Hero Holiday

Being thrown into a world of poverty, you slowly begin to realize the significance of what we sometimes take for granted in life. On our fourth day of this exciting and life changing experience, we visited a garbage dump to pass out water to the underprivileged people. From the first minute we arrived, there was an instant feeling of need. Looking around we saw young kids and adults alike rummaging through the garbage looking for cans, bottles or anything that they could potentially use to survive. After meeting Julio, a little Dominican boy, I began to realize just how hard it was and started to help him look for cans within the huge piles of garbage…which was definitely not an easy task! After about 20 minutes I had only successfully found 4 cans for Julio. I’d place one of those cans in the huge sack he was carrying, his face would light up even more, knowing that these cans were filling the sack which he would get 4 pesos for (approximately 25 cents CAD). This struck me hard. Meeting Julio had a huge impact on my life, he taught me how to be grateful for what I have, because after these 10 days are over I am returning to Canada where things go back to normal but kids like Julio are stuck here living and struggling each day to survive the harshness of poverty. I know that seeing that smile on his face was well worth the trip! - Jamie, 17, Student from Newfoundland

*All participants are given the opportunity to blog so many views are represented. These views do not neccesarily reflect the views of Absolute Leadership Development. If you are a Hero Holiday participant that would like to share your experience please email your story (and picture, if possible) to blog@heroholiday.com