I was reached out to recently by someone personally to answer some questions regarding the world race for questions along the lines of considering the race. I shared my answers personally but decided I’d open these up to whoever so that someone might be benefited or helped by my answering of these questions. Here they are!
- First of all, just tell me a little more about yourself (where are you from, how old are you, what’s your favorite color, etc.)
- My name is Brenton Bicknell and I was born and raised in the city of Huntsville, Alabama, also known as Rocket City. My birthday is June 13th and I am currently 19 years old. I love to read and spend time with friends among others things. I love to study and learn in school and hope to go on to be an orthopedic surgeon.
- Describe to me where you are right now. (What country are you in, what are your surroundings like, what is the weather like… anything.)
- Currently, I am in the country Cambodia. Cambodia is governed by a king and refers to itself as the Kingdom of Cambodia, so you’d be fine to call it either. I am currently staying in a city called Kampong Thom where you won’t find many tourists but you’ll find the locals eager to greet you with a smile. I am about 50 meters from the city’s biggest street market, where I get my breakfast meals from each morning as well as snacks such as fruit, vegetables, meat, etc. The weather here is extremely hot at the midpoint of the day (and they’re currently in their cold season) while at night it comes down to a temperature not too hot, but definitely not cold.
- What countries have you worked in so far?
- Countries I’ve been to so far include two in South America, those being Colombia and Ecuador, and two more in Asia, Thailand and Cambodia, and one more remains in Europe, Albania.
- And what have you spent time doing in each country?
- I’ve have the opportunity to have a variety of opportunities of things to do with my time. I could go into specifics from each country but some overlap so I will share the main gist. I’ve been able to assist in orphanages, help with a men’s drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, help prepare meals for homeless men and spend time with them as well, spend an incredible amount of time with kids from other cultures teaching, playing games, doing a daycare, and many other things. I got to build a roof for a family in a village, and am currently working on flattening out ground with cement so that we can get a playground together for a local school. I’ve gotten to teach English to students that want to go to school in America or work a bilingual job, teach guitar, and share about the differences in culture. I had the amazing opportunity to shadow an orthopedic surgeon, also from Alabama, in Ecuador and also help in a hospital. What I’m most excited for though is this upcoming week it’s been worked out that I will be able to go to a village that has no doctor with a surgeon who is missionary from the states and be his assistant as we travel to a village. There’s other things I’ve gotten to do such as sight-see or spend a few days here and there checking out the country as well and those have been such a blessing too.
- Was there a particular moment when you decided that the World Race was something you wanted to do? How did you find out about it?
- I began considering the World Race in February of 2017 and slowly but surely it got pushed to the side with the busyness of college life. After returning from a mission trip to the poorest country in Europe in May, I came home and couldn’t sleep before I had applied to go on the trip. I found out about this opportunity through a high school friend who was currently on the trip and informing me about his experience and from his words and my experience in Moldova, I felt reasonably compelled to do it. After some time, I found myself launching for Colombia later that year in September.
- And how did you prepare?
- Adventures in Missions has a very intense 10-day training camp that they hold a couple months prior to the launch. This prepared for the cultural, emotional, and overall experience we’d have. Along with some encouragement from family and friends as well as the training camp and retrieving the supplies on the list shared by A.I.M., I was ready to go.
- Tell me about your most memorable experience so far.
- My most memorable experience was in Portoviejo in Ecuador. Our host just happened to share his compound with a medical missionary and I had shared my passion for using medicine in the future and he brought us together and I was able to spend a day with the surgeon and his wife. They showed me what a day in the life looks like and I was inspired. It’s also to mention that when I was there, a team of surgeons was holding surgery week (a team of missionaries from the states of different specializations as well as assistants and the needed people). I found myself in tears as I was so inspired seeing the fulltime missionary share the impact these people had made on the lives they did what they could for during the week they were there.
- What has been the most challenging?
- The most challenging thing has been missing home for sure. I have missed my family incredibly much but with the improvements of today’s technology, being able to keep in touch with them through technology has kept me close in heart and I’ve been able to stay up to date on their lives. Adjusting to a culture is something that will always be challenging but after a few days, it becomes second nature and something to enjoy.
- What have you learned being away from a college campus?
- I’ve grown an incredible amount in maturity, life-skills, people-skills, and so much more as I’ve been able to take some time away from learning in school and focus on living life. I could spend a few days writing about things I’ve learned but this summarizes it quite well. I can answer further specific questions on this if needed.
- Do you have any advice for someone who might want to do something like the World Race, or just take a gap year off?
- I could make a list of advice or tips for someone who would be considering either doing the World Race or even a gap year. Sometimes they can be more specific to the person so it’d be helpful to answer specific questions that they have but I have a couple things I could share from my personal experience. The first thing is that I was completely hesitant to taking a year off from school because it seems like the most anti-cultural thing you could do in our society especially at the age we’re at. The thing about this is that the person who’s experiencing this isn’t truly living life the way it’s designed to be. Not at all am I knocking people that go to school and/or don’t take a gap year. I just would advise whoever is making the decision to go to school or on a gap year to let it be a decision they make for themselves personally and not a decision driven by conforming to what society would say to do. Secondly, for someone that is considering a gap year, the World Race is an amazing opportunity and experience that will never be forgotten for the remainder of a lifetime. It is one that the experiences held and lessons learned will be cherish to the person’s days in old age most likely up until they pass. I’m so thankful that I’ve had this opportunity and would encourage anyone not necessarily dive right in or just push the opportunity to the side, but bring this into a place of personal consideration.
- Finally, if you have any other comments or stories you’d like to add or share, go ahead!
- Holidays overseas are the coolest things ever!!
i. Also experiencing cultural holidays is an extremely cool experience
- I’ve never appreciated the United States of America more or even my family as much as I do now until I spent over 9 (currently 6) months away..
