Teen Prepares for Sixth Volunteer Trip to Guatemala

Name: Stephanie Lockhart 

Age: 18 

School:

Accomplishment: This graduating senior has completed five solo trips to Guatemala, where she engaged in a variety of volunteer work with impoverished youth and their families.  

Key to Awesomeness: senior Stephanie Lockhart traveled to Guatemala for the first time when she was just 12 years old. She visited with a family friend, instead of with a volunteer organization, because she didn’t yet meet the age requirement held by such groups.  

When she finally became old enough to travel with missionary groups, Lockhart still opted to visit Guatemala on her own in order to fully immerse herself in the Guatemalan lifestyle.  

“I had spent time with a good amount of mission teams from all over America during my time in Guatemala and I always had the same impression—the team members often spent more time with each other than with the people they should be ministering to or getting to know,” Lockhart said, “When I went by myself I was able to almost live the life of a Guatemalan.”

Stephanie acknowledged that it’s impossible to ever completely live a native’s life, but she made every effort to speak Spanish whenever possible and follow Guatemalan customs during each of her five trips.  

During her first few visits to Guatemala, Lockhart volunteered at Casa Para Niños Aleluya, an orphanage housing over 400 children. At the orphanage she led Bible studies in the girls dormitories, prepared meals, cleaned facilities and helped out with other domestic tasks as needed.  

“As I got a little bit older I started to venture out of the orphanage into villages where I would help build churches and fix up rundown houses,” said Lockhart, who spent two months in Antigua, Guatemala last summer.  

There she served as an intern for the Servants 4 Him mission organization. During her time as an intern, Lockhart taught English and Vacation Bible School classes to children in the nearby village of Santiago Zamora. She also helped build a house for a family of seven who had previously lived in a hut made of bamboo sticks.  

Lockhart cites the week she spent on Guatemala’s eastern coast in Izabal as the highlight of her most recent trip.  

“During the day we ventured across very rocky terrain to reach many remote villages to host dental clinics,” she said, “Over the course of the day we would see about 40 patients of all different ages. That week really opened up my eyes to the medical missionary field.” 

Lockhart, who hopes to one day become a surgeon, will attend the University of Virginia this fall and pursue a degree in cognitive sciences with a minor in Spanish or biology. She also currently volunteers as an EMT-B in her hometown of Purcellville, and looks forward to joining the volunteer rescue squad at UVA.  

Stephanie Lockhart plans to return to Guatemala some time within the next year. In the meantime, she can enjoy reflecting on the memories and relationships made during her previous trips.  

“I can only hope that I will forever hold a place in their hearts as they will in mine,” she said of the communities she’s worked in. “I will never forget the people I met...my Guatemalan friends taught me more than I could have ever taught them.”