My Story

by Michelle Curtin of Townson, Maryland

I can't tell you enough how grateful I am for the experience I had this summer. It changed my life. As Alliance for Youth Service volunteers in Fiji, our efforts resulted in 31 new bathrooms being built in the villages of Dranikula and Galoa, Fiji.

We became family with the people we worked with as we dug holes, mixed cement, made the foundation, nailed up the walls, attached a roof, built and plastered the septic tank, painted the outside, and put together the toilet and piping. One bathroom we built will go to serve a man named Romeo's and his family which includes his wife, two young sons, his brothers and sisters, his parents, his cousins and their children. 

I wish I could portray to you the gratitude I saw on my brother Romeo's face on the final day in Fiji. His eyes red with emotion, he thanked us for what we had done for his family. The people of Fiji are some of the most loving people I've ever met. 

– Michelle Curtin

I learned a lot about the connection between charity and love from my experience this summer. The village children would surround us while we were working just to spend time with us and they gave us gifts though they had very little to give. One village boy gave the shirt literally off his back to one of the boys in our group. I received an old battered book from my new friend Luggy, and one of the parents in our group received a stick from a young boy who had nothing else to give. These gifts are priceless.