LWB Service Work (Q3)

Question 3: What about the service experience is different than the service we do on the team at home?
The service work we do at home is what I would label as "physical." At home we do yardwork, paint houses, clean, pick up trash, etc. While we did do some physical labor, like Faith and Dalton painting the steps and whatever Martin and the other boys were doing upstairs, that wasn't the majority of what we did. Most of the work we did for LWB was what I would call "emotional" or "awareness" service work. We started by learning about Love Without Borders, it's origin, mission, and the people within it. After listening to Kayra we were given the opportunity to look at the art work and read about the artists who made it. Reading the biographies of the artists put into perspective problems in our world that we don't hear about enough and often don't think about in our little world of Winfield, Kansas. Throughout the trip there were people expressing that they didn't feel like they were doing anything to help. I think this is because the results of our work weren't necessarily immediate or tangible. For example, if we paint a house, we see a painted house when we're done. While learning about these issues and this organization didn't have immediate effects, it planted a seed. A seed that we can bring back with us and plant in other places to spread and grow Love Without Borders. Some of our work did have tangible results (the painting and flooring), but I also saw the effects of the emotional work we did. We sang, danced, and played with the refugee children. Throughout both days we did this I could see the joy on the kids' faces and the relief on their parents' faces. We gave the parents a safe place for their kids to play and safe place for them. They didn't have to constantly worry and be looking over their shoulder.Read more