Theresa
Wetherhold
Class of 2004
La Salle University
I
remember the first time I heard about the service trip Los Ninos.
I commented to a friend of mine about how I liked a bracelet she
was wearing and she told me that she had made it in Mexico at an
orphanage the group visited while down there. My first thoughts
were that it sounded like a great trip but it was never something
I could do. A million excuses ran through my mind. I was too busy;
Mexico was too far; and besides I would never be chosen because
I wasn’t a person who did service in any other capacity than
community outreach programs in high school. Fairly quickly I dismissed
the idea as something that would never be for me.
Nearly
a year later, the idea of the trip came into my life again. At this
point I was at a social gathering with a group of friends and one
friend began talking about how she had the opportunity of going
on Los Ninos the year before. Immediately the same excuses popped
into my head. However, unlike dismissing the idea like I had the
year before this time I felt some sort of calling to explore more
about the service trip. I think people, events, and situations come
into our lives for some reason or another. When I couldn’t
stop thinking about Los Ninos, I knew I had to do something about
it. So I did just that. I decided to apply.
With
no real knowledge of what the trip entailed or what would be expected
of me, I was chosen to go. The experience of going that first year
proved to be amazing. So many different parts of the trip made me
question my life and how I was leading it. More than once I was
stopped cold in my tracts from a comment said by someone or a situation
I was part of. I remember returning from the first year and wondering
how could I ever return to my normal life. I felt so changed and
passionate about a place that a mere seven months before I knew
very little about. When I came home from the trip I wanted to tell
everyone I met about the injustices I saw while down in Mexico.
I wanted people to be as enraged as I was. I was disappointed when
people couldn’t understand the trip completely. Many people
including close friends and family members told me that this was
“something nice” that I did. This would make me more
upset because I felt like the trip was part of who I was and was
more than just something nice. It was during this time that I knew
I had to return to Tijuana the following year. My need for the community
was not yet fulfilled and I was determined to return.
I
was fortunate enough to go back again as a returner this year. Los
Ninos, which encompasses the group of team members, the people and
community of Tijuana Mexico, and the events that occurred before,
during and after the trip, have taught me lessons that are difficult
to put into words.
Los
Ninos is not merely a service trip to Mexico, but a situation that
will forever change the person who attends it. Los Ninos is time
when a person is challenged on what they believe and encouraged
to question the things around them. Without hesitation I can say
that Los Ninos has changed my life and has helped to contribute
to the person that I am today. As I have now graduated from school,
people often asked me what I liked most about my university. Los
Ninos is something that immediately comes to mind. I cannot image
my life without the memories of this trip, the people of Tijuana,
and the friends I have made through it.
Someone
once told me that Los Ninos is similar to looking at a picture.
You can try to put it into words, and yet you can never relay the
full beauty of it. Although I will never be able to adequately express
how I feel about this experience I will always have the feelings
and memories of the trip in my heart. Los Ninos is something that
I feel blessed I was given the opportunity to do, and is an event
that will live with me forever. |
