A Lie: Leave Your Privilege at the Door

Through the sorority and fraternity community, I had the amazing opportunity of traveling to Jamaica to do service. We got to not only relax on the beach, but go to two different schools to build an addition to one school, and make fencing for the other. These are ongoing projects that are not yet complete, but will be completed by other schools that go on Project Jamaica. The first couple of days, I felt super overwhelmed and guilty, because I did nothing to be born in the USA and these people did nothing to be born in Jamaica, yet these people live in poverty and I don't.

I learned so much on this trip about myself and how to properly serve others, as well as the country and people of Jamaica. One activity my group did together had to do with privilege and talking about variety of privileges one could have such as gender, sexuality, nationality, and more. This activity wasn't meant to make us feel guilty, but to create awareness. We are given these resources for a reason: use them. It would be a waste if I went on this trip and went home and did nothing about the things I saw and the people I met. I was given resources to help others. So I am not going to "leave your privilege at the door," I am going to take that and use it to help those who can't help themselves.

I am not sure what that entails yet, but stay tuned. It is SO important to help those in need. Someone once told me we have enough food in the world to feed everyone in the world, yet people go hungry. If you have the resources, use them. I was never this passionate about serving others around the world until I went somewhere and met the people there. I want to serve others because I saw what their reality is, and I want to change that. It may be in a small way, but doing something is better than doing nothing.