It is amazing how one can actually make a difference in peoples lives. I look back now and see just how much this time changed me and added to my world view. It added deeper level of understanding how others live. From orphans to disabled children and all the way to the elderly.

A visit to a local orphanage with some Danish exchange students.

The orphanage was my favorite place to visit and not because of the swing sets and endless laughter but because it was here that I always noticed the contrasts that can emerge between two children. I was fortunate to grow up in a household with both parents but here there is only one big family with dozens of children and a few mothers who take care of them.

A group photo with the Interact Club, Danish exchange students and with some of the children.

The mission of Interact is to allow young people to engage in service projects in their community and my time in this club allowed me to partake in one big one. One of these projects our club took part in was helping to raise funds to build a chicken run for one of the local primary schools. This would provide a source of education and funding for the school. The beauty of this project however was that I was not distant in it. We, as members of the club, had to get dirty as well by digging the foundation for the building.

The club hard at work digging the foundation of the chicken run.

On this day I got some of the best blisters ever. They may have hurt but I know that they went towards something I believed in and could see the fruits of. The hours of sweating and laughter were well worth it all in the end.

The result of that days work.

The 2016 Peterhouse Interact Club