“Life changing!” That was the most repeated phrase the 10 students, four alumni, and two faculty members used to describe their spring break service immersion trip in March to the San Lucas Toliman Mission in Guatemala, a nation where the World Bank estimates 75 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. In fact, since Cabrini College’s Jerry Zurek began offering this experience nine years ago in partnership with Catholic Relief Services, it has gained quite a reputation. “The trip is really respected on campus,” said student Molly Seaman. “Everyone calls it life changing.”

While in Guatemala, depending on the needs of the Mission, the Cabrini immersion group works alongside locals on projects like picking fair trade coffee, emergency home building, or road construction. “I thought the class and the trip would just be about me giving back,” said Emely Gutierrez. “It was so much more. I learned so much about the reality of life in that country.” 

Perhaps what makes this “service trip” so inspirational is that it is not a traditional service trip at all. “This isn’t about us privileged Americans going to help the poor Guatemalan people,” said Raquel Green, the other faculty member who organizes the trip with Zurek. “Quite the opposite. The Guatemalan people are smart, hardworking people who take care of themselves. We don’t go just to ‘do.’ We go to learn and accompany.” Since the immersion experience is part of a semester-long Engagements with the Common Good course, students use a “justice lens” to learn about the social situation of the Guatemalan people before, during, and after their travel.

Zurek puts it this way: “It isn’t about charity. It’s about justice. By joining the people in their efforts to strengthen their own community, we are learning about the Guatemalan people and the challenges they face and the resources they are lacking. That’s an issue of justice.”
The College didn’t choose Guatemala by accident. Cabrini has roots there. The College’s sponsoring religious order, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSCs), operate the Madre Cabrini Dispensario, in Barcenas, Guatemala. The MSCs at the Dispensario provide a hospital, a pharmacy, psychological services, a children’s program, and other resources. The immersion group spent a day and evening at the Dispensario, learning firsthand what the MSCs provide, and why. “It was eye-opening to see how big the MSC community is and how much impact they have in the community,” said student Shannon Donnelly. “You feel the love!”

Students report that one of the most moving moments from this year’s trip was a chance meeting with 20-year old Guatemalan Selica Piloy. In a country where few women go to college, this inspirational woman paid for herself to finish high school, and earned a scholarship to attend a college in Missouri where she plans to study journalism. “She [Selica] became really close with us,” said Lindsay Dobbins.  “We connected with her. I saw so much of myself in her. The only difference was she was born without the resources that we take for granted.”

After this experience, Cabrini’s students won’t take anything for granted, which is exactly what service immersion should be about.