The St. Mary’s Church IMPACT team began their week in Abaco, and their first full day was filled with powerful connections and heartwarming experiences. From painting a vibrant green house for a resilient homeowner, to sharing laughter and hugs with bright-eyed schoolchildren, Callie, Harper, and Sophia shared how their initial encounters had already shifted their perspectives and ignited a passion for service. Discover the joy and inspiration they found in the Abaco community!
Today was a great day for everyone in our group! We started the day all together at Zhivargo’s house. He has faced multiple challenges like rebuilding his home after Hurricane Dorian in 2019, getting in a car accident and recovering from that car accident, and not being able to live with his son for a while. Our team worked on painting his house his favorite color– bright lime green! We enjoyed getting to know him and learning his story. It touched all of our hearts and made us want to work a little bit harder for him.
We ended the day knowing that our work, even if it was just a second coat of paint on his house, has a big impact on his life and will benefit him for a long time.
A memory he shared with us from his childhood was his grandma’s big garden. This is what sparked his passion for gardening and we loved how much he cared for it. He even invited us to smell and touch all of his different plants! We appreciated how willing he was to share his story, and a lesson we learned from that is to be more open and welcoming to people and change!
After lunch, six of us went to Central Abaco Primary School. We got to work with kids in grade two, who were six and seven years old. Their bright smiles made us so happy as they walked into the classroom.
We loved meeting them and have special bonds we will take back to the states, hoping to channel our inner happiness and joy, even in hard situations. Working with these kids for the afternoon reminded us how lucky we are. You would never know that they go home to plywood houses with close to nothing. At the end of the school day, we got to walk around and the amount of big hugs we got was amazing.
Something else we learned from them was to assume the best in people, and just choose joy. These kids had never met us before, but came over and started a conversation. We got to talk with so many people with different backgrounds and perspectives– if only we could go back tomorrow!
Overall, today was an eye opening first full day in Abaco. We learned that with perseverance you can do anything, with joyful and judge free attitudes you can meet many new people, and we are truly lucky for everything in our lives back at home. Our experiences have been very impactful so far and we can’t wait for the rest of the week! (p.s. It’s not called America or the USA, it’s called “The States” 🙂
— Callie Wilcox, Harper Guess, and Sophia Vermeer
