While most Lewis students were working or taking classes over the summer, seven students, along with Lewis faculty and staff, were helping children in Bolivia with a mission trip sponsored by the Joliet Diocesan Peace and Social Justice Ministry. Martha Villegas Miranda, Dr. Elizabeth Hoppe, Dr. Linda Wolter, Anna DiCosola, Mike Fedoruk, Eileen Mizwicki and Sabrina Poulin worked at several different sites in Bolivia.
The trip lasted a total of 16 days and cost $2,200. “It was worth every penny,” said Mizwicki. “I only paid $150 dollars out of pocket and the rest I got from fundraising.”
Eileen Mizwicki gives a kiss to a child from one of the daycares she helped during her stay in Bolivia. Photo courtesy of Eileen Mizwicki.
Mission trip participants interacted with children, assisting with their care and needs, and helped staff at several child care facilities. Nursing students observed and assisted with surgeries, such as a C-section, gallbladder surgery and some fractures at the Christ of the Americas Hospital in Sucre. They also helped mental health professionals at Psicologico.
Mizwicki recalls a boy named Marcello, who was wheel-chair bound and lived at a residence that housed children with disabilities. “I helped feed him, let him take pictures with my camera, joked around with him and even carried him up the swing set and rode down the slide with him on my lap,” she said. “He exhausted me, but he was literally laughing and smiling for hours straight.”
Another experience she couldn’t forget was the patience of the Bolivian workers. “I could imagine the language barrier being a huge issue in some places, but not there with the workers,” she said. The workers would listen and attempt to contemplate what the participants were communicating. They would try as long as it took, and would smile while working. “I realized the power of a smile,” she recalled. “It is a human understanding; language is not always necessary.”
Lewis students will have a chance to attend a mission trip Jan. 1-10, 2010. Students will have the opportunity to build a house in a week for a Filipino family, share blessings and gifts, work in a village interacting with children and families, and learn about the Filipino culture.
“I think that the greatest service the poor can initiate is one that requires an individual to take himself or herself out of a comfort zone and live the actual life of the poor who are being ministered to,” said Mizwicki. “It creates a bond and allows you to understand through experience. Also, every mission trip attendant realizes that ministering is a two-way process. You go to minister to the poor, and they will minister to you through hospitality.”
For more information or to apply for the Philippines mission trip, contact Sabrina Poulin at ortmansa@lewisu.edu, call (815)-836-5617or stop by the Ministry Center.
Nicole Zwartz
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