walked to the basketball court and then to the sidewalk chalk. He set his stuff done, picked up a piece of chalk, handed it to me, pointed at the ground, and started talking. I started writing what he said and would have him repeat it until I could understand it. The first part he said was “Walt Disney Pictures presents feature.” Then came a breakthrough in a sense. I was able to finally understand that Walt Disney Pictures presents feature…Lilo and Stitch 2. Now on DVD and VHS”

 

I was overjoyed when I figured out he was talking about the movie trailer for Lilo and Stitch. I had spent the entire morning with him, and finally understood what he was saying, which was a minor step to better understanding what he was thinking.

 

The next day, when Ian came to Camp Baker for afternoon care, I saw him again. I don’t remember how it came about, but when I saw him I pulled up Lilo and Stitch Youtube video clips on my phone, which he loved. He would sit in the swing and watch the video clips every afternoon. At first he didn’t know how to use an iPhone—the correct pressure to apply to the touch screen, how to navigate, etc.—but by the end of the week he had figured it out all on his own. He would also interact more with me while using my iPhone. He asked for help when he needed it and responded to my questions more. When my iPhone died, it was harder to communicate with him because he returned to his continued mumbling.

 

Ian is such a cool kid. He loved Disney and everyone could tell that he was very smart and creative. I feel so lucky to have met him.  The Zac Brown lyrics still stick in my head when I think of spring break in Virginia: “It’s funny how it’s the little things in life/That mean the most/Not where you live or what you drive/Or the price tag on your clothes/There’s no dollar sign on a piece of mind/This I’ve come to know.”

It really is the little things, like meeting Ian and figuring out how he loves Lilo and Stich, that I have come to realize mean so much. I feel so fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to go to Camp Baker and meet the ASB Virginia team. Thanks for everything!