My last name, Gweth, means “blessing” in Luo, one of the tribes in Kenya where I was born. I’ve always liked that meaning. This meaning became more alive to me in April 2025, when I traveled to Guatemala with School the World.

The Airport is My Favorite Place

I know it may sound weird to some people, but the airport really is my favorite place. Ever since moving from Kisumu to Massachusetts in first grade, I’ve loved traveling. Every year, my mom and I go back to Kenya to visit family. It’s always been our thing. As an only child, we do pretty much everything together.

So when I heard about the School the World trip through the Ron Burton Training Village (RBTV) , a program that I attend every summer, I was immediately excited. A friend had gone the year before, and when she told me about it, I knew I wanted to go too. I’ve always loved helping people, especially kids. I want to go into pediatrics when I’m older, so any opportunity to work with children is something I jump at.

At RBTV, we focus on four guiding pillars: love, peace, patience, and humility. We also learn discipline, perseverance, and how to put God first, others second, and ourselves third. During our three-week camp, we have no phones or technology at all. Every morning we wake up at 4:30 to run seven miles. It’s tough, but it teaches us that we’re capable of more than we think, especially when we encourage each other along the way.

Through RBTV’s partnership with School the World, I was able to fundraise for a service trip. When I found out I could go to Guatemala, I was excited. The only thing that worried me was traveling without my mom. We’ve always traveled together, so going to a new country without her was definitely on my mind. But I was going with friends I trusted, so that helped.

They Had Our Names on Posters

When we finally arrived in Guatemala and got to the community, any nervousness I felt went away pretty quickly. The kids ran up to us with huge smiles, hugged us, and held our hands. They had made posters with our names on them. They didn’t even know us yet, but they were just so happy. Their joy came from simple things—kindness, love, being together as a community.

One of the most impactful experiences was visiting a family’s home to learn about their daily life. The family had seven kids, and their father had been in an accident and couldn’t work much anymore. The mother did most of the work—cooking, caring for the children, managing the household. She showed me how she cooks for her entire family and explained how her older kids help when she’s busy.

That day, I realized how truly blessed I am. I saw how much they do with so little, and how grateful they are for every small thing. It made me realize that I need to focus less on what I don’t have and more on what I do have, because every little thing counts.

One boy, in particular, I still remember. I met him on the day the community cooked food for us. He offered me water, which was kind of him, but we weren’t allowed to drink the water they provided. I had to say no thank you, and he told me he had stomach problems. Even though we had a language barrier and I could only understand about half of what he was saying, we connected. He would come up to me every day. Being able to talk with him and comfort him, even when we couldn’t fully understand each other’s words, showed me that you don’t need perfect communication to care about someone.

We built a playground during our week there. The kids got more and more excited as we put it together. My friends and I would joke around while we worked, and the kids would laugh even when they didn’t understand our words. At the end of each day, when it was time to go back to the hotel, none of us really wanted to leave.

Eye-Opening

“Eye-opening” is the phrase that comes to mind when I think about my experience with School the World.

When I came home and my mom asked how it was, I told her about the kids’ joy, about the family who taught me about humility and gratitude. Out of RBTV’s four pillars—love, peace, patience, and humility—humility stood out to me most during the trip. It reminds us to be thankful and to never take what we have for granted.

The experience changed me in ways I’m still figuring out. I’m a senior at Canton High School now, and I recently got accepted to Boston University where I’ll be majoring in health science. A year ago, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to go on my senior trip to Florida without my mom. But after Guatemala, I feel more comfortable being independent. I went to a whole other country without constantly texting her. We’re still really close, but I’ve definitely gained more confidence.

More than that, Guatemala reinforced what I want to do with my life. I’ve always wanted to go into pediatrics, and now I can see myself working in a different country someday, continuing this kind of work.

At the end of our trip, my friends and I talked about wishing we could stay another week. We had just finished building the playground, and we wanted to see the kids play on it. We had just gotten comfortable, and then it was time to leave.

A Blessing to Pay Forward

I want to say thank you to everyone who makes trips like this possible—to the donors who funded the scholarship that allowed me to go, to the leaders at both School the World and RBTV, and to everyone who supports these programs. Because of you, I got to see what real humility and strength look like.

I hope more students get the same chance I had—to go out into the world, serve others, and come back with a different perspective. I’m glad I got this experience at my age because I know it’s going to shape how I see the world moving forward.

My name means “blessing,” and Guatemala taught me what that really means. It’s not just about what you have—it’s about what you notice, what you’re grateful for, and the connections you make.

Katherine Gweth is a 12th grader from Canton, Massachusetts, originally from Kisumu, Kenya. She participated in School the World’s Guatemala service trip in April 2025 through the Ron Burton Training Village program. She will be attending Boston University in Fall 2026, where she plans to major in health science with aspirations of working in pediatrics.