Service encompasses many ideas. Three of these are: power, privilege, and relationships. These ideas are very complex both individually and in correlation with each other. While attending my Global Brigade to Ghana this past summer, I was familiar with all three, but not in the way that most would assume.  

Power was seen within the community. Three different chiefs led the community of Techiman. They had the power within the community because they made executive decisions and made sure things were running smoothly. When finding a relationship between power and our brigade, people would assume that us, as the brigaders, had power over the people of the community. This was not the least bit true. We worked together with the community and went back and forth discussing the needs of each other. Contrary to the article written by Ivan Illich, “The Hell with Good Intentions,” he seemed to think that people were actually hurting the community because we saw ourselves as being more powerful. Illich obviously did not put himself in the shoes of a brigader while writing that article because that is the furthest thing from truth. The community had power over us; if they did not want help we would not give it to them. We were guest in their community and it was up to them if they would be welcoming or not.

Privilege was a similar issue. While most people who have not experienced the life changing event that I have, would say that the community members were privileged to have us help them. Illich mentioned, “The fact that you live in huts and eat tortillas for a few weeks renders your well-intentioned group only a bit more picturesque.” He made the impression that we were too privileged in the States to really understand what it was like to live there. While this may be true, this was not a focal point of the trip. The articles seemed to encourage volunteers to back off. Instead of helping others, they encouraged helping ourselves. In my opinion, we had the privilege of going into a community and providing them with services. We also had the privilege of learning from them things that could not be taught in a classroom or read in a book. I personally had the privilege of meeting a little boy whom forever changed my life, Sonali. He taught me how to see the world from a new perspective and to embrace the present. I have never met an entirely happy human being that truly made the most out of life. I was privileged enough to be able to be taught by the most beautiful people, inside and out, that I have ever encountered. I was privileged to be welcomed into a community by complete strangers. Contrary to Morton’s starfish reference, I believe that when confronted with a situation where you think you can help, take that moment and do what you think is best. Embrace what you’ve been given. There is no set rule to tell you what to do in life.

Relationships was the hardest term to define from my trip to Africa. Strangers turned into best friends in less than two weeks. I did not think that I was above them or they were above me. We were equal people, living in different settings with different perspectives. Because we were accepting of each other, the amount that we could learn was infinite. When I call these people my best friends, there are not the same to my friends here in the States. They have forever left a mark on my heart. I may never see or speak to them again, but the memories I have with them are forever in my mind. These are the relationships that cannot be defined and I noticed in all three articles the authors barely addressed this.

Other relationships that developed and impacted me during the trip were those made by the other brigaders. I knew only three girls going into the trip, and I came out with 30 new friends. You are forced to talk to these people. There is no phone to pretend to text on in awkward situations or no television to pass your time. I was sleeping with 11 other girls on the floor and showering outside. But it just made us all really get to know each other. I respect all of the people who came so much and only think the highest of them. They have all made me a better person and I feel connected to them more than some of my best friends before because they know that when I say the trip was indescribable or when I cry looking at pictures, exactly what I’m feeling. Those relationships were not even touched upon or mentioned in the articles and I do not blame the authors. There is no way to know this without experience. The relationships made in Ghana were both the most simple and complex. They were simple in the sense that they were made so easily and impacted me so greatly, yet they were complex because they cannot be explained or compared to. It is something so unique and special that you can only obtain for yourself.

Each service learning experience is unique. It is not about what you put in, but what you get out. I think that the actual “charity” work, as Illich would put it, is not even what the experience is about. We do service to learn from it. The service is just the stepping-stone until we can reflect and realize the impact the experience had on us, and the impact we made on them. In my experience in Ghana it was a two way street. We put in and got out the same amount the citizens there did. Relationships were formed with the adults, the elders, the children, the animals and the culture, each one unique to every person on the trip. This is something that cannot be read in an article or defined in a dictionary. It is something that needs to be experienced first hand and reflected upon individually to receive the full impact of the service.