A group of students spent a week volunteering at the Casa de Mantay, a women's shelter in Cusco, Peru.
Chris Flores ’12 (Hartford, CT) was born and raised in Peru before coming to the United States in 1998. Earlier this spring, he returned for the first time in about eight years with a group of classmates to volunteer at a women’s shelter.
The group helped at the Casa de Mantay in Cusco, an organization that provides shelter and teaches skills to teenage mothers who are 12-to-18-years old. Quite often, the mothers are the victims of rape or sexual abuse.
“It was a big eye-opener for me,” he says. “As much as our lives can be difficult at times, it does not compare to the conditions faced by these mothers and their children.”
After returning from Peru, Katie Gorham ’10 thought about a book she read, Half the Sky, which asserts that service learning trips serve two purposes. They provide aid to local communities and change the outlooks and attitudes of the volunteers by exposing them to diverse people and obstacles they face.
Beyond donating $2,700, painting a 1,000-foot wall, cleaning, cooking, and assisting with the process of becoming a non-profit organization, the Bryant volunteers interacted with the children and learned about the hardships faced by the mothers. Gorham, who help spearhead a similar trip last year, realized the impact the experience was having on the group when the focus of their discussions changed from sports and movies to what could be done to help the women and children.
“I know that the experience changed every one of us for the better,” she says.
“I feel that we were able to take away much more from this trip than the help we provided them,” adds Chris Brida ’12 (Southampton, MA). “I can confidently say I came back a different person.”
A rewarding experience
Melanie Simas ’11 (Swansea, MA) acknowledges that the mothers at the shelter were hesitant to interact with the group at first. But after spending a day with them and their children, the Bryant team was welcomed with open arms.
“What seemed like a small effort on our parts made a world of difference,” she says.
Bridget McNulty ’11 (Madison, CT) says the most rewarding experience of the trip was relieving the mothers of some of their responsibilities so they could go to the park or play a game of soccer. “I truly hope that the mothers were able to feel like normal teenage girls again, if only for a short time,” she says.
Spanish Lecturer Patricia Gomez, who accompanied the students to Peru the last two years, says it was gratifying to see the improvements that have been made in the last year and to reconnect with the children and mothers she met a year ago
The opportunity to forge long-lasting relationships with the students is her favorite part of being an educator. “It is this part of the job that I am most thankful for and the reason I wouldn’t change my profession for anything,” she says.
