It was sophomore year when Paul Duffy ’05 realized he wanted to participate in Campus Ministry’s Mission Volunteer Program that leads students to South America to help the less fortunate. After waiting two long years, he was finally able to apply to the senior program. He was accepted, begged his parents for permission, and boarded a plane for Nicaragua, three days after the new year of 2005 began.
Although travel interests Duffy, an international business minor, his desire to take part in the service trip was sparked by something deeper.
“I’ve been involved with service for a long time, but only domestically,” said Duffy. “But I really wanted to get a different point of view of the world. I also wanted to work with kids, which this trip offered.”
The experience didn’t let him down. The highlight of his ten-day pilgrimage to a region of the world he had never set foot in was learning about a new culture and meeting and connecting with Nicaraguans, many of them children.
Assistant University Chaplain and co leader Dr. Susan MacAvoy said the purpose of the trip was to provide a formational experience by living with the poor and by immersion in another culture. Through this experience, students come to see the world through the eyes of the poor, learning from them what is truly important and what it means to be human.
“A lot of us were nervous as to how they would relate to us,” said Duffy. “But they accepted us and treated us like we were a part of their community. We shared laughs, smiles and tears.”
Duffy, five other students and two leaders built a house with the money they raised from a night at Taco Loco, taking pictures with Santa, and donations from friends and family. They also spent a great deal of time simply bonding with members of communities and immersing into the Nicaraguan culture.
According to MacAvoy, her most pivotal moment of the trip was seeing Sr. Juanita, their host, performing her pastoral work one night at a remote finca, or farm, as a man was dying.
“God was very close that night and working through her to bring peace and solace to his many family members and friends,” said MacAvoy.
“What I noticed was that they have something the United States often lacks- a real sense of community,” said Duffy. “They work to help one another. They’re not just out for themselves.”
Duffy became very ill while gone, and on the fifth day was offered a plane ride home. But he opted against this. Despite his illness, the strange diet, and uncomfortable four-mile walk in 90-degree weather everyday, he chose to remain in Nicaragua with the rest of his group.
“It was the best decision I made,” said Duffy, who opted to go on a no-fat diet to remedy his ailment.
When Duffy did come home on Jan. 15, he was overwhelmed by the flashiness of our society. He didn’t see the generosity and kindness he experienced in Nicaragua. But it didn’t get him down.
“These people have nothing materially, yet they have everything with their families and their communities,” said Duffy of the people he met during the trip. “They are probably the happiest people. We have so much, and not everyone is always happy.”
Now, his life has been greatly affected by his time spent in a culture unlike his own. He doesn’t plan his days out as much as he had, prior to his trip. He says he lets his days unfold before him more often. His love for his family and friends has been renewed, and he tries to spend as much time with them as possible. He also has become more open and less judgmental- the important things in life have been revealed.
The learning didn’t stop there. But MacAvoy also organized and sent thirteen students and faculty members to the cities of Duran and Guayaquil in Ecuador.
These students spent their time helping out at various daycare centers and elementary school, according to one of the leaders of the group, Fr. Charles Allen. The group taught, sang and played with the children of Duran. They visited with members of the community and sufferers of Hansen’s Disease (more commonly referred to as leprosy) at the Damien Center, spent time with youth groups and attended masses.
“There were moments at Damien House when you could just see the life in these people and realize how much the little things, like a hug, matter,” said participant Tara Cushman ’05. “There were other days when we worked in daycare centers and it broke our hearts to have to let the kids go but we left knowing that we brought smiles to their faces, and that they left us with unforgettable sparkles and memories.”
The group slept at Rostro de Cristo, the Face of Christ, which is a Catholic organization, which provides a guide and direction. Its mission is to provide spiritual and educational opportunities for young people from the United States to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ together with the people of Ecuador. Rostro de Cristo helped the Fairfield group lead a simple lifestyle, build a Christian community, develop relationships with the Ecuadorians and find long-term solutions to improve poverty problems and the quality of life.
“Immersing ourselves in the community was a major focus of our journey and the group did an outstanding job doing exactly that!” said admissions counselor and Fairfield graduate Keith Moran, a leader of the group. “By the second day many of the neighborhood children knew us by our first names.”
According to Cushman, the group spent endless hours playing soccer, multiple games of checkers and even learned the fine points of working with leather! They played music, sang and even attempted dancing with the people (some were a little more successful than others).
“We embraced their openness and hopefully brought a bit of that back to share here at Fairfield,” said Cushman. “The trip helped me to realize how privileged our lives are here.”
“‘Ya mismo’ is a phrase that we learned, loosely translated it means ‘soon, all in good time, we’ll get there.’ Bringing that phrase back with us helps to remind us to take some time now and again to take one day at a time and to appreciate the little things like smiles and hugs,” said Cushman.
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