Personal Narrative: My Mission Trip To Poland

It is hard to believe the number of people who asked me, “Why the heck would you want to go on a mission trip to your own backyard”. I’m sure for most people, spending a week and a half of summer in downtown Akron, Ohio does not seem fun. I, however, thought otherwise. During my time in Akron I worked for a ministry called Urban Vision, which provides afterschool programs for children in need. Too often we overlook the diversity in own community. At Urban Vision I was able to see a previously undiscovered side of Akron and, through my experiences there, I saw how truly diverse and beautiful my own community was. Realizing this I continued to volunteer at the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank and Urban Vision. If there is so much to learn from
I went with my youth group to Poland for two weeks to lead an English camp. Going into it, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Poland, like America, is a first-world country so I assumed that it would be similar. There is nothing further from the truth. The most surprising difference was they do not serve ice in their drinks. But despite the small cultural quirks and our language barrier we still were able to communicate on a personal level. We played a Poland versus America volleyball match. Polish people take volleyball very seriously and were able to destroy us in every match. But instead of using that to prove their superiority, they came to us and helped us improve our skills to impress our American friends back home. That was the greatest example of how humanity comes together despite diversity keeping us apart.

Through my many trips I came to realize that people are people it doesn’t matter where we are from or what backgrounds we have. Diversity didn’t just impact my life, diversity is my life. I saw that in my community in Haiti and on the other side of the world in Poland. I incorporate the things these people taught me in my daily