Service Abroad program enriches lives of students
July 24, 2008
By Matt Palmer
During the 2007-08 school year, College of Notre Dame of Maryland students Michelle Santos and Angelica Bustamante signed up to serve abroad. What they received was the education of a lifetime.
“ It was one of the best experiences of my life,” said Ms.
Santos of her volunteer experience in Lima, Peru. “ The people took me in and shared their life stories. The fact that they were willing to share definitely made me feel good that they trusted me.”
As participants in the college’s new Service Abroad program, Ms. Santos and Ms.
Bustamante lived in a convent with School Sisters of Notre Dame from
June 4 to July 4 experiencing firsthand how the nuns address the needs of the country’s forgotten elderly and its youngest citizens, on a daily basis.
"No matter |
Ms. Santos, a Crofton native, and Ms. Bustamante, from Miami, were integrated into those routines and saw startling aspects of humanity, both good and bad. The program’s foundations were forged three years ago, when some of the school’s students were looking to volunteer in other nations. This past year, the program was officially launched and included credit hours. |
Sister Kathleen Marie Engers, S. S. N. D., one of the founders of the program and a professor of communications at the college, said she hoped Ms. Santos and Ms. Bustamante could be a catalyst for others serving globally.
“ It’s an opportunity to give back. Our congregation has always had that as part of their mission,” Sister Kathleen Marie said. “ In educating women we hope to transform the world.”
To prepare for the trip, the pair engaged in a credit-hour independent study with a campus history professor to learn more about Peruvian culture.
The trip was emotional, as they worked to instill a small amount of change in a country desperately in need of it.
Younger Peruvians often swindle the elderly, including family, out of money and land, leaving them abandoned, homeless and hungry.
The Notre Dame students, both fluent in Spanish, volunteered during weekday mornings at Los Martincitos, a haven where the elderly are fed and nurtured. They played games with them and engaged them in conversations. In return, the people of Los Martincitos shared their personal stories of pain.
“ I had to remind myself that I really had to be strong,” said
Ms.
Bustamante, a rising senior. “ I cried almost every day.”
Ms. Santos said that what struck her was that, “ we have to have more respect for the elderly.
“ They need just as much respect as middle- aged people or young people.”
The students spent their afternoons at a local Catholic school, Fé y Alegría (Faith and Happiness), helping teach the children of Lima.
No matter where they volunteered, they saw the active work of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, the founders of the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.
“ I met a lot of courageous sisters and they taught me a lot of things about serving,” Ms.
Bustamante said. “ I wanted to grow spiritually, and I did.”