Services Trips Abound!

After dipping our proverbial toes into service trips last year, the School has jumped into the pool this year with three trips to various outposts around the world. The start of March Break has seen trips to Nicaragua, Swaziland, and Peru leave campus to go and preform various good works with charities in each of these countries. In Swaziland our students will be working with Swazikids (http://www.swazikids.org/) to build a secondary school in the village of Mkhweli on the low-veld. Students will also be touring the country and distributing food and clothing to elementary aged students in the area. In Peru, Brentwood students will go beyond the typical tourist route as they work closely with the Canadian charity, Mosqoy, to support its programs in the Andean mountains of Peru. This exciting trip combines sustainable sightseeing with off-the-beaten-track adventuring and a service-learning project that will make a positive impact on the lives of disadvantaged youth. Students will be exploring ancient Incan ruins, salt flats, and rural indigenous communities in the Sacred Valley, watch the sunrise at the Incan palace of Machu Picchu, one of the seven wonders of the world, as well as perhaps most importantly, renovating Casa Mosqoy as their service-learning project! In Nicaragua, students will be doing meaningful service work in the second poorest country in Central America. They will see what happens when local people work with volunteers to make a difference. The students will also sand-board down a volcano, play in the Pacific Ocean without a wetsuit and play with local children on the beach every day! As a school, we believe the benefits of this type of experience for our students are limitless. Students’ perceptions will be changed as they are exposed to different cultures and those in different socio-economic circumstances. Empathy will grow and the seeds of stewardship and charity will be planted for a lifetime. Better global citizenship benefits us all, on campus and beyond. Follow all the trips on twitter @BCSservicetrips and our Tours Blog http://tours.brentwood.bc.ca/all-tours-posts/