Thousands of college students will be headed south of the border for Spring Break, but not all of them will be crowding the beaches. An exceptional group of Pittsburgh students opted to exchange Solo cups for service work. Women of the Chatham Christian Fellowship are prepping their passports for a trip to Guatemala organized by the Shadyside Presbyterian Church. When we found out our own Fashion Writer, Alex Heathcock, is one of the loving ladies on the team, an interview was inevitable.
Heathcock is a veteran vagabond, traveling the world before age 20. She’s explored “St. Thomas, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos, St. Maarten, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, England, Puerto Rico, and St. Kitts.” She toured Canada with her dad when he lived in Toronto, and she took a terrifically magical vacation to France around her first year in high school. It’s an impressive record, but Heathcock is still aware of the challenges that await her in Guatemala. “It’s definitely going to be a bit of a culture shock,” she says. “I’m no longer fluent in Spanish, and even then the Guatemalans speak a very different dialect than Cubans do. I’m used to going abroad in many ways, but I still find myself missing certain aspects of American culture or talking to my family and friends back home, especially when you’re in a new country where a lot of people don’t really speak your native language.” Even with the uncertainty, Heathcock is fueled by a sense of purpose. “I know my relationship with God will be tested but will grow as well, and I also hope that I will grow personally and emotionally as well with this experience.”
Growth is almost guaranteed given the challenging work they’ll be doing with the Spring of Hope mission: “We will be helping to run day-long medical clinics, assisting with local construction, and helping to run a vacation Bible school for children and adults in the areas we will be visiting, which include the Lake Atitlan region and Guatemala City.”
Mission work isn’t easy. The group will have one week to create lasting change and form meaningful relationships with locals before returning to the U.S. It’s a challenge Heathcock and her teammates are more than willing to accept. “I’ve always wanted to go on a mission trip to help others, and when the opportunity arose to go to Guatemala over Spring Break, I couldn’t say no,” she says. “God put us on this Earth to help each other, and I intend to try to do so for my whole life, even if it isn’t always in the form of a mission trip abroad.”
If you want to support their work, visit their Etsy shop, “Crafts4Guatemala”.
You may also send direct donations to:
Shadyside Presbyterian Church
5121 Westminster Place
Pittsburgh, PA 15232