By Kylie Begin (USA).
Check the original post in: https://www.omprakash.org/blog/what-s-next-8
Looking back on this experience, I have learned a lot about how I view the world, my own abilities and how I view my own future. I have met so many people with their own experiences and learned that in a way we all share very similar struggles and victories in our lifetime. During my time volunteering with MySmallHelp, I learned that age difference really doesn’t matter. Most of the people I worked with were old enough to be an uncle or a young parent and we all hung out as friends as if there was no age difference. We shared some of our issues and gave advice and had an overall good time despite our age difference. I also learned that my view of the world in the past was very fixed and narrow in that my whole world was the United States, no matter how much I knew that there is lots to see outside of it. After going to Peru, I now can reference a place outside of the United States and am definitely more considerate of the life outside of the States now. I think this will help me with empathizing with others as well as having a better understanding of the world as a whole when I think about current events and issues. While living in Peru I was also able to really consider what it would be like to live outside of the united states in the future. Before, I thought that living that far away from my family would be easy, even for extended amounts of time. After leaving for only three months, I learned that it might be a little harder to do that for me, just because of how close I like to be to my family and friends. However, I am also less afraid to venture outside of the United states for longer periods of time to fully experience a culture rather than just be a tourist in it. Finally, I learned a lot about what I am capable of and have gained a lot of confidence in myself. This trip was very influential to me when regarding how I view myself. Prior to the trip I did not have a lot of confidence in my ability to do things even if I wasn’t fully prepared. I have always feared not being prepared and did not think I could ever live with a “fly by the seat of my belt” kind of attitude. However, this trip really challenged me with this and I learned that I can live that way. I don’t always have to be completely prepared for an experience to have the skills to tackle it from other experiences. This has helped me a lot with school and with life in general, by worrying less and focusing on what is right in front of me. I think that this skill will become very important in my future career as a nurse-midwife and am thankful to have come into these skills this past summer. I am forever grateful to all of the volunteers and my director, Jessica Sanchez for the experiences I had this summer and for the love and support that they provided me while I learned more about the world and who I am in it.
