Skip to main content
GrowthHonduras

Honduras Series Part 2: Help

Imagine this, you’re struggling with a task and someone notices. That person asks you if you need help. How do you usually respond?

“No. I’m fine.”

Right?

I’ve said it more times than I’m proud of. Many times I really did need help, but I wouldn’t accept it. Many, if not all, of us have been there.

“I don’t need your help. I can do it on my own.” It comes from a place of pride.

Whether it’s help with homework, help getting over a broken relationship, or just help with a heavy object, there’s a fear of admitting you need help. It’s natural.

The acceptance of help is often confused as weakness. Receiving help may make you feel like you aren’t enough. This is where the problem lies.

Is it a stretch to say that, by accepting the help you need, you are strong?

No One is Forced to Accept Help

A few weeks ago, a group of 15 UCI students including myself, traveled to Honduras through Global Engineering Brigades to begin the developmental stages of a gravitational water system. We visited the communities of El Cerro, Los Hatillos 1, Los Hatillos 2, Familias Unidas, and El Juncillo.

The community members accepted us into their respective communities and into their homes with smiles and open arms.

They accepted our willingness to help.

They overcame the mental barriers of pride and ego.

They looked to the future and knew that they must accept help if they want to improve their communities and their lives–their childrens’ lives.

You might be thinking “Of course they’re going to accept your help. They’re poor. They don’t have resources.”

Wrong. There have been communities in the past who did not want the help of Global Brigades and if these communities had said no to us, we would have let them be. We do not force our desire to help onto them, we ask and they accept.

The Power of Accepting Help

While these people happily accepted our help in order to improve their lives, how could I be so prideful to decline help in my own life?

Millennials, with our grand visions and large ambitions, often feel the need to prove ourselves, to show that we can do things all on our own, and we often push assistance away.

However, like how our group wanted to help the communities grow and flourish and just as you want to help others, your friends want to help you succeed.

Let them.

To deny help would be ignorant and egotistic. It wouldn’t make sense. If someone has the same vision as you, why wouldn’t you accept his help in making that vision become a reality?

If receiving help meant making a vision become a reality, why would you deny it? How do you benefit by saying no?

I experienced this first hand. I needed help funding my trip to go to Honduras. I was very hesitant to ask for help. I could’ve taken a loan or just put it on my credit card (that would’ve been stupid). But I asked my friends. I asked you for help. And you gladly helped me. You helped me make the trip happen.

Imagine a world where we happily accepted help from each other. Imagine the possibilities. Imagine all of our goals become successes.

Imagine a group of people who change the world together.

We just need to give and accept help.

Let me know if I can help you with anything.

David