Harvey Gamage

When you have so much it is hard to appreciate everything as we start to lose appreciation for everything from the roof over our heads to our family. At the end of our first day at the orphanage the kids took us on a tour of their town and down to the river. At the river I went and sat between these two kids, a little boy and a girl who was no older than twelve. As soon as I sat down the boy started to cry. I picked him up to try to offer some comfort and as soon as he could see her again he reached for the girl on my other side. I put him down next to her and he grabbed on to her like she was the last thing he had. After talking to the girl some I found out that he was her little brother and I realized that she really was the only person that he had.
These two little kids over the course of ten minutes made me reconsider my entire life. They made me appreciate everything again. They made me realize that we should cling to everyone in our lives like they are the last person we have while giving up everything that we have like we have ten more, because our friends and our families will only last us one lifetime which is not even close to enough time to tell them how important they are.
-Tegan

This week I’ve played many roles. I have been the niece that my Dominican family has not seen in a while, an excited teenager find out what colleges I was accepted to, a volunteer in a life changing community service project creating a foundation for a school, and most importantly, I’ve been a translator. Attempting to erase the language barrier while staying on my toes very happily awaiting requests on how to say things, what certain words mean, etc. My favorite of being a translator is being able to be a part of every conversation. Stories about childhoods, sharing of future plans, translating favorite colors and favorite foods, and telling somebody how to say, “I love you”. I was such an important role in communication this week. It was nice to see everyone’s Spanish improve as the week went on and seeing them rely less on me. The excitement in their voices when they would walk up to me and say, “oh my god Patricia! I just had an entire conversation in Spanish! I wish you could have heard me!”
-Patricia