As part of the Duke of Ed Gold Trip to Colombia we had the opportunity to build houses for two families in need. Before arriving at our destination, we had no idea what to expect. We were told that we were going to a very poor area near Bogotá and would even require military escort to bring us there. When we finally arrived, this could not have been further form the truth. Instead of the rundown and dangerous area that we imagined, we discovered simple, sparse homes in the country with beautiful views and great weather.
During the building and painting of the houses, one of the relatives of the families that we were helping invited us into their home for a delicious lunch of sancocho, a Colombian stew. We soon learned that whatever wealth they lacked was made up for with kindness, pride, and happiness.
When we finally finished the houses we received big “thank yous” and even saw some of the members break into tears of gratitude and joy for all that we had done. At the end of the day we felt truly humbled. We saw first hand the impact that an act of charity could bring to others, and we all felt very grateful that we were given the opportunity to do the work and make the difference that we had made. If the opportunity presented itself again, I know that we all would have built the houses a thousand times over.
–Louis de Gaspé Beaubien ’16
I can’t believe that it’s already my fourth week in Australia. This has been an amazing journey that I will never forget. I have already been to many different places along the coast of Victoria and it has been quite eventful. Last weekend, Tom’s family and I went to Inverloch, a small town on the beach. Since they have a beach house there, we stayed for one night and we spent a lot of time relaxing. The Australian coast is very different from North America. It seems to be a lot more natural with fewer people and more wildlife such as sea grass and marine organisms. Also, there aren’t many buildings on the shore, which is great.
To be fully honest, I expected the graffiti tour to be a waste of time. We were all exhausted from the long flight and were anxious to get to bed. Fortunately, the graffiti tour was a huge surprise! I found myself completely invested in this two-hour tour. We explored the streets of Bogotá and got a good feel of the city we were staying in. The streets were packed with people staring at us and giving weird looks. We didn’t pay attention to this though, as the street art we were seeing was incredible.
Today we got the awesome opportunity to build houses for two homeless families. We met up with five students from a local English school and travelled a few hours out into the mountains to meet with people from a foundation called Catalina Muñoz. This foundation’s goal is to build houses for impoverished homeless families.
As I sit at the airport in Los Angeles, waiting for my flight to Montreal, I am struggling to find the perfect words to describe the second half of my exchange. This is because during such a short amount of time in Melbourne, so many memories and friendships were created and I am still in shock that it is already over.
