When I was 14 years old, my life shifted, and I knew it would never be the same.

Working for the U.S. Foreign Service, my uncle and his family moved to a new, exotic location every few years. At one point, while my uncle was living in Kenya, my grandparents felt it was time for my family to visit them and provided our airfare. My parents, eager to take full advantage of the opportunity, led us across three continents in three short weeks. While it was a whirlwind trip, it was also impactful. I can hardly relate the affect the sights, sounds and smells had on me, and the life-changing lessons I learned in lands so vastly different from my own.

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I will never forget visiting the home of our driver, Michael, in a poor village near Nairobi. His home, a small two-room shack with a corregated tin roof, was connected to a small two-cow stall. Family and neighbors came from all over to meet us and offer their friendship and gratitude when word spread that we had brought a box of used shoes to give to them. Michael asked us to send him a copy of the pictures we took of his children because he didn't have any. Despite the appearance of his circumstances, he was one of the lucky ones. He had a job.

Somewhere in the midst of winding my way through a sea of Kenyans selling their goods on blankets in their local marketplace, witnessing the clash of cultures between Palestinian and Jew in Israel, and wandering through the old World War II concentration camp at Dachau, I knew my heart had changed. I could no longer pretend that my life was the center of the universe and think that people, places and events across the globe had little meaning.

Now I have teenagers of my own. While I hope that their school classes, religious training and my own teaching have given them a good understanding of life and the world around them, I know that nothing will give them the lessons that actual life experience will. While there are many great opportunities to serve and make a difference in local communities, there's something unmatched about experienceing a culture different from your own.

For years, my husband and I have pondered the possiblity of finding ways to give each of our children valuable time abroad, ideally in a less- privileged area of the world. While we aren't affluent people, we have actively searched for an international service opportunity for our children to participate in, one at a time, at an appropriate age. There are many great groups that provide similar services, some focusing on specific age groups and some taking any age, even younger children in family groups. They provide service in many different locations all over the world. Among these organizations are Eagle-Condor Humanitarian, Southern Cross Humanitarian, Youthlinc and Family to Family Humanitarian Expeditions. Happily, we found the program that suits our family's goals in Humanitarian Experience for Youth.

So now, at an age when many kids are at their most self-centered time of life, our 16-year-old son is anticipating going out into the world to do some good. He has worked hard during the past few summers to earn and raise money to pay for the experience. We are looking forward to him spending a few weeks next summer in Belize, building a school and taking in a few sights. He is happy to go, thinking of the excitement of foreign travel, the rain forest zipline, the snorkeling and the ruins they will explore. It's all well and good, but his father and I know what truly awaits. The sights, sounds, smells and life lessons that will impact him as he walks among the poor of Belize, serving them, nursing his sore muscles, expanding his vision, and feeling things he's never felt before. We are hopeful that his life will shift as mine did, never to be the same, but better.

Kristen Flandro is a wife and mother of five first, and a jack-of-all-trades second. Her fondest wish is to actually master something someday.

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