A Bridge for my Hope

There are a lot of things that you want in life. My principal objective and wish has been always to do something with a powerful meaning for society; an action that could help to change our world to make it a better place. This great experience in Juniata College (Huntingdon, PA) represents an important step on my pursuit of self-realization. It has changed my life in several aspects, between them, to value cultural elements from United States, as well as those from my own country.
Even though I find out many culture differences among both societies, the American one and the Uruguayan, I also discovered that they share common, human beliefs like solidarity. In my experience in Habitat for Humanity, I had the opportunity to work shoulder to shoulder with students and citizens of the community, building a house for a poor family of the county. In the process, I also built new friendships, and enjoyed the work group experience. We became witness of the dream of a family coming true. It was the same feeling and spirit I felt in my volunteer work for “A Roof for my Country” (Un Techo para mi Pais), where people from different social cohorts work together to raise emergency houses, and hope for the homeless. Even when the infrastructures and missions of the organizations are very different, the essence of the human kindness brought me back home, fulfilling my expectations. It also broke some of the stereotypes that I had about Americans as individualist people. I called this kind of events "a bridge for my hope", because they make me grow, and we only grow through hope and action. They showed me how much they care about the others, and how they become citizens of the world, changing the world through actions of social responsibility.