Students go on a mission trip of a lifetime

A dramatic change in view would be how Abbey Guevara ’19 would describe her mission trip to Haiti this summer.

“I am so much more grateful for what I have and have been more content with what I have,” Guevara said. “The Haitian people have absolutely nothing but the clothes on their back and are so happy. It’s truly remarkable to me to see how wealth does not coincide with happiness.”

Guevara said she spent nine days in Haiti on a medical mission trip, where her group treated people in clinics for no cost.

“We started in a remote mountaintop village close to the capital city, Port-au-Prince, but later traveled to Passe Boi, which is a remote seaside town,” Guevara said.

Kate George ’20 went on the mission trip with Guevara. The trip also changed her outlook in life, she said.

“It made me realize how much we have and how we take simple things for granted,” George said.

Dr. Tom Graves, the mission trip coordinator said that Guevara and George were very helpful.

“They took blood pressures, attended to tasks that patients need and they did preliminary vision screens for our eye doctor,” Graves said.

Graves also believes that the girls made a big impact through their service.

“They made a huge impact on the people of Haiti, not only for the good work they did, but they were so joyful. Many of the children that need to see doctors were frightened. There are no doctors where we were going to Haiti, so you can understand they would be scared,” Graves said. “However, Abbey and Kate were so joyful to cheer the children up and make their doctor visits easier. They also brought joy to our team. And so it helps the doctors and nurses and dentist work easier.”

Guevara said it’s easy to second-guess the impact they made due to the level of poverty in Haiti.

“If you look at the poverty all around, it can leave you feeling helpless. Did we actually make a difference?” Guevara said. “I was told to view the mission trip like standing on a beach and seeing a thousand starfish on the sand drying up. A man takes one starfish and throws it back in the water. You might question did he really make an impact? But the reality is, he made an impact for that single one.”