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SAGE Hill High School.... Although I was told students from Sage are a special group, I knew tuition was high, as well as percentage of graduates attending top Universities. Yet my thoughts and expectations fell far short. Truly this team / group is comprised of world changers.
My hope for our youth trips and as well all our trips is that gibtk guests return "marked". The next few journals you'll see my hope and so much more was accomplished. Enjoy reading. PS There is only couple spots left for July's Youth trip.
Charlotte Cohen
As I flew to Vietnam, I thought of my own Grandmother who escaped the Rape of Nanjing during World War II, an event that initiated decades of living in poverty for her family. I have seen the same levels of poverty she described here in Vietnam - and cannot help but think of her and the suffering she endured.
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Typical "kitchen" of families we visited
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Recently I was lucky enough to hear my grandmother's story-we recorded an almost 3-hour tape of her reflecting on her life. I internalized her every word and somehow thought that was enough. But the truth is, I've never seen poverty at the level she endured, I've never lived through the suffering she once did. To see something like that in Vietnam has let me understand her pain, her persistence, and the immeasurable strength she must have held to live each day.
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Assembling water filters (Thank you ATTA for donating filters)
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I was heartbroken listening to the stories of the single mothers we delivered the water filters to, or the grandmother, now in need of a wheelchair, who has raised her children and grandchildren in poverty. Many families started crying within minutes of reflecting on the lives. Minutes.
I realized the distance, as a young woman growing up with privilege, I was purposely placing between myself and my grandmother's life- foolishly thinking that the end of the pain in my immediate family meant I was "clean." Now I know that is wrong.
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Thanks to Free Wheelchair Mission this grandmother will have mobility
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My grandmother is no longer reminded daily of the violence of war or the history of her poverty, but the families we have met in Vietnam still live in that reality. Vietnam and working with Giving It Back To Kids has opened my eyes to the global water crisis and the urgency to help families without basic necessities. To help in any way, every way, locally or globally. I aspire to do what Giving It Back to Kids does best-think in more ways than one about how to give aid
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