When senior Melissa Daugherty traveled to Ecuador on an Alternative Break trip last year, she expected to help build a house or do other manual work. She didn’t expect that her greatest contribution would be to simply be present to another human being.

For two weeks, Daugherty and 11 other LMU students volunteered with patients at the Damien House, a home for people living with leprosy. All that was expected of her was to make friends and share experiences with the patients. It was an eye-opening experience.

“As a Catholic, I read about leprosy in the Bible but I never met a leper face-to-face,” Daugherty said. “However, I was taught that if you have a problem, you just confront it and by the end of the two weeks I was hugging and kissing them on the cheeks.”

The Alternative Break Program gives students a chance to immerse themselves in a new culture, provide aid through hands-on service experiences and educate themselves about international political and socioeconomic issues.

“I conquered my fears and became braver because of the Alternative Breaks trip,” Daugherty said. “It confirmed my current path of working for social justice.”

Daugherty has had other opportunities to learn about foreign cultures and global issues. Recently, she researched Brehon law, the oldest and most extensive of medieval European legal systems, and Irish culture and their influence on the development of the legal system, as a recipient of the Eugene Escallier Foreign Study award. Also, last year she assisted attorneys who represent foster children as a volunteer for the Alliance for Children's Rights.

“I can’t understand why people would work other than for social justice reasons,” Daugherty said. “What are you doing if it’s not for other people?”

Daugherty can’t say exactly when her passion for social justice began, but she attributes her commitment to her parents. As preschool childcare providers, they were active in helping others, and Daugherty herself participated in many of her church’s service activities.

Now Daugherty, a political science major, hopes to receive a Fulbright scholarship to work with children who have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS in Botswana, Africa.

“You can’t ask to change the world, it’s not going to happen,” Daugherty said. “But if you change the life of one person, that’s enough.”