Dear Friends, I wanted to inform you about a very exciting and rewarding opportunity that I have found through

a student organization at Loyola University Chicago. I am privileged to be participating on a medical mission trip that enables me to aid others while further developing my own skills in health services. On this service trip, I have the chance to personally work with under-resourced communities in Ghana to provide medical support. This August, I will be traveling with a group of 30 students from Loyola University to Ghana with an organization called Global Medical Brigades. Global Medical Brigades is part of the worlds largest student-led health and sustainable development organization. Each year Global Brigades mobilizes thousands of university students around the world to participate in 9 different skills-based programs to improve the quality of life in under-resourced communities. Please join me in supporting the work that I will be doing in underserved communities around the central region of Ghana. Any support you can give will make a tremendous difference. As a donor you are contributing to the sustainability of the Medical Brigades work in the communities we are working with. To make a donation please visit my fundraising page: Donate Through Empowered. This site is completely secure and all donations are tax-deductible. After you make a donation, you will automatically be emailed a tax receipt. Please let me know if you have any questions about my trip. I sincerely appreciate all of your positive thoughts and support! Sincerely yours, Jessica A. Firlej

Adam Daviss article immediately made me question just how effective my reaching out for donations was. Fundraising for my service trip to Ghana was the most difficult part of my experience. I assumed, just as Davis writes, The trend toward service is generally praisedIt has become so clear that Service Is Good (SIG) that we can demand it from our brightest young people, our busiest professionals, and our most experiences elders. Sowhy wasnt this reflected in my Empowered Account through generous and flowing donations. I believe I was responded to by only 15 of the 40 contacts I had sent this message out to. Before even attending this trip and completing the service, I automatically felt entitled to praise and financial support from friends and family. I believe this is a perfect example of the message Adam Davis is trying to convey in his article. Before embarking on the physical service work, I would highly pride myself in the fact that I had even committed myself to such a mission. Davis writes that often times, the server emphasizes her own good rather than that of whomever she serves. Now, I am not saying service is not an important aspect

of my life or that I only turn to service by appealing to the reputation earned as the server, not at all! My family had instilled the importance of service to my siblings and I since as far back as I can remember. What I am saying is that I understand that this trend toward service exists, and for example, now that my parents cant force me to go to a soup kitchen, I find myself taking on larger service projects as a form of self-fulfillment. Through reading this article, I learned that is not wrong, it is just complex. As much as we would like to think of service being simple, a voluntary act of help to one in need, service is a far more complex topic. This article truly challenged me to think of how exactly I served the community in which I worked. The most impactful service I think we provided for the community was a sense of hope and sense of urgency to change certain ways of life. For example, our program Director, Rachel, told us that no matter how many supplies we can bring to the community with us and no matter how many clinic days we spend teaching them, there must be a unison acceptance of certain change and urgency to it. During our brigade, the community members learned the benefits of an adequately balanced diet and the absolute importance of clean water to prevent sickness. This experience was so unique because we had been the first brigade to ever enter the community of Techiman. Some of the children had never even seen a white person before. Spending a number of hours in the community during opening and closing ceremonies as well as the clinic days allowed us (the servers) and the community members (those being served) to form an unbreakable bond. The most vivid example in my mind of this unbreakable bond is the loyalty specific children had to specific brigaders. The moment I would step foot off the bus, Edna was running up to me, grabbing my hand, fixing my shirt and tucking my hair behind my ear. The connections formed with the community members of Techiman were so powerful that many of us cried our final day at the community. The

conversion of strangers to people we cared deeply about in 10 short days goes far to say how meaningful and complex this relationship between us servers and those served. Upon arrival I had certain expectations of the community, meaning the way theyd dress, speak, behave and lived. I expected funky, indigenous get ups, I did not expect the level of English some of the community members spoke (especially among some of the children), I did not expect dancing to be such great aspect of their culture and I did not expect such low knowledge of basic health and living principles. One of the biggest issues that the community brought up several times was their need for clean water. I was shocked that they had never known to boil and then still water in order to kill the bacteria. Before and after our clinic days, our translators explained to us that the community members were so grateful for the medicines we brought but were most concerned about repairing their water situation. This troubled me most because we did not have the tools and equipment to better their water situation, as the person serving, I almost felt as though we had failed. I know that the medical service we completed was our mission and purpose in being there but hearing that the families main concern and hardship was providing clean water to their children broke my heart. Here is where I felt that there is so much more we can do, society as a whole from firstworld USA, however there was nothing we could do that very moment. Davis writes, service is not simple (SINS), no matter what we pretend and I absolutely agree with that. Following this service trend, I must work on being clear with my intended vision and working hard to fundraise and spread awareness. I have seen just a glimpse of hardship and struggle in Ghana and I know how much more there is we can do. I have also been privileged to witness a wealth of happiness in people who have so little. Ive never in my life seen brighter, wider smiles than those of the children in Techiman that forever hold a place in my

heart. I feel so blessed I even met them because every time I scroll through my camera roll and see myself embracing one of the children, I reflect on how I was able to make a small difference and make them feel warm and loved because that is exactly what they did to me; and love is something meant for reciprocating, so when I feel warm and emotional looking back at those photos, I know I left the people I met with an impact of warmth as well. I think of myself as a community minded citizen who wants to make a positive change in the world. I wish to continue to serve people by attending future brigades and hopefully leading one as well. This upcoming January I will be going on a Human Rights Service Brigade. I will be working with Panamanian lawyers to provide pro-bono legal consulting through a 7-day brigade in Panama. I will lead legal education workshops tailored to the community on various topics such as: the land titling process, government institutions, family law, property rights, business rights, conflict resolution, etc. I will be able to put my legal research to practice and shadow lawyers in developing solutions to various legal problems. Embarking on this service trip is only the beginning of my journey in the field of law and I would love to gain experience with this outstanding opportunity providing service in Panama. The medical brigade to Ghana was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me but I am very passionate for human rights so I know my service in Panama will be utmost rewarding and allow me to give back way more than I take in.