A Masai warrior standing guard outside. Intense heat and no running water. Sleeping in empty classrooms, hostels, or an extra room in a tour-guide’s castle-house. Last summer, students traveled to Africa and Central America to volunteer in rural communities and learn about their cultures.

Senior Jack Adams spent 17 days in Tanzania with a group called Rustic Pathways this summer, teaching English and doing construction for a school.

One of the construction projects was building a house for a new teacher in the school.

“The way it works is the government assigns teachers to the schools, but they only assign them if the school has proper boarding,” Adams said. “The kids live in the local area, but the teachers don’t necessarily come from around there so the school needs to provide housing.”

While they were renovating the house, Adams and his group got a chance to mingle with the local children who attended the school.

“The kids were pretty wild,” Adams said. “They have a lot of energy, probably because a lot of the teachers there don’t show up for class that day or they let the kids just run loose. They seemed to spend more time running around than in class.”

Adams’ group slept on mattresses in one of the empty classrooms of the school they were working on. There was no running water and no bathrooms.

“I recommend this to anyone who’s willing to rough it for a couple of weeks,” Adams said.

Adams cites the interactions he had with the locals as the most impactful experience of his trip.

“Some of the stories I heard from some of the natives – they were really meaningful for me,” Adams said.

Sophomore Olivia Tefft also came away with fond memories of the people she met on her service trip. She spent two weeks in Costa Rica, working on a school in a place called Playa del Coco.

“We built a principal’s office, an English classroom, and basketball hoops for the kids,” Tefft said. “We also started laying down turf for a field.”

Tefft went on this trip with a group called Global Leadership Adventures, and said that the annual Mexico Trip that PHS students participate in inspired her to continue doing service.

“I got to do some tutoring in English, and the kids taught me a lot of Spanish,” Tefft said. “They would sometimes bring us popsicles from the local stand. They were so kind to us the whole time.”

Living conditions were more comfortable than the Mexico Trip. Tefft stayed in a hostel and was able to enjoyed running water and showers.

“The only challenge was the heat,” Tefft said. “It was really humid and hot, although that was only a minor drawback.”

She was also able to go on a couple of adventures while in Costa Rica.

“Once we went snorkeling and dolphins and sea turtles swam by us,” Tefft said.

Another one of the nights she was there, Tefft got to do a homestay with a local family.

“The mother was an artist and she showed me how to do all these things with beads.” Tefft said. “She wants to sell online.”

Tefft said that it was an amazing opportunity for her.

“I love traveling,” she said. “You have to step out of your comfort zone but in the end it’s really really fun.”

While Adams and Tefft went on two-week long trips, junior Sydney Boxer spent an entire month doing service in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zanzibar – a tropical island off the coast of Tanzania. She went with a group called Adventures Cross Country and worked on homes and taught English in schools in rural villages.

“My best memory was from the school,” Boxer said. “I made this little friend – his name was Ryla – and he held onto my hand for two days straight. And he made me this bracelet. If you meant a lot to someone there, they made you a bracelet and it was so cute.”

Boxer has come back with many remarkable memories including shucking corn in Snake Park – a campground in Tanzania that houses some of the country’s deadliest snakes.

“We got a whole tour of the park – there were massive snakes there, like cobras and deadly snakes,” Boxer said. “It was honestly kind of creepy.”

Boxer traveled by bus between countries, saying that the shortest bus ride they had was seven hours long.

“In Kenya they were super nice to us the whole time, but the first time we drove into Tanzania they threw rocks at our car,” Boxer said.

While working to integrate into the cultures surrounding her, Boxer also worked to improve living conditions of the people living there.

“We built a water catchment system for a family to catch rain because that’s the only water they can drink,” Boxer said. “It’s crazy because the water we use to flush a toilet once can be used by one person there for three days.”

They also built a solar panel and installed it on a house so the family could enjoy a single light bulb.

Boxer said that she learned valuable lessons about waste and resources while she was in Africa.

“I try to use only what’s needed now, which is what they have to do all the time,” Boxer said.

Boxer’s trip ended with a few beach days in Zanzibar, snorkeling and relaxing after a long month. Next summer, Boxer hopes to do another service trip in Australia and New Zealand.

Adams, Tefft, and Boxer had all done service trips before this summer, through other programs or through the local Piedmont Community Church. Though sometimes living can be a little rough while there, they all agreed that they would do it again.