Journey of the Heart: My Time in Togo
Every summer, I go on a mission trip through Seacoast Church. It has been my personal tradition since my freshman year of high school that has taken me to Costa Rica, Thailand, and many destinations...
Read More 3 min read
Peruvian Cultural Immerison
Machu Picchu, llamas, and the Spanish language are things that come to mind when thinking of Peru. These ideas are important aspects of Peruvian culture, however, the country is more diverse and cultural...
Read More 2 min read
Seven UnBelizeable Days
Last summer I went on my first international mission trip with my church and a church group from Alabama to Dangriga, Belize. There I spent seven days in the hot Belizean sun making memories and friends...
Read More 4 min read
The Paper Airplane Wars
A week. That’s all I had: a week to experience a new culture, a new world, a new perspective. I assumed that the geography, culture, and people of other countries would be wildly different. What else...
Read More 3 min read
Why Tourists Shouldn’t Be Tourists
I knew from the beginning that my itinerary would not consist of sunny days spent lounging by the pool, coconut slushy in hand and sunscreen smeared sunglasses perched on my head. Despite my frequent...
Read More 3 min read
The Sovereign Joy
I couldn’t daydream in Kampala. Getting somewhere required all my concentration, patience, and if I failed to stay watchful, too much money! The clammy streets of Uganda’s capital city were ringing...
Read More 2 min read
Where To Find Me
The most free twenty four hours I ever experienced in my life were spent on a cramped train barreling along the coast of Vietnam. I, and fourteen other teenagers, slept 4 to a car with our luggage as...
Read More 2 min read
We Are the Lucky Ones
Growing up in an indian family, traveling the almost 20 hour journey to India, was always sought out as a long and tiring one. As a child, my sister and I would dread the journey to the motherland because...
Read More 3 min read
The Blessed and The Ravaged
As an American, I am extravagantly blessed with comforts most of the world cannot even imagine. I often find myself hiding from this world inside an impenetrable bubble, a bubble...
Read More 3 min read
How Oleleshwa and Kisaruni Changed My Life
On July 20, 2015, 17 American, Canadian, Ecuadorian, and Irish students departed from Washington DC with imaginations running wild over what they would experience in the Maasai Mara region in Kenya...
Read More 2 min read
The Universal Language: Ice Cream Cones and Crayola Crayons
My eyes grew sleepy as winding hills consumed my view, sloping gently into the background with no sign of relapse. I watched as sunflowers danced in the wind and wildflowers mingled haphazardly; the colors...
Read More 2 min read
Fistula Repair in Ethiopia
While working at my uncle’s diagnostic clinic, I was invited to watch four surgeries at the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Fistula Hospital. I was nervous and excited to be in such an important place! Even...
Read More 3 min read
A Trip To Ecuador: Finding Beauty in More Than One Form
Sitting there, looking out the window, I was in awe at the beauty that the world had to offer. I was used to the dull brown desert of Las Vegas, where you’d be lucky to find a single patch of green...
Read More 3 min read
My Adventure in India
Travelling is a mentality. Am I willing to start the adventure? Vulnerable enough to step out the door to learn more about others, and, by application, myself? Not a tourist, but someone...
Read More 3 min read
The Rising Sun of India
The splash of vibrant fuchsia mixed in with a tinge of twinkling turquoise and a glimmer of iridescent crimson backdropped with lofty mountains was enough to complete my mental photograph of the incredible...
Read More 3 min read
A Change in Me
My favorite Broadway musical is Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." After returning home from being held as the Beast's captive, Belle sings "For now I love the world I see -- no change of heart, a change...
Read More 3 min read
A New World in Guatemala
My head pressed on cool glass that vibrated my brain within my skull. I took a sip of my water, struggling to avoid biting my tongue as the jolting of the bus bounced...
Read More 3 min read
Expresso Shots, Butterfly Kisses and Sticky Hugs
Expresso shots, butterfly kisses, and sticky hugs are what I found in the small village of Villa Clara, Cuba. Culture shock began seeping in quickly, as I walked down the dirt streets littered by garbage...
Read More 2 min read
Go to Hell
The greatest piece of advice that I’ve ever been given that relates to learning about myself and making a palpable difference in the world was basically to “go to hell.”...
Read More 3 min read
Through Their Eyes
Through my eyes luxury was defined as expensive cars, five star restaurants, and high class living. But through theirs it was clean running water, a safe home, and enough food for the day. When I first...
Read More 2 min read
The Blossoming of Compassion
"Anything will help. God bless you." "Mother of 4." "Homeless. In Need." Everyday as I drive to school I pass signs resembling these. I sit nervously tapping my foot on the gas pedal trying to...
Read More 2 min read
Is that….pepper???
I looked at the Styrofoam plate that held the cheesy lasagna and closed my eyes trying to convince myself to take a bite. Oh yeah. I forgot to mention; it was covered in bugs, not pepper. I recently...
Read More 2 min read
A Different Type of Language
I wake up in a wooden hotel, the musty smell of morning fills the air. I get out of bed, hearing the creaking of the wooden floors beneath my feet. The entire hotel must have heard this through the...
Read More 2 min read
Feeling the Land of the West
Gone was the sea breeze and moist air of our salty South Carolina coast. Here in Kanab, Utah our lips cracked like the sand tresses of the red canyons we gazed upon. This place made us dig deep into...
Read More 2 min read
The Unconventional Ideal Vacation
Imagine your ideal vacation. Where are you -- On a beach, a jungle, or by the pool in five star hotel. What are...
Read More 2 min read
Hiraeth for Haiti
For my spring break of my senior year, I applied to go on a mission trip to Haiti. To my delight I was accepted to go, and the day we were set to go arrived quickly. The first day was water truck day,...
Read More 3 min read
Exciting Expeditions In Ecuador
Traveling is always an exciting experience, especially when it’s somewhere foreign. Just recently, I spent 10 days exploring and volunteering in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands in South America. Not...
Read More 2 min read
Mint Tea and Cookies
Not even three days into the service trip in Rabat, Morocco, and already I heard something that seems to reflect the culture and resonates with me very deeply. “Service like this is what feeds...
Read More 2 min read
A Stitched Portrait of a Chinese Garden
To the left of my bed is my most prized possession: a collection of pictures, each representing a place explored and a lesson learned. My love for travel stemmed from a young curiosity towards adventure...
Read More 2 min read
The Power of People: Helping Rebuild in the Birthplace of Jazz
Pulling apart a roof is not as simple as it sounds. As I pried the warped and rotting shingles away from a house damaged by Katrina, I felt a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment that I had never...
Read More 3 min read
On Painting Impasto
When people think about visiting DC, they create an impressionist painting characterized by swirling shades of patriotism: dashes of museums crowded with artifacts, towering monuments, and ribbons of...
Read More 2 min read
Joy Amidst Devastation
If someone had asked me a year ago, "Where will you find utter devastation alongside genuine joy?" I'd have tapped out and asked for a new riddle. And I know for a fact that the last place that would've...
Read More 2 min read
The Yellow Building
While my family loves to travel, we haven’t often gone out of the country. The last time I used my passport was when I went to the Dominican Republic. Now, the DR is known for its beaches and resorts,...
Read More 2 min read
An Abundance of Love
As I boarded the plane to be carried across the sea I was strangely calm. I was at peace. I was surprised by this, for this would be my first mission trip overseas and yet all that I felt in that moment...
Read More 3 min read
Trial and Error in the Guatemala Markets
During the summer before my freshman year in high school, I went on a mission trip with my mom, bother, and a few members of my church to Panajachel, Guatemala. We traveled down there to help an organization...
Read More 3 min read
Left Boston a Teenager; Came Back a Soldier
June 16th, 2015, the day my life changed forever. My mom tried to hide the tears in her eyes as she told me how proud I make her. It was the last time I would see my mom and sister...
Read More 3 min read
An Unexpected Treasure
QUARTER-FINALIST 2015 FTF TEEN TRAVEL WRITING SCHOLARSHIPSpacious greenery surrounds me on all sides, dabbled with dots of civilization. We are distributing food atop a short but broad mountain...
Read More 2 min read
Sometimes All It Takes Is Applesauce
I love Disney, and I was rather...
Read More 3 min read
A Lesson Learned, A Perspective Changed
This past summer I was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship for a trip to Bolivia and Peru for 24 days. It was with the Youth Ambassadors program sponsored by the...
Read More 2 min read
In Stitches
Blood dripped from the patient’s thumb as an intern jabbed the crescent needle into the nail. The man felt no pain, as he’d received painkillers moments earlier. Clad...
Read More 3 min read
Fifty Feet from the F-22
I could feel the pressure waves reverberating through my body. They started with a tingling in my feet, raced up my torso and stopped in my chest. I was keenly aware of every heartbeat,...
Read More 2 min read
How Nicaragua Defined My Future
Significant moments in life are often connected to memorable places such as Paris, where we snuck my grandma’s ashes into the Tuileries gardens,...
Read More 2 min read
An Indian Sunset
Our small bus inched down the busy dirt road, unable to weave through the traffic as the cars and motorcycles did. The passengers didn’t much care, each dozing off after an exhausting day of sightseeing...
Read More 3 min read
No Translation Needed
I thought I was ready for anything. It was my second year traveling to Nicaragua to do service work. Lulled into a false confidence, I talked excitedly with the rookies during the...
Read More 3 min read
.jpg)
A Merciful Mission
The opportunity to journey to Malawi, Africa came...
Read More 3 min read
The Hike: How I Accomplished What I Thought Was Impossible
There is a mountain in the Dominican Republic named Brison. Never would I have guessed, with my lack of athleticism and of experience in hiking, that I would one day reach the top. But when jumping...
Read More 3 min read
Home Is Where the Heart Was, Is and Will Be
A broken or separated...
Read More 2 min read
