“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” -Edward Everett Hale
It can seem far too easy to assume that we are all individually one. I am only one person in this world of over seven billion; and so are you. But if we confine ourselves to simply being one, to believing that one person can only do so much, how can we ever inflict positive change within our communities or the communities of others? If everyone thought that they were simply just one person without the strength to create change, we would remain stagnant, and nothing would ever get better.
Antigua, Guatemala - Four girls have decided that though individually they are one, together they can create immense change through the International Volunteer Headquarters (IVHQ), an organization in which ordinary people have the opportunity to serve around the world in over 30 different volunteer destinations. Through varying IVHQ service projects involving special needs care, medicine, construction, and childcare, these ordinary people are generating extraordinary change.
Four girls, Taylor Miller, Madison Del Pape, Bailey Sahnow, and Sam Purdy, have chosen this summer to see beyond their individual limitations and have chosen to leave behind their everyday familiarities and travel thousands of miles to Guatemala to volunteer in medical clinics as well as assist with medical campaigns.
Taylor acknowledges: "It is sad that after the corruption in their government, the first place to struggle was their healthcare; but Antigua gets a lot of medical volunteers which is proving to greatly impact the community here." For 4-6 hours a day, Monday through Friday, volunteers attend to their assigned placements and provide essential medical care for the struggling locals.
Exemplifying some of their work, Madison shared: "The first week, Taylor and I walked around Alotenango to give out vitamin A and anti-parasitics to kids under 5 in their homes; and this week, we are starting our project directly in the clinics, where we are seeing many children and pregnant women."
For Sam, this has become so much more than clinical hours that she can place onto her resume: "I got here, and I realized how amazing this country is and how little the people have; but it still has ended up being the happiest country that I have travelled to. The people here are phenomenal."
The four girls are staying in a volunteer house, Casa Shekina, which houses up to 25 volunteers at one time. Outside of their working hours, they have interacted with and become close with many of the local children and adults, allowing both the locals and the volunteers to experience one another's cultures.
Sure, four girls in a world of seven billion seems small, even miniscule, but to the men, women, and children of Antigua, Guatemala, four girls are making all of the difference in the world.
Bailey revealed: "I think what affects me the most and has been truly the most wonderful experience here is the culture and the people. They are amazing, so kind, and understanding, even though we cannot communicate fully. The people are the happiest and nicest people that I have come to interact with."
It takes one person to bring about those genuine, mile-wide smiles. You may be one, but to someone else, you can be the one to change their world.
