El Regalo Más Raro by Emily

El Regalo Más Raro by Emily - May 2018 Scholarship Essay

It only takes ten second to meet someone; it takes much longer to truly understand them as a person, to appreciate their experiences and value their opinions. The summer between my junior and senior year, I journeyed on a week-long vision trip to Antigua, Guatemala to serve a foundation called Common Hope. This experience not only shaped my vision of the world, but allowed for greater appreciation of my current status and the privileges that come with being a middle-class American in a society filled to the brim with opportunities.
Guatemala is an underdeveloped country with an impoverished population. In Antigua, homes are constructed of spare pieces of wood and tin, children drop out of school before high school, and running water is a scarcity. As one may guess, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I volunteered this summer in such an impoverished country. Not only was it my first time to a third world state, but it was my first trip out of the safety of the United States. I was completely out of my element, surrounded by millions of people who I knew very little about.
Our main goal was simple : build a house for the Mendoza family. It was apparent why the family was in need of a new home, for their old one was a ragtag ensemble of scrap metal and blankets held up by clotheslines like a lopsided fort. Their new one would be sturdy and waterproof, but easily disassembled in the event that they were required to move.
It took a week to build the single-family house; I am still amazed that such a large project could be completed in such a short amount of time. Every day I worked construction, and every day I was able to communicate with this family who were so grateful for receiving such a wonderful reward for their hard work. The mother said to me on the last day, “Es el regalo más excepcional” - it is the most exceptional gift. When I replied by asking if she meant the house, she said no, rather the gift of two distinct groups of people coming together to create something beautiful and life changing.
How could I have been so ignorant to the reality of her situation? This family was not just receiving a supportive home, which they had never had before, they were accepting a unique, fundamental opportunity. We were as different to them as they were to us, and this experience had given them a new understanding as well. We had united as one group to build a home that represented fresh beginnings - a new foundation, if you will forgive the pun.
This lesson is cliche, but it is the truth. It is the truth that a week in Guatemala helping a family build their new home was more eye-opening than any other experience of my life. It is the truth that the Mendozas had just as much of an impact on our American way of thinking as we had on their Guatemalan livelihood. And it is the truth that our distinctiveness in language, social status, nationality, education, and even family history positively affected our understanding of each other's’ cultural identities, giving us new perspectives on the value of community.
It took only a few seconds for our service group to meet the Mendozas; it took a whole week to attempt to understand their history, to accept their differences, and even so, we could not fully know them as human beings. They granted us insight, the vision of unity and gratitude, and acknowledged our differences as a conversation starter. They showed us how easy it is to forget our privileged status, but how important it is not to. The Mendozas showed how diversity can be often overlooked, but that it is of the highest value; this is el regalo más excepcional.