United Planet’s Lessons Are for Parents, Too

Twenty-five years ago a trek through the spectacular Cordillera Huaywash, a valley in the Peruvian Andes, changed the entire trajectory of my life. It led me to adopt three beautiful girls from South America and to embrace the culture and language of their birth countries.

So you can imagine what it meant to me when one of my daughters, during a Gap Year from college, chose to travel to Peru on her own journey of self-discovery. I couldn’t wait for her to be enchanted by the ancient Incan city of Cuzco and fascinated by the weavers living on small islands of reeds in Lake Titicaca.

I was also anxious to let my daughter travel solo half a world away. I was relieved when I discovered United Planet had every detail and contingency covered — from flights and travel insurance, to greeters and homestays, to community service sites, to in-country directors and excursions — even to cooking classes with other students!

Everything went smoothly until Mari had difficulty breathing. She couldn’t summon the energy to work at the children’s home or to join the sightseeing tours. She was experiencing altitude sickness at 11,000 feet, which for some foreigners lasts merely a day, but for Mari wouldn’t abate. Sabrina, United Planet’s competent and well-connected Peru Country Director checked Mari into a hospital for monitoring and oxygen. After eight days with little improvement, Mari chose to go to a lower elevation.Sabrina accompanied her on the two-hour drive to the Sacred Valley and helped her select a wonderful bed and breakfast with a young couple who treated Mari like a family member. Although she was not able to complete her community service, she learned about the hospitality of strangers and exhibited a new level of resilience. She visited the mystical ruins of Machu Pichu and watched children play and dance in brilliant tasseled costumes. She walked the dusty road into town, shopped for food in the indigenous market, and breathed in the air of her ancestors.

Needless to say, I was tempted to jump on a plane when Mari went into the hospital (and I would not have minded another trip to Peru!) But it was abundantly clear that United Planet’s staff in Cuzco and Boston were completely capable of adjusting her program and caring for her needs. I learned an important lesson, too: my Mari can bravely and gracefully face her own challenges without me.

Next she was off to Nepal, another land of great enchantment and monumental disparities. This time she traveled with and lodged with close family friends but was matched by United Planet to a primary school in Kathmandu.

On Mari’s first “observation” day she was greeted warmly by the school principal, led to a classroom of 30 four to six year old boys and girls, positioned before a blackboard with a piece of chalk, and instructed to teach for the day! I would have panicked – – but not Mari! Thinking quickly on her feet, with poise and calm, she captured the attention of the wriggling and giggling children by teaching them how to draw dogs! With their single pencils and pieces of paper scratching on rough hewn tables, the children sketched along with her. For the next three weeks children dashed into her classroom, eager for her drawing lessons, and Mari discovered she has a gift for working with children. (Of course, this is exactly what I had predicted!)

Mari will return to her Sophomore year of college a new woman: more confident, more resilient, more self-aware. What more could a parent wish for?

— Karen Keating Ansara

Join us to learn  more about volunteer opportunities abroad with United Planet!