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Service Learning Can Change Your Life
 By
Sara Thomas, Mass Communications '05
"Who would have thought that spending time in another
country would change your perspective for the rest of your
life?" That's what Spanish major Anna Stout asked herself
when she returned to Grand Junction at the end of her summer
service learning trip. In just 17 days, she felt as if she
had learned more in El Salvador than she would have during
a full semester in the classroom.
Stout, along with nine other students and faculty members,
went to El Salvador to study different elements of the country
and to live and work in a community. While her initial reason
for participating in the trip was to learn more Spanish for
her major, she received far more than she could have ever
asked for.
The first four days of the trip were spent in the capital
where the group learned about the history, economic status
and government of the country. Some of the group members were
not aware that the country recently ended a civil war between
the gorilla groups known as the FMLN and the national army.
After 12 years of brutal slaughtering by the national army,
the country had finally reached a cease-fire agreement and
the FMLN had become a legitimate political party.
"But you could still see so much pain in these people's
eyes," said Stout when recalling her first night with
her El Salvador family. "What amazed me was to see how
much these people would give even though they don't have hardly
anything for themselves."
Stout spent ten days with a family in the small village of
El Espino where she and her fellow students helped repair
a road. While they worked, they also made it a point to gain
a better understanding of the way the people lived. What she
discovered was that "everyone is family and everyone's
door is open. When someone asks you 'how are you' they have
a genuine interest."
However, she also quickly learned that living with a family
in El Salvador was much different than her day-to-day life
here in America. "We had to shine the flashlight in the
toilet and bang on the lid before we could use it. That way
the cockroaches would scatter."
Stout said that seeing cockroaches was not an uncommon sight,
but that the families lived as cleanly as conditions would
allow. Yet, the cockroaches did not discourage her from enjoying
the home cooking at the various families' houses, which she
said was the best she had in the country.
Her host family's simple style of living made Stout recognize
how different it is back in America. "It made me realize
how much we have. The things we view as necessities are luxuries
in El Salvador - things like a shower, antibiotics, electricity,
clean running water and education."
 When
she returned home from her trip, she viewed things in a much
different light. She said she has learned that life really
is "beyond the clothes and cars and make-up and possessions.
A good life is not what you have, but who you have and how
you love them. And those people love in the purest form."
When asked if she would ever return to El Salvador or if
she would chose another country to visit, she smiled and said
"I already booked my plane ticket for December and I
plan on spending New Year's Day with my El Salvador family."
While her trip included sight seeing opportunities and tours
of the country's beautiful churches, Stout still believes
that the most beautiful view of El Salvador was out the bedroom
window of her host family's home. There, the village children
were always eager to get their picture taken by her digital
camera.
"I wouldn't change any of this for the world,"
she said.
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