Lizzie Stallings ’16

Major:

Hopefully Global Development and History- If I don’t get into GDS then Foreign Affairs.  And a minor in Studio Art!

I knew I wanted to go on a service trip early in the year, so in August I went to the activities fair and found Global Brigades among the service related booths.  I then went to an interest meeting and signed up for Water Brigades because it sounded interesting.  I’d been to Honduras before with a church from Richmond, so I figured I’d go again with a different goal (as Water Brigades is more of a manual labor, non-religious based NGO).  I went to meetings all semester and then just signed up for the trip!

 

We woke up at 6, ate breakfast, then headed to the work-site, a small community in the mountains called El Retiro.  The drive was about an hour and a half in land-cruisers; it was very bumpy and uneven riding up the windy mountain roads, but eventually we got there.  We’d then work digging trenches- with a partner, one would pick axe and the other shovel to dig a trench about three feet deep and 8 inches wide.  We ultimately dug about half a mile of trench in two days, then worked to lay piping and re-cover the trench on the third day.  On the two days in which we didn’t dig trench, we met with the community members and educated the children on the importance of water sanitation and protecting the water shed in their school.  We also learned the ins and outs of the water system itself, starting at the dam, then leading to the filtration tank, and ultimately the houses where the clean water poured into a “pila,” or storage tank.

  

I would say the most “memorable” aspect was two-fold; first, I absolutely loved getting to know my group.  The other 13 UVa students were all drastically different from myself- I’d almost say it’s as if someone picked 14 of the different types of people and put them all in one place- but it was great because we were all there with the same goal, motivated by the desire to help and get involved with the community.  My second favorite memory was more concrete: on the last day, as we were laying pipe, I had the chance to stand on top of the mountain and gaze down at the winding trench, the product of our three days’ work.  It wound into the forest and up a hill to a house hidden in the trees, and the ditch was surrounded by a team of both American college students and Hondurans, furiously pick axing and shoveling to complete the section.  That image was lasting because it represented the entire nature of the Brigades: working together with Hondurans to create a sustainable water source.  All in all, the trip was pretty memorable as a whole, however.  It was great.