Holding a wooden pizza toy, senior Taylor Peterson plays with small children in Bucaramanga, Colombia. During the summer, Peterson traveled to Colombia to help build an elementary school that only had two classrooms but five or six grades with one teacher. “We add[ed] two more classrooms,” Peterson said. “It’s kind of hard when you have two or three grades in one classroom and you only have one teacher. It’s very hard to actually get some beneficial learning. [The extra classrooms will give the students] a better quality of education because they’ll actually have a place specific for their learning.” Photo by Taylor Peterson

The heat from the sun surrounds senior Taylor Peterson as she uses her shovel to mix cement. At the end of her two-week journey, Peterson is happy to see all the progress she has made on the school she helped build.

Over the summer, Peterson had the opportunity to travel to Bucaramanga, Colombia where she was able to work on  adding to a school for the children in that area. Peterson’s group was the last of five youth groups that participated in the building process over the span of a few months. Peterson also had the opportunity to play with the local kids during her visit

“I thought [the children in Bucaramanga] were going to be super shy and not want to talk to us because it was the first day,” Peterson said. “But they came over and just started giving us hugs even though we’ve never talked to them before. That was cool because [we were] instant friends even though there was a language barrier.”

In Bucaramanga, there was already an elementary school in use, but it only had two classrooms. In these two classrooms, there were five or six grade levels that had to learn with only one teacher in each room. 

“We added two more classrooms,” Peterson said. “It’s kind of hard when you have two or three grades in one classroom and you only have one teacher. It’s very hard to actually get some beneficial learning. [The extra classrooms will give the students] a better quality of education because they’ll actually have a place specific for their learning.” 

To build the school, Peterson had to learn how to hand mix cement for walls and floors with a shovel. Her group also painted, laid brick, and scaffolded the walls. The youth spent six hours a day at the work site with a one-hour break.

“You got to see a different side of people because they were serving, too,” Peterson said. “Honestly, [the work] went by fast because we [listened to] music. It was fun even though it was really hot.”

Peterson was in Colombia from July 25 to Aug. 9. Her group consisted of 19 kids, two trip leaders and two parent leaders. Her trip leaders were both fluent in Spanish, which helped the group communicate with the community.

“We had activities with the community members,” Peterson said. “We learned how to make empanadas,[participated] in a cultural dance and [rode] a zipline and a big swing over a canyon. It was fun to serve the people of Colombia but also to get to know them and put a face to those we were serving.”

Peterson had friends that went on similar trips in different locations last year, such as her older sister, who went to Mexico a couple of years ago. She thought this trip would be a great opportunity for her, too, she said.

Peterson paid for most of the trip herself. To afford the expense, she got a job at the H-E-B center and also put some of her savings towards the trip.

“I put [almost] all my money towards the trip with only a little [bit] set [aside] for spending,” Peterson said. “I was able to pay for [much of] the trip myself, and I feel like I appreciated it more because it wasn’t an opportunity that was just handed to me. It made me more excited to go because I worked so hard for it.”

According to Peterson, one of the things struggled with was the language barrier between the people of Colombia and herself.

“It was hard to do the manual labor, but I also felt inadequate because I was in a country where they only speak Spanish,” Peterson said. “I felt that I couldn’t connect with some people and some kids. I wish that I could have connected with them [more], but I can’t speak Spanish.”

Traveling to Colombia made Peterson more grateful for America, she said.

“Colombia taught me that America is very cushy,” Peterson said. “You can’t put toilet paper in the sewage system in Colombia. You have to put your toilet paper in a separate trash can. You also can’t drink the water, so everyone [drank] bottled water. It’s a very humbling experience [to go to Colombia] and I’m glad that I was humbled in that way.”