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A new service learning trip debuted in 2005. The team, which included five current students and two alumni and was led by university chaplain Mark Radecke, spent two weeks this summer working in one of two groups -- a medical team and a construction/education team. Mark Boughner '93 -- HAITI
Over the last several years, I had the opportunity to visit and do some work in one of the poorest countries in the world: Haiti. I have been to Haiti four times in the past two years. Each trip brings something new. We had intentions as a team to affect people, make a difference, be examples. We went with plans and schedules. The “Big Guy” upstairs quickly turned our world upside down and immediately put us on a “need to know” basis. You learn quickly that you will be put outside of your “comfort zone” and need to depend on something greater than yourself and the group you’ve arrived with. It becomes obvious that you are not there to change Haiti, but Haiti will change you. The Haitian people are generally friendly and seem to be happy. This was also confusing to me. Looking through an American’s eyes, I had trouble relating. One major thought that I dwelled on the whole time was “What does an abundant life look like?” I think the biggest lesson for me was what people can do without. I’m not talking about TV, nice cars, new clothes, a comfortable income. I’m talking about food, shoes, medicine. Somehow I think I had lost an appreciation for the simplest of things. When you don’t have, you must do without. You also become more creative. It was amazing to see what the Haitian children played with. They made boats from empty fish cans and string that they floated in puddles. They rolled bucket lids with clothes hangers or other pieces of wire. The mission where I travel to is located in the poor city of St. Louis du Nord (www.nwhcm.org). Our team’s projects included construction work, feeding programs, and orphanage care (www.chaletorphanage.com). We worked on building cabinets, plumbing, electrical work, painting for a pharmacy at the main mission. Feeding projects included nutrition programs for the elderly and distributing bags of rice, beans and fish to the impoverished community. The mission supports an orphanage and we spent time with the children playing games and also began work on additional dorm housing. Some of the more touching moments for me personally were when I could share music with some of the Haitians. On several occasions I was able to play and sing using some familiar worship songs and jam a little. Music truly can cross barriers. I don’t really speak Creole except for a few short phrases. It was a pleasure to use music as a common ground. I think the biggest “take away” or “lesson learned” was realizing this trip had nothing to do with me. I must admit there may have been some selfish reasons I had for this trip, mainly finding direction and answers about my life. I’m not sure if I really have a better picture of that or not. I do believe, however, that I was used to be a blessing to other people while I was there. Whether it be an encourager to the permanent missionaries there, or the work we performed at the mission or the orphanage or on the dirt roads of Haiti. I feel privileged to be used as an instrument and help others.
Heather Follett '98 -- GUATEMALA
Follett, a physician, traveled to Guatemala after her fourth year of medical school in 2002, where she "spent a week in a remote village not accessible by car, where I was the only physician and had to deal with a number of issues. The trip really changed my perspective on our culture, and the culture of medicine in the U.S.," she says. Mable and Errol Lanns P'03, P'04, P'06 -- CANADA
When Mable and Errol Lanns, of Pickering, Ontario, Canada, along with their oldest child, Marhja Lanns '03, began sorting through a box of brochures they had collected at a U.S. college fair they attended during their daughter's college search, "Susquehanna was the very last one in the box, and when we toured schools in the U.S., Susquehanna was the last one we visited," Mrs. Lanns recalls. As it turned out, the last considered became the first choice for the eldest Lanns child. "She liked very much what she saw, and after the tour, she told us, 'This is the one,'" Mrs. Lanns says. Marhja started at Susquehanna in the fall of 1999. Two years later, her brother, Gerohn Lanns '04, joined Susquehanna's student body, followed by their youngest sibling, Cherysse Lanns '06, a year later. -- V.K. Jonathan Snyder '08 -- LOUISIANA
In late August, Snyder was preparing for the start of the fall semester. Then Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast. Snyder was called to active duty with the Pennsylvania National Guard and dispatched to the devastated area. The TKE brother spent a month in Louisiana operating food and water distribution points in Kenner and Jennings. "The damage was most shocking in Jennings. It's a rural area like Selinsgrove. The fields were filled with water. They looked more like lakes than fields. We'd drive by properties and see driveways and steps, but the houses were gone," Snyder says. "It was definitely a good feeling to be able to help," he says. -- V.K.
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