Duke of Ed Gold Trip Peru 2013: LCC Pride in Service

Reflecting on our experiences in Las Palmas, we are proud of the improvements. Even though there is still much more progress to be made, we have no doubt that their living conditions will continue to improve. While it is extremely upsetting to witness their lack of proper housing, food and other materials we are fortunate enough to have, the kindness and compassion the community has shown us has left us with fond memories.

Though the citizens of Las Palmas benefited from our efforts, we believe that they have impacted us to a much greater extent by demonstrating important, yet too often forgotten values in our society like teamwork, kindness and compassion. Even without commodities that we value, they have found happiness in their lives, and have reminded us how to do so in our own.

Although this was our final year of service with them, we hope that the  micro-loan project will allow us to maintain contact with Las Palmas and continue to show our support. –  Sarah Salzman ’13 and Kelsey Wiseman ’13