"Life is just a journey." -Princess Diana
Each one of us shares something common and good, life! Even when our language barriers are strong and hard to break we can all remember who we are and that we are human. That we all share this common thing, life.
Last Sunday I went on my first of five World Relief service learning trips. It was so interesting! myself and three other students drove out to an apartment in Moline to encounter our family for the first time. We were all so nervous and had no idea what to expect. Time came to knock on the door and meet our family face to face. The family consisted of three individuals, a mother, a father, and a young boy. As soon as they opened the door they let us in and smiles radiated on their faces they were very happy to meet us. We all gathered around on the living room floor and began introductions. After a few rounds of introductions and trying to remember each other's very different names we began showing them vocabulary. We took turns and pointed to different parts on our bodies and said the correct English term. Later as we progressed, we began testing their memory for the words and images we had shown them. We did this for almost and hour! We then attempted to teach them UNO, the card game. Each time we taught them a new concept they caught on faster and faster, and this was only the first visit. It was incredible to see the progress in the short amount of time we had with them!
What I learned: A lot of how something is interpreted depends on how you break it down and explain it. How we explain something is a key component to how someone is going to interpret it. It's really important to put yourself into the shoes of the other person in order to have patience and understand that they are learning a whole new language and encountering a whole new set of life circumstances! This is the beginning of my service trip journey, and I can't wait to see what next week has in store for us: )
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