The Power of Awareness by Madison

The Power of Awareness by Madison - May 2018 Scholarship Essay

As a little girl, I would awake every morning to the sound of firecrackers in the dark. Diesel powered mills vibrated the block we lived on as they ground corn into masa for the morning tortillas. Roosters crowed as they competed for territory as dawn broke. I was raised in the barrio.
However, this is not the barrio you are likely envisioning. Close your eyes and picture colorful hand-woven garments worn by people of modest means and good nature in the Mayan highlands of Guatemala. Around Lake Atitlan, most indigenous families lived in one-room, adobe huts: one light bulb, no refrigerator, an outhouse, and meals cooked outside by wood fire. Our grocery store was an open-aired Mercado where women sat cross-legged on the ground, selling vegetables from their gardens, limes from their trees, and eggs from their hens.
It wasn’t until after I moved to the United States that I realized the destitution that plagued the society. I returned home to Guatemala for the first time the summer of my sophomore year. People still walked the streets barefoot. Indigenous parents continued to remove their 10-year-olds from school to work on family fields. Public schools continued to lack resources - no supplies, no textbooks, and many times, no teachers. Extreme poverty, lack of medical care, absence of social support, corruption, and a class-based society were still the facts of life.
After witnessing the opportunity in the U.S. and contrasting it to Guatemala’s poverty, I came to the realization that I wanted to do something to help. I became involved in Solomon’s Porch, a church organization that organized mission trips.
I began the first part of my summer building houses. It was a small, no name town deep in the mountains of Sololá. Houses were rare; nearly every resident slept on the muddy ground with no roof over their heads. We drove in with supplies: concrete mix, bricks, beds, and stoves. The town bounded together with the mission team and helped us build 2 room, concrete houses. Within a month, we had built almost 7 homes. While the days were long, hot, and brutal, the experience was invaluable. Being a part of a team that was passionate about creating change and giving back to others inspired me to emulate their deeds. The selfless of the locals was unbelievable. People who had absolutely nothing had no problem giving things to others. I was often offered the last of their food or water.
The second part of my summer was spent working as a translator. Solomon’s Porch had brought down a group of American doctors to provide medical care to the locals. I translated from English to Spanish and Kaqchikel. A majority of the patients had never even visited a doctor, let alone taken ibuprofen or Tylenol. The look of relief and happiness on a parent’s face after their child received a shot, or was given vitamins, or was simply given a physical examination was incredibly eye opening.
The life lessons I learned were humbling: I seldom takes things for granted now. While I learned about hard work, courage, tenacity, and other indispensable life lessons, the experience was more eye opening that anything else. I had lived among these people for eleven years, and never realized the struggles they were facing. I had a roof over my head, food on my plate, a school to learn at every day, but my neighbors did not. I never realized that the girl living 100 yards away from dropped out of elementary school to get a job and still went to bed hungry every night. I wasn’t aware that my classmates and friends didn’t have a bed to sleep on or supporting parents to return home to.
The saying “Be kind to everyone, you don’t know the battles they are facing” is something I now live by. You never know what happens to someone once they walk out of school’s doors, you do not know what struggling they are fighting. So always be kind, always be helpful, and always be selfless.