Petersen inspired by summer service trip to Vietnam

Chad Peters - RattlerAthletics.com

SAN ANTONIO — Hannah Petersen heard stories of how difficult it would be to say goodbye to her new friends in Vietnam after a near month-long stay of service in the country last summer.

"You're going to be crying," Petersen recalls being told by fellow camp instructors at every turn. "You're not going to want to leave."

Petersen, a junior on the St. Mary's Women's Tennis team, was in Vietnam for three weeks last July and August volunteering for a service learning program called "Coach for College," which pairs American student-athletes and Vietnamese university students to teach academics, sports and life skills to disadvantaged children in rural Vietnam.

As her time to return home neared, Petersen thought she would escape the grief countless others had felt upon leaving.

That was, at least, until her last day finally arrived.

"It hit me really, really hard," Petersen said. "The kids make the most delicate little gifts for you. A lot of them wrote letters to us. After giving us those gifts, they're just standing there, sobbing. They're hugging us and won't let go, holding on so tight.

"It makes you realize how much of impact you can have on someone's life."

Petersen, a Greehey Scholar and President's Ambassador at St. Mary's, knew she had entered a different world as soon as she landed in the Hau Giang Provence, located in the southern part of Vietnam along the Mekong Delta region.

Responsible for teaching eighth and ninth graders at her camp, she was immediately struck by the condition of the school and surrounding homes.

"There were broken windows everywhere, no air conditioning, wasp nests all over the place," recalled Petersen of the school. "Complete chaos."

The nearby homes were in similar disrepair, featuring palm leaves, banana leaves and tin roofs, and hammocks and wooden pallets inside. One such home, with five-foot-high metal sheets and curtains stapled together to form walls, was attached to the tennis court where Petersen would practice the sport with the children.

"Here we are whacking tennis balls into their living room," said Petersen, whose trip was made possible by the gracuious support of numerous St. Mary's faculty and staff. "Yet the family didn't care. They had a little girl that would come to the court every day with this big smile on her face."

No matter the children's circumstances, smiles abounded. This, more than anything, left an impact on Petersen.

Most of the children knew little English, requiring the Vietnamese university students to assist as translators as Petersen and other American student-athletes attempted to teach the children a school subject, a sport and life skills. But even with this language barrier in place, lifelong bonds were formed.

"Every day the kids would show up to our guest house on bikes, and offer us rides on the back of their bikes," said Petersen, who remains in contact with several of the children through social media. "Little memories like that. You could see the impact on some of their lives very tangibly."

Petersen's three weeks in Vietnam were meant to help others. But she returned home better off, as well.

"It showed me what it means to someone just to give them your time," Petersen said. "The simple value of time. It made me re-prioritize what's most important. Is it about going through life and having an income? Or is it about impacting people's lives?

"To be able to bring that back, and have that on the top of my mind — that people are the most important thing we have."