'Amongst other activities, students will have the opportunity to participate in the work of a youth-run radio station, an HIV/AIDS project and a women’s rights movement.'

In her latest Email from Central America Holly Bruford gets to lead 16 high school students into the remote northern mountains of El Salvador.

This month I have left rural farm life on the scorched southern plains of Nicaragua for the green mountain state of Vermont, USA. Peace and quiet and woodland trails replace dusty roads and deforestation.

I am here to be prepped for my latest venture: to lead 16 high school students into the remote northern mountains of El Salvador with the aim to inspire, mentor and counsel them through their ‘Global Awareness in Action’ programmers designed by Putney Student Travel.

In the US, as in the UK, community service trips to Third World countries have become a popular summer option over the past decade. The students, aged between 16 and 18 and usually from a more affluent background, are inspired by the desire to help others but also, in some cases, by the added edge it gives a university application form.

‘Students do good, look good abroad - but some colleges question motives’ was a front page article of The Boston Globe this week. The article commented that despite the perception that overseas experience looks good on university applications, local admissions officers suggest that if a student has no record of community service other than one expensive travel experience, the trip could be viewed as an empty gesture. Harvard University stated “We are very sophisticated in telling the difference between students who are genuinely ambitious and motivated and those who do things just for their applications.” (The Boston Globe 22.06.06)

A genuine desire from the students will be an integral part of the success of the programme I will be leading this summer. Putney Student Travel stipulates clearly that participants need to be flexible and creative, responsible and participative, and demonstrate the ability to meet new challenges. In El Salvador we will be staying in the mountain village of Santa Marta, where living conditions will be extremely basic, food options minimal and mod-cons nonexistent.

The aim of the ‘Global Awareness in Action’ programme is to foster local friendships, recognise the challenges facing developing nations, and learn how to approach such problems with regard to policy and action. Having fled to neighbouring Honduras during the civil war of the 1980s the community of Santa Marta is now inhabited by former refugees who have since returned and are working to rebuild their lives. Amongst other activities, students will have the opportunity to participate in the work of a youth-run radio station, an HIV/AIDS project and a women’s rights movement.

Putney Student Travel takes particular care with the student and leader selection process, looking for a group who will bond and work well together, rising to each new challenge as it comes along.

For my part, the challenges this experience will present are far from the common cultural differences often encountered in initial travel to the developing world. After two years in Central America I feel more comfortable shopping in the local markets of Managua than I do in the shopping malls of Massachusetts. I know what to eat and what not to eat. Crossing roads, jumping on buses, bartering down prices are all situations I am confident I can steer my students through.

As co-leader, best friend, adopted parent, big sister, teacher, confidant, role model and authoritative figure for the next six weeks, my challenge will be to ensure these students experience a genuine personal growth and return home with a maturity, self-confidence and sensitivity that rises far above the need for an entry on a future application form.

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