Reflection

I never felt confident to be able to participate in any type of group activity at the university when I lived in Peru, because I was too embarrassed to talk to people I didn't know, but I was encouraged to sign up for the Alternative Fall Break because one of the important issues for me, which was access to health and mental health resources for the Latino community.

I learned so much during those three days. It was a topic that I have felt concern about and it was a surprise for me to meet people who care about the same issue as me, who want to make a change, be part of it and not just spectators. It was nice to meet them, share our stories regarding the subject, share the information we had, exchange opinions and above all share the experiences we had when we learned that the subject of mental health was classified as "prohibited from speaking in public" in our countries.

It was great to find a support group where we all understood what we were talking about; people who understand the conflict that one feels when having to accept that, despite the fact that we love our cultures, there are problems that have been present for many generations, the stigma that there is about mental health in Latin American countries and how that has influenced that we have long believed that mental health is not important.

I learned that I can contribute a lot to my community with "little", that there are a variety of resources that are accessible to the Latino community and that we can even contribute to making them even more accessible, and that we can share information about them with our community, because although these resources are incredible, there is no diffusion in the media that they deserve.

I consider that these types of activities are valuable for the training of students, it helps them to learn more about the problem, to have a complete vision of it; it helps us learn how we can be part of the change we want to see in our community and helps us connect with people who also want to be part of the change.

Spending time learning about all the valuable resources out there, and ways we can help keep them going and make them even more accessible to people, was a great experience for me. Being able to help, even a little in some projects, felt incredible, something as simple as translating information or even sharing it in a conversation with family or friends contributes a lot, what we often think is nothing, is everything for others.