Submitted by Sarah D’Antonio on the 2024 Winter service-learning study abroad program in Barbados…
After two weeks into the Barbados service-learning abroad trip, I feel that I have really begun to immerse myself into the Bajan culture. I have learned and am still in the process of learning valuable traditions and cultural attitudes that I can take home with me and share with my own community. With only two weeks left, our professor Dr. Norma Gaines-Hanks recently asked us to reflect on what makes us hopeful about our experience working with the students in our assigned placements. I felt it would be perfect to answer this profound question in a blog post.
What makes me hopeful about my involvement in this program is the motivation and excitement I feel every morning when I arrive at placement, get off the bus, and become immediately swarmed with hugs from students before I can even make it up their school’s driveway. There is also this sense of sadness that comes over me when the school day is over and I am again swarmed with hugs while I try to make my way out the door. However this sadness also makes me hopeful because it allows me to recognize how lucky I am to feel so appreciated but also be so grateful myself – and how lucky I am to have something that is so hard to say goodbye to.
I told myself that if I can make just one child smile throughout my time here, then I have made a difference. Their hugs and appreciation remind me of why I am here and what drew me to do this service-learning trip in the first place– to make children feel cared for, seen, and loved. (Submitted on January 24, 2024)