It's hard to put into words what made this past week so life-changing, but maybe the beauty of the experience lies in the unspoken. I was given the incredible opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. with a group of ar forty people to learn about the issues of hunger and homelessness in the nation's capital and aid in combatting the problem. While we were in D.C. with the intention of doing service, another critical aspect of this alternative break was the concept of service learning, or becoming more educated about the community that we were serving and the root causes behind the issues we were tackling.

Our service was different every day and a complete surprise, as we were not given a formal itinerary. We spent time in hair nets and aprons as we prepared healthy meals at DC Central Kitchen that would eventually be shipped off to homeless shelters and nonprofits.

We visited several homeless shelters, where we folded towels, cleaned dorms, painted walls, sanitized the rooms, swept the floors and bonded through our common intention of providing men and women who were suffering from homelessness a clean environment to sleep in.

The most insightful part of this trip, in my perspective, was being able to meet and have conversations with people who were suffering from homelessness. I had the chance to talk to several women at a women's homeless shelter over dinner and was fascinated to learn about their backgrounds and life stories. While one had been a flight attendant living in Hong Kong, another was a Ph.D student working on her doctorate in public health.

My eyes were opened to the idea that homelessness does not discriminate and is not an identifier, but rather a phase in someone’s life. The less privileged are real people and do not fall beneath anyone in society. It's disturbing to realize that the stigma against homelessness drives us to look in the other direction when we see these people asking for help on the street when instead, we should be treating them with the respect that they deserve.

Our trip ended with a free day to explore the city, but as we were walking through the capital, admiring the beautiful buildings and monuments, something felt different. While I have been to Washington D.C. many times before and have always admired the expensive restaurants and high rise buildings, this time I saw the reality of what was really happening in our nation's capital behind the misleading façade.

For every new apartment complex constructed, the cost of living in D.C. increases, making housing unaffordable for a portion of the population and ultimately pushing them out of the city. While each monument contains important quotes and messages about equality and freedom, the marginalized communities within our nation continue to face oppression and violence. Even though we, as a nation, have a history of looking to help developing countries fight poverty, we fail to acknowledge our own issues at home.

I am forever grateful to have been a part of an experience that not only inspired me to continue to fight for justice and use my privilege to lift those up who are not as fortunate but also allowed me to meet such a wonderful group of people.