Senior Elizabeth Garzon returned to school after an incredible mission trip in Haiti. Throughout her volunteer work, she gave her time and effort to provide care and treatment for young children.

Garzon traveled to Gonïaves, Haiti with an organization called Mission: Haiti. The organization is Haitian-based and provides people with the chance to reach out to the less fortunate. This year, Garzon was offered the opportunity to volunteer alongside her mother, who has worked with this organization four times.

Garzon’s trip was a medical mission. The volunteers set up clinics in areas of Haiti where people did not have easy access to hospitals. In these clinics, the volunteers gave care and treatment, free of charge, to those in need.

Garzon worked with the young children in the clinic. On average, 200-300 children passed through the doors each day and received medicine for a worm parasite. In addition to the worm medicine, the children were given a month’s supply of supplement vitamins used in place of a meal. Garzon also taught the children personal hygiene so they would know how to properly care for themselves. The ultimate goal was to change lives and through this lead the Haitian people to Christ.

Working with the children provided many rewarding moments. Garzon’s favorite part was watching the children receive new clothes. Many of the children arrived at the clinic naked or with tattered clothing. Others were wearing clothes that were either too big or too small and some of the children did not own shoes. The clinic provided new attire that the parents were able to pick out for their son or daughter.

“Some of the parents started crying because they were so happy that their kid had clothes,” Garzon said.

The trip was not always filled with smiles and happy tears. There were also some very difficult moments for Garzon. The toughest part for her was having to accept the fact that she could not cure everyone that walked through the clinic’s doors.

“One kid came in and he had scoliosis. That’s something that you need a back brace or surgery to fix, and we couldn’t help him. We could only give him vitamins. Some other people had cataracts in their eye, so they were blind, and we couldn’t fix that. It was really frustrating to know that we couldn’t help them, but we did the best that we could.” Garzon said.

This mission trip taught Garzon many valuable and significant life lessons. In many ways, Garzon feels that she learned more while in Haiti than in any other point in her life.

“If you are planning on going on a mission trip, I would research it before you go and talk to your parents and the director. Most importantly, I would pray about it because it’s not for everyone,” Garzon said.

Garzon absolutely wants to attend another mission trip. She plans on volunteering again so she can help change even more lives in Haiti.