Loewenstern Fellowship Envelope #12

Open 1 week after the conclusion of your service

Write a letter to Mr. Walter Loewenstern, the donor responsible for funding your service experience.  This letter is to be delivered electronically to Mac Griswold (griswold@rice.edu), no later than 2 weeks after the conclusion of your service.

Dear Mr. Loewenstern,

Thank you so much for providing this fellowship.  My name is David Wang, and I am going to be a senior at Rice, studying Linguistics and Biochemistry.  I went to Cochabamba, Bolivia for 10 weeks this summer, to work at two orphanages, one for children with special needs, and for children mostly without special needs.  It was undoubtedly one of my most defining times of my life, and I know I will look back and marvel at how life-changing this first step has been.

Before being accepted to be a Loewenstern fellow, I knew I wanted to go to a Latin American country and see if perhaps in the future, I could live there or work there.  However, I didn't want to study abroad; I wanted an experience that could seriously mirror the experience that I would have if I were to go and live there.  During the 10 weeks that I spent in Bolivia, I had many different personal confirmations that this was just the beginning of my experiences in Latin America.  I am already planning on going back next summer, and continuing the friendships that I've made in Bolivia.  I see myself taking a couple months from every other year in the future (or perhaps even moving down there for a few years) to serve in Bolivia, using my future career plan (becoming a physician) to help out where I can.  We'll see if I can actually follow-through with that, but I really hope I will.

I even got to become good friends with the nephew of the four-time ex-mayor of the city I was in, who was also the ex-governor of the state I was in and the runner-up to the current Bolivian President in the last election.  His uncle is running again for presidency in 2014, and so might even become the President in 2015.  Perhaps I will be able to help effect some change then on a larger scale.

None of this could have happened without your generosity and donation to create the fellowship.  It's donors like you and fellowships like this that inspire me to also be generous with my time and money.  I can't wait to donate back to this fellowship to continue what you've started.  My time in Bolivia has been priceless to me.  Thank you again.

Sincerely,
David Wang