Alicia Lourekas ’12
Web Sports Editor
In just a week, 30 B3 (Builders Beyond Borders) students can dig big trenches with heavy tools, make cement block lines to transport materials, build houses and latrines, bring sufficient water supply to impoverished countries, along with many other community related projects.
For those who don’t participate on B3 trips, they sometimes become skeptical of the work that actually gets done. But in actuality, there are very few slackers.
“Everyone works hard because they know they signed up to work, not to watch other people work,” Caroline Smith ’12, who has been on two B3 trips, said.
These trips to foreign countries have a main purpose to provide impoverished communities with necessary buildings and running water that they would other wise be deprived of.
While these projects may not be the most glamorous, they are very gratifying.
“The trips are a great way to give back my time to developing or under-developed countries in a way that will be useful to them,” Smith said. “I could just send the money it would take to build an aqueduct or water pipeline system to Peru, but it is much more effective to go there and build it myself.”
Not only are students participating in physically demanding work to build a new infirmary or a sufficient roof to cover a latrine, they are also engaged in a learning process.
“It’s really amazing how much work gets done, with the amount of kids you have,” Michael Fulton, an advisor for eight years said. “[Also,] B3 is different because it’s not like sending money to charity, it’s about the satisfaction you get from helping.”
For almost all of the students and advisors, the trip begins with the idea of helping others and ends with the undeniable feeling of satisfaction.
“The truth is that students work harder than they ever have in their life but they learn the value and personal satisfaction that come with hard work and helping others. They find fun in their work,” Michael Aitkenhead, an advisor for two years said.
Some people who don’t take this trip imagine that having fun and the exploration of the country is equivalent to slacking off.
“Everyone else hears this and automatically assumes that if they were having fun, they were vacationing, relaxing, and playing on these trips,” Aitkenhead said.
These B3 participants do leave the work site for a one-day excursion to visit the new and exotic country and enjoy other new experiences, such as white water rafting and zip lining, but this isn’t the reason most students go. Especially since it’s only for one day at either the beginning or the end of the trip.
“Everyone who goes quickly discovers the real meaning behind B3 and they learn that it is actually about the service and the connections they make with people of other cultures,” Aitkenhead said.
This is another the reason students keep going back. Most volunteers have mentioned that it’s not about going on a vacation with friends; it’s about helping others and experiencing an entirely different community and culture.
This is one thing that makes B3 different from an average vacation is not only the amount of work that gets done, but also the interaction with the local people.
“The best part is meeting the local community, and learning about their culture,” Spencer Adler ’11 said.
The cultural aspect of the trip is extremely important for students to connect with those they are helping. B3 students learn about themselves and some of the most valuable lessons in life, through the incredible connections and interactions with the children and native people.
“The people whose lives you are working to improve are always such interesting people with a lot of life. I think it is really important to get the experience of seeing how other people live and interact with each other,” Smith said.
Aitkenhead also mentioned that as an advisor he has had his own misconceptions about certain students, whom he didn’t think would put in the effort for all the hard work during the building. As the week progressed this student became one of the hardest workers he had known.
“I don’t know of any other experience besides B3 that can achieve such a dramatic and valuable transformation. When I saw that take place, I understood what B3 was really all about,” Aitkenhead said.
The experience students take from B3 is undeniable, whether it may be providing service to an impoverished community, learning about a different culture, or awareness of oneself.
“It changes their lives and gives them a unique and valuable new perspective of our world. They realize that the world is bigger than this Westport bubble, and more importantly, they realize that they have within them the power to better our world,” Aitkenhead said.
For B3 trips to be successful, students need to work hard. The result is a new understanding of the world, through an experience they will never forget.
“One thing I can say about B3 is that it is hard work, but it is fun work because everyone helping knows that at the end of the long, hot days, what we are doing is helping other people,” Smith said.
