39 people. One week. Antigua, Guatemala.

Tom Florent spent the first week of June working with his fellow youth group members from his church, Emanuel Episcopal Church, to help people living in poverty in Guatemala.

For the first three days, the group built eight houses, each with enough room to fit six people. The group worked with an organization called The God’s Child Project, which is based in Guatemala.

“We built a house with one of [The God’s Child Project’s] workers,” Florent said. “It was about sixteen by nine feet and had a concrete floor, roof and locking door.”

Florent said the concrete floor was a big deal because many children in Guatemala fall ill due to insects and diseases which thrive among dirt floors.

The area in which the houses were built was in a poverty-stricken part of the city. Florent said The God’s Child Project is trying to rid the city of poverty.

“It was really eye-opening,” Florent said. “[The poverty] wasn’t necessarily hard to experience because we were there to help these people.”

Then, they worked at the headquarters of The God’s Child Project located in downtown Antigua. There, they did a clothing drop in a nearby city where they distributed four pieces of clothing to each family waiting in line.

After that, they had a vegetable drop, where farmers who do not deem their vegetables fit to be sold in stores sold them to The God’s Child Project for a lower price. Then, the group distributed the food to families in need.

Florent said his strongest memory from the trip was when he did the hardest thing in his life on the campus of the Dreamer Center at their Malnourished Infant Center. Here, they keep about 20 malnourished infants and nurse them back to health.

Florent said the infants’ parents feed them coffee beans which have no nutritional value.

“We did have to feed them,” Florent said. “The hardest thing I’ve ever done is having to force formula down a baby’s mouth. It’s a hard thing to go through.”

Florent’s happy memory from the Malnourished Infant Center was with a one of the babies he was holding.

“I held a four-month, five-pound baby and he was smiling,” Florent said. “When I was holding him he couldn’t stop smiling. He was so bright.”

Florent left his life-changing experience in Guatemala after a week. Florent said he was put in his place after seeing how those in poverty live.

“If you get the chance do it in a heartbeat because it’s so rewarding,” Florent said. “It’s something you’ll carry with you the rest of your life.”

Brother from another mother

Senior profile: Grace Randolph

Girls Dreaming Big