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Each year since 2003, we have hosted a team of students from Centre Wellington District High School in Fergus, Ontario Canada who come to build playgrounds. This annual trip is inspired by a young man who died after a cycling accident in the fall of 2002. Before he died, Jacob Vosburgh was determined to take a mission trip from his high school. In the spring of 2003, they came and built "Jacob's Dream", a playground on the property of a church in the nearby village of Cacao.
Since that first trip, the teams have returned each year to build playgrounds in neighborhoods all over this part of Honduras. They see the playground as a "way to draw kids to a positive and safe place, to the feeding centers (run through local churches) or to schools and away from the influence of gangs".
The teams are led by Jacob's mother, Anne-Marie Vosburgh and initially worked under the direction of Jacob's former football coach, the late Bob Nickling who passed away in 2006. Bob was in inspiration to the kids in many ways. The competition to be part of the team is tough. They receive upward to 250 applicants each year, to fill 20 spots on the team. While no students are allowed to come on more than one trip, many of the former members have made it back after graduation, as adult leaders.
The philosophy of the team is: Once students are given the opportunity to reach out to others in another country, they realize that they can truly have an impact. Helping others no longer seems to be "out there", or out of reach, or an impossible task. For the rest of their lives, students will know helping anyone, anywhere is their responsibility, not something to be left to someone else" |
