While some students spent their Spring Break partying in South Beach, Cancun and other destinations, Laura Johnson ‘14 and Stephanie Hill ‘13 experienced something different: Campus Ministry’s Alternative Spring Break trips.
Both girls spent their time engaging with the local populations and reflecting on their experiences. For Johnson, it was in Kentucky. For Hill, it was in rural Marinela Garcia, El Salvador.
Johnson, along with eight other students and two staff members, made the two-day drive to the rural, eastern town of Martin, Kentucky and participated in the Christian Appalachia Project’s Workfest 2013 along with several other universities including Duke University, Ohio State University and American University.
The group spent the week at work sites, doing things like roofing, siding, dry-walling, and renovating bathrooms. “Most of the teams worked in the houses of the participants alongside them so it was a powerful look into the poverty in the area,” said Johnson.
In the evenings, the Fairfield team was able to learn more about the poverty in rural Kentucky through informal presentations and learned about possibilities to volunteer for longer periods of time, said Johnson.
The group also experienced the local culture in the evenings by dancing to blue grass music played by locals.
Though the group laughed a lot during their experience, they also spent time together in reflection and meaningful conversation as they “dissected thoughts and feelings about what we saw around us in our service work,” Johnson explained.
The days were filled with reflection activities, daily prayer and blessings for meals. However, for Johnson her service trip felt different from any retreat she had been on, mostly because the spiritual components were interwoven with the work she was doing.
She believes her experience in Kentucky showed the greater purpose of life, which is “to work toward the greater good by being who you are and using your abilities.”
The Fairfield University group concluded their experience in Kentucky by standing in a circle and singing “Go Light your World” to solidify the week’s theme, “being a servant of God and glorifying your life through service,” Johnson said.
In Central America, Hill and her group set out for El Salvador to live in solidarity with the Salvadorans to learn about the problems they experienced in the period after their civil war, the lack of access to higher education and immigration.
They also spent time learning about Archbishop Oscar Romero and the six Jesuit martyrs from the Universidad Centroamericana and their impact on Salvadoran culture.
In addition to their experience in the city of San Salvador, the group spent two nights and three days in the rural community of Marianela Garcia where they lived with Salvadoran host families.
“We rose with the roosters in the morning, shared our meals with our host families and met as a larger group during the day to understand life in their community and hear the personal stories of the community members,” said Hill.
For Hill, “it was absolutely wonderful not having technology—we didn’t even bring watches,” she said.
According to Hill, her experience taught her one thing: hope.
“Though I’m walking away from El Salvador with a lot more questions than answers, they have taught me to have hope in faith and in life,” she said.
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