By Tanner D. Nypen ’15
THE ROUNDUP

Fifteen students along with several teachers traveled to the village of La Hacienda, El Salvador this past summer and stayed there for about a week.

This was part of the El Salvador immersion trip.

Mr. Tim Broyles said this past journey marked the 10th anniversary from the start back in 2004.

“In November of that year, 2003, he (Brett Huneycutt ’99) called me up and said, I know this great group and I want to start a Brophy El Salvador trip,” Mr. Broyles said.

Mr. Broyles said that the trip leaves him with a feeling of gratitude.

“I feel nothing but gratitude for this whole experience, I feel gratitude for the work I have been able to do with Brophy students. … The fact that we have had this pilgrimage and journey together fills my life with meaning and brings me a great sense of joy,” Mr. Broyles said.

Calvin Higgins ’15 was one of the students who attended the trip this past summer.

“Our goal is to go down there and be with the Salvadoran People, not to be the white knight saviors but to be more of there with them in comradery and solidarity,” Higgins said.

Brian Loh ’15 said despite traveling into a poverty stricken area, there was never a lack of friendship or love.

“This trip really challenges all of us to live more authentically, to give what we can when we have it,” Loh said. “Whether that just be our company or material things that we have.”

Anand Swaminathan ’15 said that his viewpoints changed after the trip.

“If you go to El Salvador and you live with these people who suffer through utter poverty, you are almost forced to look back on your life,” Swaminathan said. “And you realize that what you hold important, what you consider valuable about yourself, those are extremely, extremely insignificant in terms of this greater context of poverty in the world.”

Mr. Broyles said the change in perspective among the students who attended is something he hopes for everyone who goes on the trip.

“There is now a sense of urgency about the issues people face in the world that may not have been apparent before,” Mr. Broyles said.

“I know that their eyes were opened to the reality of the poor, the reality of war, and the reality of Jesus Christ, working through the Salvadoran church.”

To learn more about the trip and the work being done in El Salvador visit the Office of Faith and Justice.