Submitted by Rachel Molitor on the 2017 winter session program in Panama sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures…
Last week, we began working at a local orphanage here in Panama. It is an opportunity for us to not only serve others, but also work on using Spanish outside the classroom. There are a lot of kids and we all broke up into different groups to work with them on different activities. I was in the pool and I have to say it was overwhelming at first. I don’t remember learning to swim; it was something I learned very early on in life and it’s something that has been very important it my life. So, it was surprising to me to see that the majority of the kids didn’t know how to swim. We all started personally working with the kids and I have to say it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Most of the kids at the orphanage come from abusive backgrounds so it was hard to get the little girl that I was working with to trust me. She was holding my neck so tight it was sometimes hard to breathe, but, little by little, she started to open up and splash around and blow bubbles in the water and by the end of the day she was floating on her back kicking her feet. The next day ,she was jumping off of the wall and swimming to me. The fear was replaced with laughing and giggling and for the first time in a long time, I remembered how much joy and freedom being in the water can bring you.