These are a few of my Passions

I recently applied for a Young Humanitarian Scholarship.

I'm going to ruffle my feathers for a second and say I am extremely proud of my essay responses. It flowed out of me, once I read the question, I took to my laptop and typed, typed, typed away.

The result goes something like this:

The most influential and impacting service experience I’ve had was my summer in Tanzania, Africa with Support for International Change summer 2013. Our mission was to educate locals about Public Health and mainly HIV/AIDs transmission, testing and prevention. 

As a very young girl, I always dreamed of going to Africa. For whatever reason, there was this connection and pull. I knew I had to go. Leading up to my departure date I would explain to anyone who was interested that

 I wanted to be shoved out of my comfort zone, on every level. 

I wanted to be challenged physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. It being 6 months upon my arrival home, the expression “be careful what you wish for" comes to mind.

 The challenging experience I’m referring to was my mental breakdown that almost compelled me to leave my trip two weeks early. I had seen emaciated and dirty children. I saw the affects of a patriarchal society and the oppression of women. I was done. I will forever be grateful for the conversation I had with my mom discussing the decision I was attempting to make. I’m a strong believer in energy, vibes and the universe. My mom said something to me that will forever be special in my life. 
The universe gave me everything I had asked for. I wanted a raw, reality of giving back. I did not want someone to hold my hand and let me have a warm shower. I wanted to experience everything whole heartedly and in the most authentic way. And I did. This experience taught me that the intention behind any act of kindness or service is everything. 
I wish that everyone could experience one selfless act and completely commit their whole hearts, souls and efforts. Giving yourself completely to the benefit of someone else is the most genuine definition of service.  That is something that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life and the rest of my humanitarian endeavors.

A volunteer to me is a person who is giving of their time to help out a worthy cause. A humanitarian is cut from a different cloth. A humanitarian is passionate about changing this world we live in with every fiber of their being. Someone who is positive and hopeful for the future but also not naive of the atrocities and injustices that have and continue to take place. A humanitarian is someone who accepted at a young age that their purpose for their time on Earth is to leave it better than when they got here. A humanitarian believes in the power of one,

"Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the one's who do."

 I am a humanitarian. I have plans of dedicating my life to helping those who are voiceless and in need; Starting with my education and majors in Sociology and Gender Studies. But also they way I live. By striving to not leave a negative environmental impact, by speaking up when I believe it is necessary, by going against the grain and being proud of that. By recycling. And loving as much as I can with my whole heart. By fighting for the polar bears, feeding the hungry, hugging the distraught.

In Africa, I noticed that the smallest act of kindness made the biggest impact. I had 5 "siblings" at my homestay. Before I left I gathered as much items as I could to give to my family to thank them for housing me and feeding me and to show them that there are people out there that care. On the night before I was scheduled to fly home, I handed out the last of my gifts. One of my brothers, Hodgi, was on the shy side and never made his presence a big deal, he would stand in the shadows and never make eye contact with me. Many of the children in my village had flimsy, thin, sandal-type shoes made of a foam material. Hodgi was an active fellow and loved running around with his friends. I had brought a pair of tennis shoes. 

My final gift was for Hodgi. 

I handed him my shoes, he was hesitant at first but then carefully took them from my hands, sat right down and put them on his feet. They fit perfectly. He spent the next 10 minutes staring down at his feet, admiring his new shoes in awe. He then, for the first time, looked me straight in the eyes, deep into my soul, and smiled.

Humanitarian has the word "human" in it. It is these human experiences that we have with each other that have the most impact. I will forever be grateful for my human experience with Hodgi and many other people of my village.