I started this trip with your typical anxieties: never having been on a plane by myself, never having been out of the county, and never having used my Spanish after high school. I also had the fun added bonus of never having been an engineer on a weeklong excursion with engineers who had never been speech pathologists. Thankfully, this trip allowed me to experience another never; never realizing the selfless kindness of strangers.

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From the start, my fate on this trip was entirely determined by Good Samaritans. I was let on the plane to Nicaragua by one of the kindest airport employees to ever exist and when my luggage was lost, American Airline’s finest delivered it directly to our hotel. During our trip, our tour guide always ensured we were not only safe but content. Even our driver always had a smile (quite a feat after hours stuck in traffic behind a procession of ox carts.)

This kindness even extended beyond the service industry. Literally five minutes after everyone arrived, all of the other girls on the trip offered to let me use some of their clothes and toiletries to tide me over until my luggage was delivered the next day. During meetings before the trip, I didn’t really get to know them beyond general small talk, but they let me use some of their limited supplies without hesitation. This really set the tone for how tight-knit the girls got on the trip. We all came to rely on each other for extra supplies, going out on the town, or just for a laugh.

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The theme of kindness wove throughout trip and into the social project we visited. We walked into Cafe Sonrisas on our first full day in Nicaragua. The owner employs all deaf or deaf-blind workers in the cafe as well as in the adjoining hammock shop. He also uses the cafe to educate others about the struggles of deaf people in Nicaragua and to teach a little sign language as well. The cafe was the most exciting part of the trip for me. Most of my years at UT have been spent in sign language and deaf education classes discussing matters of deaf rights, liberation, and culture. It was very exciting to be able to see a snapshot of the development of Deaf identity and acceptance in the context of a different country.

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Our main volunteer project at the Bona Fide permaculture farm explored a different brand of kindness: kindness towards the community and the earth. The staff at Bona Fide took the time to educate us about the benefits of permaculture to the individual all the way to a global scale. This farm was built with special care and attention to a whole host of factors like the area’s climate, economy, resource availability, and needs of locals. This attention extended beyond the plants to the employees, community outreach, and a global cry for additional interns or volunteers to help continue the project.

Although I’m not an engineer, I still benefitted from this group’s (and the whole country’s) kindness. If you’re looking to find a trip to fit your Ready for the World needs I highly recommend this experience, even if you also have a lot of “nevers” to check off your bucket list.