Volunteers: Grace and Annalisa Barrie
Ages: 14 and 48
Program Site: Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Year: 2008
The Barrie family had taken many nice, mainstream vacations, but for Spring Break 2008, 14-year-old Grace and her mom Annalisa wanted to go somewhere exotic, and decided it was time to give back. They traveled to Guatemala with CCS, where they worked with a mobile medical clinic.
Grace and Annalisa found that doing a CCS program over Spring Break to Central America was not only convenient; it was safe and very doable for only one week. The program also invited Grace, the only teenager in the group, to be extremely adventurous. Although Grace brought along her global view, she found that the program opened her eyes and changed her in many ways.
When Grace returned back to school, she felt enlightened after experiencing how others live, and she wanted to encourage friends to take a similar trip. Today, as she looks toward senior year and college, she hopes to study abroad and is considering studying foreign languages.
