Key Event #2: Danli, Honduras

The second event that influenced my outlook on leadership would be the trip to Honduras I took during my sophomore year of college. I had the privilege to go to Danli, Honduras with a group of people from my church to outreach to the community and help with some things around their town and church. It was very interesting to see the differences in the styles of leadership that they used there versus the leadership that we use. When visiting some of the schools, we were able to sit in on some of the teachings while our translators helped us understand what was being taught. They learned in a similar way, but the leaders made it so much more interactive than I remember learning when I was in elementary school. They also have large classes with children of all ages, so the teachers have to be able to lead differently when talking to each individual student. It was so encouraging to see these people who are so much less fortunate than me, use so many skills that I had learned about in my classes up to that point. They implemented, whether intentionally or not, many team dynamic skills so that the kids would be able to work well together. My trip to Honduras was during spring break of 2020, so it was really the last interaction I had in person before we were restricted to our homes for such a long time. That allowed me a lot of time for reflections and thought on the different types of leadership that I saw there and how I could implement those into my life. One thing that had really stuck with me is the way that they were able to lead to the best of their abilities with very few resources. It showed how much they wanted to lead those kids and how they had the kid’s best interest in mind all of the time! I want to be the type of leader who will go above and beyond to show someone that I too have their best interest in mind and that I want to support them even if I don’t have the correct resources to do so.