Kareena Dhillon
Online Features Editor
Mira Costa freshman Sam Pearman is working to construct a better future by traveling to India this summer and building a school for a local community.
Pearman will be flying to a community outside of Udaipur, India to carry out humanitarian projects including painting walls, building classrooms, or constructing an entire school. He will be traveling with his older sister, Costa junior India Pearman through the organization Me to We.
Me to We is an organization that allows teenagers to help fellow teenagers through their international trips to help better the lives of all children alike. Pearman has been on two trips through Me to We and will enjoy another this summer.
“Just because I was born into my family, I have certain privileges that others do not,” Pearman said. “It is hard to deal with the fact that in other countries the opportunity to go to school, have a source of clean water, a stable income, and a stable source of food is a privilege and not a right.”
Pearman has been on two previous trips with Me to We. In 2015 he went on his first trip to the Dominican Republic. He spoke spanish to locals and built strong relationships, which is important to the dynamic of the trip according to Pearman. Last year he went to Kenya for three weeks with the same organization.
Click here to look at photos of Pearman’s trip to Kenya.
“It just makes you put in that much more work ethic into what you are doing,” Pearman said. “You know that what you are doing and the effort being put in is going straight towards those kids you have built relationships with.”
The trip is through the organization Me to We which aims to connect volunteers with community members on development projects. They are centered around five pillars including education, water, food, health, and opportunity that will help to end the cycle of poverty. Me to We has trips to six different countries including India, Kenya, and Ecuador.
“We have been traveling our whole lives,” Pearman said. “Since we were little we have seen different cultures and struggles. By experiencing that and seeing such poverty, I have a natural need to go and help people like that.”
This year their group will consist of 20-30 volunteers aged around 13-19 years old. They will be working in conditions highly populated with mosquitoes and insects. Before trips it is suggested to get vaccines in order to avoid diseases prevalent in those areas. For Pearman, the yellow fever vaccine is recommended along with malaria pills that should be taken throughout the trip.
“I can’t sleep at night without doing something about it and helping others,” Pearman said. “That is my inspiration. My parents are also a big part of that because they used to travel. If it wasn’t for that then I wouldn’t have the same drive to do this.”
Visit this page for more information on youth volunteer trips.
Pearman and his sister are actively involved in the Me to We club at Costa. The club aims to raise money to build a classroom in Kenya. It was Me to We’s youth empowerment event, We Day, that inspired him to get involved said Pearman.
“Sam and India’s service trips are inspiring and I hope to be able to travel with them eventually,” Costa junior and Me to We co-president Grace Lauson said. “The work they are doing is truly making a big difference.”
In the future, Pearman plans on traveling around the world for two years after college. He would like to travel through Asia and Africa because of their unique cultures. Places such as Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Vietnam, to name a few, are on his list of to-do’s according to Pearman. His main goal is to travel and experience new things while also volunteering.
“I would love to travel the world because I believe that the experiences one can gain by doing so equal, if not outweigh, anything that someone can teach you in school,” Pearman said. “My parents did the same, and it is always something that I have wanted to do. They inspire me, in that sense, to help others and see the world.”
Leave a Reply