Humans of GSU: Eloise Orr

“The Governors State University Public Health Brigade was the greatest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve never experienced that kind of joy before. It was travel with a purpose.

I was one of four Spanish speakers in a group of about 20 GSU students on a trip to Nicaragua in 2018. You leave as a bunch of people who don’t know really each other and you come back as a family.

We were in these small villages, building showers and latrines for people who lived there. They never had running water. This one woman, whose grandson I played with, was so grateful. She had never taken a shower in her life! Can you imagine that?

The people were really wonderful. They had so little, yet they were so easy-going, so loving, and so appreciative of everything we did. Here, we have so much, but some people can be bitter and crabby. It really put things into perspective.

Every place we went, I always wound up playing with kids. You don’t think you can fall in love that quickly, but you can.”

— Eloise Orr, graduate student, Masters of Health Science  #HumansofGSU