Some of the best trips are when you had no plans to go somewhere, but someone else presents you with an opportunity. That’s what happened with my trip to Nicaragua. A family friend of ours got involved with an orphanage/school in Nicaragua and invited me down along with some of his dentist friends for a sort of missionary trip to help build a sports field and offer the community some free dental work. This was my first time doing something like this, where I wasn’t there for my own selfish reasons, but for the purpose of helping others. It was eye-opening to explore a more rural part of the country and experience a much different way of life than I am accustomed to. We were successful in building a basketball hoop, a baseball diamond, and of course a couple soccer goals. I remember one local who helped out a lot with the sports field who was wearing rubber rain boots. We became friendly and he commented on how much he liked my hiking boots. After a few days when it was time to leave I gave him my boots (and he also wanted my socks), and luckily it looked like they fit him well. We also went door to door to hand out some care packages of first aide and food items. I thought the community would be more apprehensive about the dentistry, but a lot of people showed up to take advantage of these check ups, and to receive some much needed attention and care. An odd memory I have of my trip there was that this happened when it was announced that America had found and killed Osama bin Laden. This experience proved that with a little effort and time and money you can really make a positive impact in countries that are not as fortunate as we Americans are. There really is massive power in small acts.
