Recap: My @SchoolBOXhelps experience, part 3

Posted In: Me July 12th, 2014 divider No Comments »

Okay, indulge me this one last time and then I’ll try to keep my SchoolBOX trip to myself for a few days. It’s just been that cool of an adventure for me.

I wanted to give you a few major takeaways I got from my reflections from my time in Central America:

Gratitude: One of the biggest lessons for me on the trip was gratitude. They have very little possessions and yet they are extremely happy. It’s funny what some perspective provides. From all of my recent adventures and readings, a lot of happiness simply comes from your attitude so why not be happy?

Community: We all live in a community. How do you help out? The Nicaraguans’ sense of community really inspired me. They help each other out and share the little materials they have for the greater good of all. They don’t have much of a choice but it seems the right thing to do.

Contributions: I’m not really a handyman but they still put me to work. We all have skills and energy we can put forward towards the common. All it took was a bit of training from the construction gurus (in another language nonetheless) to get me helping the project in many ways. It made me proud to be part of the team and to feel my contributions mattered.

Education: We seem to take education for granted here for the most part, as it’s seen as a right and not a privilege. It’s not like that everywhere in the world. We should keep that in mind and be grateful. Where would you be without your education? I don’t even want to answer that…

Opportunities: We live in a world full of opportunities. 50 years ago, I doubt I would have been able to go spend 10 days in Nicaragua. Now the world is truly our oyster, we just have to pick what we want to do and where!

These memories will be with me for a long time. Now I’ll be working hard to see how I can continue the great work SchoolBOX and the other charities associated with the CTV Amazing People Gala are doing in communities around the world. Will you join me?