My Story/college

My Story - Joy McBrien

Joy McBrien - Student Leader
U of M - Twin Cities

For one month this summer, I decided to pay it forward among  some of the world’s poorest in Chimbote, Peru, where domestic violence rates are an unbelievably high 70%, and the male-dominant culture is such that it basically breeds rape. My goal was to  renovate and expand a building and turn it into a battered women’s shelter: a place that victimized women could escape to for temporary housing until they found a way to get out of their unfair circumstances. In addition, I taught jewelry-making classes to a  large group of women so that they would have something to derive an  income from in the future; the average working Chimbotano family’s income is less than $200/year, and unemployment rates are around  85%, meaning the majority of the families are struggling to survive on far less than that minimal amount.

Travelling to a continent of which I’ve never been proved to be my biggest challenge with this project; planning details is a lot  more difficult without knowing exactly what you’re diving into. Once in Peru, however, everything went incredibly smooth; I was working  with the non-profit organization Los Amigos del Padre Juan, and they  were skilled at connecting me with a multitude of community contacts to help me get things accomplished. By the time I left Chimbote, a  building large enough to house around 10 women and their children  stood complete, discretely displaying “Casa de Refugio para Mujeres,” in addition to including a full-time psychologist, guard,  a kitchen, and a support group meeting room.

While I entered this project expecting to alleviate some pain  from the women that need it most, I was not anticipating that my  life would be so drastically altered for the better as well. I chose the city of Chimbote thinking that I couldn’t imagine living in worse circumstances, but I have never met people more comparable to  STLFers when it comes to a fantastic zeal for life. I worked with one woman who had been consistently beaten by her husband, had her daughter commit suicide after being raped by her brother-in-law, lived on the streets for months, and hasn’t seen her 2 sons in 20 years, but I would have never known; she was so fabulously flamboyant and always ready for a song and dance. As a population, they are far less consumed by greed; they live their lives fighting  for their basic needs, while in the US our needs are given to us, so  we strive to attain only our wants: it’s a completely different mindset.

Coming back to the US, I feel certain that the Chimbotanos helped me far more than I helped them, which has motivated me to delve deeper into non-profit work. STLF has really been my saving grace since I returned; not everyone understands the value of community service and the life-changing impact it can have! A quote  by R. Tagore that I fell upon while in Chimbote reminds me so much of STLF as well: “Dormia y soñaba que la vida era alegria, me  desperate y vi que la vida era servicio, serví y vi que el servicio  era alegria,” which translates to: “I slept and I dreamt that life  was joy, I awoke and saw that life was service, I served and saw  that service was joy.” My time in Peru reaffirmed my excitement over  STLF’s outlook; I absolutely love that us young people are motivated to change the world and have fun while doing it.  Let the pay-it- forward approach continue!

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