This Q&A is part of a series of content produced by students in the 21st Century Journalism course.

Why did your church go on the trip to Belize?

So, every year we go on a spring break trip. It’s supposed to go out into the world, it’s international, and it’s really to help us learn more about ourselves. But, we also see how to serve people and experience a culture that’s different than ours.

Who did you meet while in Belize?

I met this guy, Gabe, he’s 23. He has a heart condition and was born with a hole in his heart.  While we were there he was our tour guide, he took us around, he knew the area really well. Just watching him with the kids while he was suffering from this condition, it was really an eye-opening experience to me. To see no matter what happens, you can still do something.

How did those people have an affect on your life?

When I came back, I went back to school two days later. So it was really hard to transition back because I saw all these people who didn’t have anything. It taught me how the world really is outside of Johnson County. We kind of live in this super unrealistic world, and it was hard to come back to it because of all the people that I met.

How do you think you might have affected their lives?

There was this little girl I met, she didn’t speak any English, but she was attached to me at the hip for the majority of the week. At the end of the week she drew me this picture. I’m not sure how I affected her, but I know that she changed me. I’ll look at that picture and I’ll remember what I experienced there. It helps me to stay on the track I told myself I would be on when I got back.

How is the culture in Belize different from America?

They live in a second-world country. It’s not a first-world country and it’s not a third-world country. So, some people live very similarly to how we are and there’s other people who live in pretty much poverty. We were in villages some of the time, and we were in cities some of the time. There’s not a lot of wealth distribution. People are either going to be really, really rich, or they’re going to have nothing.

Is there any aspect to the culture in Belize that America could benefit from?

There’s a lot more community. It might just be because they’re so used to sharing everything. I think they are so much closer and more trusting of each other than we are. I think we could definitely learn from that.

Is there any aspect of American culture that Belize could benefit from?

They still have a build it yourself outlook. There was this little village, I guess you can’t really call it a village. They built their houses out of shipping crates in this one area. They called their little community Rootspill. It was basically in a swamp. There wasn’t a lot of regulation, so it was very unsafe for the people who were living there. There was nothing to help them. The guy that owned the land, who originally said they could live there, was evicting all of them. So, I feel like they could’ve benefited from more regulations in that aspect; the guy who told them they could all live there, in America he wouldn’t be able to tell them to get off his land at this point. There would’ve been more protections for them.

What was your favorite part about Belize?

I learned a lot about myself while I was there and I experienced a different kind of lifestyle while I was there. I grew a lot closer to the people I was there with. When I came back, they were the only other people who understood what I had seen and what I had gone through while I was there. We kind of formed our own little family almost.

What was your least favorite part?

There was a lot of stuff that it kind of hurt to see because I couldn’t do anything to change it. There were a lot of children that didn’t necessarily have family that looked after them, or didn’t have access to the stuff that we have here. That was really heart breaking to see because I couldn’t change it.

What is something you would do differently or again if you went back to Belize?

If I went back, I would definitely connect with the people again. If I could go back now, I think I would come out of my shell a little bit faster. I spent the first two days super unsure about what I was doing. I didn’t know what I was doing and I was sort of introverted. I feel like if I could go back, I would make more relationships with the people there.