About Peyton
Peyton went to Guatemala with Impact Global Health Alliance Global in 2012 and 2013 with her classmates from Fayetteville Academy High School. Now Peyton is a freshman at the Colorado School of Mines studying Civil Engineering with a minor in Humanitarian Engineering. Peyton plans to pursue a career in a NGO where she can travel and do on-site visits for engineering projects.
During her volunteer expeditions to Guatemala, Peyton and her team worked alongside Community Health Workers weighing and administering immunizations to babies, and providing vitamins to new mothers. During their two visits the teams completed the construction of a privacy wall at the Casa Materna in Calhuitz. They also laid the foundation for another Casa Materna in Pett. Their impact will touch the lives of those in the community for years to come and we could not be more proud to recognize Peyton as one of our star volunteers.
Q: Peyton, why did you decide to become a volunteer with Impact Global Health Alliance Global?
Peyton: The students that went the year before me talked about what an amazing experience it was. Hence, I decided to go to the information session. A lot of people told me that they couldn’t see me going because I was too girly and high maintenance, but I really wanted to prove them wrong. Also the volunteer expeditions gave me a chance to have an experience that many people don’t get to have.
Q: What is one thing that you learned about yourself, or about the world, during your volunteer experience?
Peyton: I think that my favorite thing that I took away from the volunteer experience is a better insight of how to change the world. Before we went to bed every night, we would always have a small discussion on the real problems in Guatemala. Our discussions range from the sustainability of development to healthcare. A lot of humanitarian “aid” nowadays just drops in and gives communities what they think they need and leave. Impact Global Health Alliance taught me that in order to solve a problem, we must provide a lasting solution. I felt inadequate spending such a short amount of time helping promote this sustainability—that’s why I’ve decided to make this sort of work into my career.
Q: What sort of impact did volunteering in Guatemala have on your life, or decisions that you have made?
Peyton: Volunteering in Guatemala and working with Impact Global Health Alliance is responsible for the direction my life is heading now. Without the guidance of Andrew, or my experiences in Guatemala, I don’t think I could have ever even considered working in the humanitarian sector. After my trips, I was actually planning on taking a year or two off from school to join the Peace Corps or volunteer abroad. However, I decided that I could help a lot more with an engineering degree than without one. Even though the majority of my time spent right now isn’t dedicated to volunteering, I still get to occasionally work with Habitat for Humanity in Denver and the Engineers Without Borders chapter on campus!
Q: What is your favorite memory from volunteering in Guatemala?
Peyton: Learning about the native culture and interacting with the locals is one of the most satisfying parts of volunteering. One of my favorite memories is from the first time I went to Guatemala—around 50 kids from Calhuitz followed our team and the women of the Casa Materna to watch a soccer game in a mushroom field on the side of a mountain about a half an hour walk away. Not long after the game started it started to pour and we ran back to the village, following the kids into a flood. We and all of our stuff were soaking wet by the time we got back. Nonetheless, it was totally worth it, seeing how amused the kids and even the adults in Calhuitz were by the wet gringos.
Q: Do you have any favorite pictures of the trip? If so, why are they your favorite?
This picture is from my first Guatemala trip. We all bonded with Doña Chiki’s, daughter, Marisol, but not as much as my friend Jack. It’s such an adorable picture and has a neat follow-up story, all the returning volunteers got to see Marisol again last summer when we dropped Doña Chiki off and headed to the airport! It was such a great reunion! (Photo below)
Jack is reunited with his friend Marisol on their trip in 2013.
This one is of my best friends, Ande, and our little buddies Pascual, Junio, and Junio. We met these wonderful kids our first summer in Guatemala and had to chase them down for about an hour to get this picture with them.
Q: Do you have any advice for someone who is considering becoming a volunteer?
Peyton: Do it! Even if you don’t end up in a career having to do with humanitarianism or non-profit work, volunteering abroad with Impact Global Health Alliance Global will change your perspective on everything and bring you a whole new way of thinking that can help in so many other aspects of life.
See Guatemala through Peyton’s eyes in a video she made of the trip below
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