Hill Tribe Orphanage

I have learned from a very positive experience that community service can not only be extremely rewarding, but also highly enjoyable. Last summer I traveled with a high school travel program, Rustic Pathways, for a month over the summer in Thailand. I spent the trip split up between two places: Mae Seariang and the Elephant Conservation Center. For the majority of my trip, I lived in an orphanage in a tiny village in the mountains of northern Thialand called Mae Seariang . I spent my mornings teaching the tiniest kindergardeners the Enlgish alphabet and language. In the afternoon, my group of six girls led by counselors from the states and native Thai counselors, would participate in projects to improve the school and the orphanage (such as planting a garden for fruits and vegetables). Although we would dread the projects at the start (because it was over 90 degrees and there was no a.c anywhere), we would always end up laughing and having fun. The boys at the orphanage were all teenagers that were recently (in the past few years) orphaned from the conflict in Burma. It always amazed me how optimistic these boys were and how fun and silly they could be to hang out with, given many of their situations. On certain afternoons when we would finish service projects and teaching early, we would go help out or visit local buddhas and temples. The temples were filled with statues of buddhist gods, and long stairs adorned in tiles and crystal, that I would forget I was in a religious center. The temples were the most gorgeous areas that I have ever seen. I even got to medidate with the monks when we finished cleaning up trash at the various temples. My favorite service project, however, was definetly planting rice at the orphanage. All of my group was hesitant at first to step hip deep into muddy water where crabs would often poke through, but after getting used to it a days worth of planting, our entire bodies were covered in mud from numerous mud fights. I still had mud in my scalp three days later! Our counselors told us after that the rice that we had planted would last the orphanage into October (4 months)! I learned service could be extremely fun if you and your friends make it that way. Overall, the trip taught me that giving another person or community a lending hand is more rewarding than anything else imaginable. I would give anything to go back and do it all over again.

Who Am I?

I am Hilary Eliza Kritz. I am a senior in high school, so my work at school, and relationships with friends and family pretty much define who I am. My friends are probably the biggest influences in my life because I choose to spend a lot of my free time with them because they can make me laugh. My parents also have a huge influence in my life obviously because they have raised me and have always been there for various reasons that range from silly things to very important reasons.

Silence can be very awkward sometimes, but other times it seems totally normal. A silence is awkward when you aren't completely comfortable with someone. I travel from one building to another building with someone who I had classes with last year. It is in the middle of a period because it is an AP science class, so the hallways are nearly silent. When there is silence, it is a bit awkward because we don't know each other very well. We talk about Chemistry the majority of the time but when Chemistry topics run out we make "small talk" to fill the air in an attempt to prevent an awkward silence. On the other hand, I can sit next to one of my friends for a while without saying anything, yet it feels totally normal. We do not feel the need to fill the air with words to prevent awkwardness because it is only normal to need a break from speaking after spending all day with someone.