On Febuary 18, 2012 I took the trip of a lifetime. As corny as that sounds, I could not phrase this experience in a more truthful way. An old teacher of mine, seven classmates, and myself traveled to Honduras for an entire week. During our stay we made friends, life long memories, and most importantly changed lives. Throughout the week my brigade group and I spent hours working on a house for a family. However when we were not doing that most of our time was spent getting to know the neighborhood children. After seeing the extreme poverty that they were living in and getting to know each of these kids during the week only made me want to help them even more. It is painful to see the amount of hardship these people go through over little things that we ourselves take advantage of every single day. These underprivilaged families could not afford shoes, clothes, or even safe drinking water. Children were catching parasites through their bare feet and from swimming in local lakes. Many children even had their teeth rotted out from drinking soda instead of water on account of the fact it was safer to drink. Sadly, many of these families could not even afford to send their children to school. On our last day in Urraco my group and I took the time to make bundles of clothes and toys out of the items we brought down to donate for the children that we grew to love. One by one we called in each kid we knew and handed them their bundle. Overwhelmed with happiness and appreciation they ran home right away with their package so that no one else would steal it. However, not every child outside our house recieved a bundle. Children that we have never seen before gathered outside begging for clothes. "Ropa, ropa" they were saying as they tugged at us. It pained me to reply with "no mas" as I saw disappointment fill their eyes. What hurt the most was knowing that I could not help each and every one of them. This trip has made me realized how much of a problem poverty truly is. I am now more grateful for every little thing I have no matter how insignificant it may seem. Now, I am only more driven to make a difference. One can only give so much and unfortunately sometimes even that is not enough.
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