Nothing but 8,350 Miles Apart

Wandering.

Saved.

Brought forth.

Pushed into opportunity.

Ignite.

Fighting for our right.

Showing our smile.

Flashing our best efforts.

Persuaded through our judgement.

Inspire.

Courage.

Looking fear in the eye.

Leadership.

Sparkling kindness.

Forwarded.

Empower.

Cambodia.

Smiles filled with a rich culture.

A history of a strong society.

Their lives like no other.

Special to who they are becoming.

Beginning.

“Helping a person will not necessarily

Change the world, but it will change

The world for that person.”

This is why I have chosen CGA.

This priceless experience.

Life-changing.

Lost in their words.

A different language,

But the language of love spreading.

Only smiling because our lives,

With theirs will always…

Be in harmony.

Colorado.

Eagle.

The small town bursting with hope,

Happiness, and originality.

Family.

Armando Fuentes, my father full of love, and laughs.

Tsvetelina Fuentes, my mother who wants our best, encourages, and loves all.

Anna (Lupita) Fuentes my oldest sister, that I know I can rely on.

Paola Fuentes my second oldest sister, who makes me laugh with her sarcasm.

Mando Fuentes my crazy, talented younger brother.

Mila and Stunty Fuentes, our two cats full of energy and meows. (Ha! Are you kitten me?)

                                                                                                                                          

                                          

Tanzania.

Their expressions full of laughter.

Their realization of their paradise.

We look to them as unfortunate.

They’re not.

They have everything they could ever want.

Standing.

Their eyes on you.

Eager to learn.

Eager to receive.

The dusting of chalk across your fingertips.

You unleash a new understanding.

Gain.

Summer of 2017.

8,350 miles away.

Find happiness.

Bring home an experience to re-tell

To enjoy for the rest of my life.

“Not everything that counts

Can be counted,

And not everything that

Can be counted

Counts.”

-Albert Einstein

Appreciation.

Love.

Grateful.

Approve.

Celebrate.

Give back.

           My name is Gaby Fuentes.

I shred on Beaver Creek and Vail Mountain.

Shoot hoops.

Capture moments on my camera.

Enjoy helping people in my community and some 9,043 miles away.

“I truly believe that the only way we can create global peace

Is through not only educating our minds, but

Our hearts and our souls.”

-Malala Yousafzai

Asante Sana Arusha Tanzania

           8 months before this trip, I would have never been able to imagine what a person can do to change one’s life. I could only listen to the information that people would give me. Stories about people in horrible conditions, seeming unreal. Now that I get to see these people, and confirm the truth in these stories, it’s heartbreaking. One child, one adult, one human being, may be going through the hardest phase in their life, but continue with the biggest smile ever. You would never in the slightest think that anything was wrong.

When I first met Ebenezer and Enoch, they were full of love, and had kindness in their soul.     You could notice it within everyone; they would wave, and smile, while you smiled back, your hand moving to the beat of your heart. Getting to know these two boys, I went on a home visit to their house. Automatically seeing their circumstances and wanting to help them. Their mother, who is blind, has inspired and motivated me beyond belief. Looking at their house, I saw a mattress that took up half the space, a chair, and a small sofa. It was no bigger than a large dinner table, but withheld a story, that made me feel honored to be in their presence. Everything about how these people were, and how they lived surprised me, and gave me a chance to realize what it meant to have nothing. I can’t put into words how much more grateful I can be, and how much harder I can work, with what I have.

At LOAMO, so many smiling children would run up to you, yelling your name, while looking up at you, clinging to your legs. Being able to teach Preparatory, and Class 2 made me notice how amazing these kids are. After our last day at the school, saying goodbye, and leaving the kids was no easy task. Tears running down my dirt covered face, and the faces of kids buried in my stomach. Some of them telling me not to cry, and some of them crying with me. For this experience, I thank LOAMO Primary and Nursery School for everything that the kids taught me, that as a teacher, I could never teach them. With all I have gained from this, I plan to take home all the good, and keep the misfortune as a distant memory.

                              Kwaheri (goodbye) Arusha, Tanzania.

           

Nakupenda

Happiness, misfortune, and the art of tranquility. All intertwined like a Hadzabe bracelet. Having happiness brings great depth to who you are as a person, and who you become. Maintaining a contagious smile, even when your life is dependent on everyone and everything around you. Holding you to the circumstances you were born with, until you learn to break free.

On Friday, July 22^nd I met a woman who held my heart in her hands. Her name Lillian, 37 years old, and blind. She was unable to see the world through the eyes of a human, but she saw through the windows in her beautiful soul. She trusted a man eleven years ago; who got her pregnant with Ebenezer, soon after he was brought to this world, the father took him. Two years passed, Enoch, her second born, also being snatched away by his father. Not until 2015, did Lillian get them back. Without her presence for eleven years, they only did slave work for their father. When Lillian heard one of her children had been severely kicked in the head by a cow, Lillian decided she would have them visit her, then refuse to return them to their father. She cooks, cleans, and cares for herself and her children. Her story can only continue, and her pain will never be mine, but will remain within my memories. 

To say is one thing, to hear is another. When someone says “I Love You” you respond kindly back, “I Love You Too”. In all of reality, you may not even mean it. You say it to be heard, not said. Then when someone who is underprivileged and has known you for less than 24 hours, tells you, “I Love You”, your heart stops from the shock and power of those words. You look through their misfortune, to see their love. Feeling their gaze on you, awaiting your response, eagerly… Nakupenda {I Love You}. 

Karibu Means Welcome

              The people of Tanzania see you as one of them, holding you close to their heart, all the while the good you obtain floods into their eyes. Upon arriving to Tanzania a new language captured us, surrounding us with, “Mambo,” “Poa,” and “Karibou.” People wearing the warmest smiles, look at you with interest in whom you are.

One of these people was our tour guide Rasta John; A man with both swag and a love for everything. On our tour with him we saw through his eyes, when he showed us the clock tower, and when we stepped on the ground in which many Germans slayed Tanzanians. Emotion rushed through me, as I realized how the same thing could happen to multiple countries and people, but each time the outcome is different. Your roots come from who you are and what you are, branching out into your memories and experiences that grow with you the old and new you. My old self was always someone who wanted to do things, but wouldn’t think they were important enough. My new self strives to make everything better and keep everyone happy.

At LOAMO, they strongly believe that you should, “Leave the world better than you found it.” My first day at the school had me looking around at the eager faces of students, while my arm went around giving high-fives and fist bumps. My first experience teaching I realized that the kids wanted to learn as much as some children in America hate school.  Their faces lit up, pencils in hand and then it began; The laughter, the learning, spelling the word “kitten” and also accepting people. Whether being engulfed in African song and dance, with the dirt flying upward; or being surrounded by kids with “teacher, teacher,” ringing in my ears, I feel I belong.

The Little Things We Take For Granted

Closed doors, open doors, but do these doors have something in store for you, a room full of success, gratitude and happiness, or a room filled with pity and regret? There is something we all fear, some would say that clowns are horrific, or that the dark hides things no one can see, but in total is it really that we fear, or is fear our fear? My main concern for the trip is not that I will get hurt, or get sick but the kids being scared, or having negative emotions toward something. Balance comes in handy when you think that the evil has taken over, that the tunnel of darkness will not end, until you see a sliver of light, called hope.

So far, with my fundraising I have reached $3802 which is an amazing accomplishment, but I still need but a couple hundred for other necessary expenses. I am very grateful for all the help, the donations, and the wonderful people who have taken the time to read my fundraising letter and help me get to the amount of money I have as of now.

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” -Anonymous. To everyone you may seem only another one of the 7 billion people on this Earth, but you must know your worth, your success, and how you can be able to change this world of ours.  There is good and bad, black and white, the things that people can’t see past. The things that happen as you may have heard are for a reason, there is always the things you dislike the things you would rather never exist, the things you are afraid of happening. The most eye-opening thing is that you, as a person can set your mind to anything you would like it to be, and let me elaborate more on that, you can tell yourself (not out loud, unless you want to) that you are, or I am healthy, happy, strong, funny, etc. These things will come your way.

I know that I have been absolutely terrified of heights ever since I can remember. This has not really stopped from doing things such as hiking, snowboarding, or even high ropes courses, because I told myself that the fear doesn’t own me, I own it.

My personal goals for this trip, are that I want to push myself to be the best person I know I can be. I want this trip to be not only a reality check, but that I can handle myself, and work even harder to almost be equivalent to what they have to do, how much they have to fight for a place and work for what they want to accomplish. Also, included with this, I want to be able to write the blogs, and the writing that I have to unleash as it did in my first blog, how I took that feedback/criticism to see, what I just typed to get done, versus thinking about how important this is to me and to the rest of the organization.

“The wind blew to me with the scent of the world.”  -Gabriela Fuentes, 13 years old, and accepting the challenge to find the missing pieces, to complete our world, and make it better with a single act of kindness.

Fortitude

     Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason. -Francis Bacon       
To this point many recognitions, questions, realities, and contradictions come to your mind therefore, you are wanting explanations, answers. I never thought of strength or resilience as something to be used on a daily basis, but you do. You wake up in the morning, with your own worries about the day, your own projects, homework, etc. But they all tie together to give you, your knot of a day. Maybe a bow resembling that you have to dress up, a big fat cluster of yarn, meaning a busy day, or a perfectly aligned string to mean a supposable perfect relaxing day. You must have fortitude everywhere you go, to help you in even what may seem a silly situation to use courage. I have always wanted to figure out what people need in life. Their recipes for disaster, or their plain out potions for a great life. Usually, before you must face your fears, may it be heights, animals, clowns, the outdoors, the dark, or even your house. You usually think, only about the bad things that could happen, like you could fall to your death, or the animal will eat you, or a monster is gonna come out and devour you whole, whatever the case may be you always think about the bad, before the good starts to take over. Such as, well look here, all the people down there look like ants,or that your eyes get used to the dark after awhile, or you realize the animal is vegetarian, or behind glass. I guess that's the way it's supposed to be. First, in the center of attention, then slowly melts away.
  
Sympathy, Recognition, Determination, and Wondering. You think, you feel, you try, you reach heights, and you grow as a person. I always aim for the highest standards, and present them to myself, and I always maintain the drive to work harder every time. To be better. I convince myself that I can be someone, I can become a better human being with what I do, and help people who need love, support, and hope. The people who have experiences with sacrifices, and the cost they bring with them. We don't realize very often that the sacrifices our loved ones make, is so that we can have and live a better life, a life not in fear, but a life of love and kindness.  
    My progression with fundraising has been wonderful, I have reached $2322. I have $978 to raise, and my fundraisers to reach this have been a countless number of babysitting jobs, dog sitting, Kids Night Out, Donations, and temporary tattoos. I loved to do all these jobs, and tell people my cause, and the reason I was doing it and what sparked my interest for this specific country, and this program. My reason of doing a service trip was because, I might have a great life here in the US but, there's a lot of people who wish for food, water, family, while we moan, groan and complain about not having the latest phone model, not the trendiest clothes, and the biggest/fanciest house. I wish that everyone has a good life, happy experiences, and the best of memories to look back on. To whoever it may be, they deserve a better life, a second chance, a way to show their hard work payed off. I chose Tanzania, because I have always been intrigued by their way of being kind to everyone, making sure that everyone in included, the "we are all in this together" feeling. I chose this organization, because it gives you the chance to travel the world and give back to those that you learn to love. Those same people who were strangers to you before. 
        The History of Tanzania, presents to you the explorers, the speakers, and the difference from it today. The founders of Tanzania are Louis and Mary Leakey who made famous discoveries in Olduvai Gorge. 51.82 million live in Tanzania according to count in 2014. Tanzania is one of the poorest country in the world. But they have jobs, they have a home, they have schools, and education.Many people take the word "poor" and think limited opportunities. This country doesn't let the word poor try to shape them, they make it disappear with all the rising moments of action. A fact about Tanzania that caught my eye was that the earliest human ancestor skull was found in the Olduvai Gorge. I thought this was very interesting because not many places in the world have evidence of our ancestors. In Tanzania Mpingo trees, are the most expensive hardwood in the world. I loved how this really gave a bipolar feel to how they are a country in poverty, but their Mpingo trees are the most expensive, and grow in Tanzania. 
       In the Tanzanian culture, love is spread like wildfire, and on the topic of love, the joyful, playful culture turns a marriage commitment into a game of hide-n-seek. Tradition is recognized as the bride hides in a relative's home, until her groom locates her. I am always amazed by how people can turn their circumstances into something beyond comprehension. There is a continuous eagerness, excitement, and waiting for the new experience that I will be able to live through, and remember. 
    Not all those who wander are lost. -J.R.R Tolkien, A person's path is definitely a draft at the beginning and almost always stays one. From this, it has been brought upon me that when you wander, you are very casual don't have a target, and your path can be the same way. Trying out different paths. Going left or right, straight, horizontal or diagonal. Then you find it. The right path for you, and sure it has some twists and turns, and some bumps in the road, but it's the perfect amount of adventure, that will lead you, to your destination.