Everyone has a dream, but only a fraction of people act on it. Glance Spa and Salon Bismarck have been wanting to take their volunteering to a global level. Jessica Tergesen, the Director of Education for Strategies, a cosmetology coaching program, had the vision to bring their team’s dream to life.
“We have been wanting to go on a global mission since 2019,” Tergesen said. “We dreamed of teaching these girls how to cut hair for so long, so for us to have actually made it happen was an incredible feeling.”
Steven Swanson, a Strategies Coach, was planning a mission trip to Livingston, Guatemala to visit a boarding school and he wanted a hair salon to come with him on his mission. Glance jumped on this opportunity.
“Just do it,” Tergesen said. “Reach out to an organization that has done something similar. Get all the tips, tricks and advice and then make it happen.”
Jessica was not the only one behind the planning of this trip. Andrea Birst, owner of Glance took it upon herself to fund the travel costs.
“Lots of clients donated money to them, along with doing raffle drawings and corporate sponsorships,” Birst said.
Glance hopped on their first flight, Bismarck to Chicago at 5:30 p.m. and arrived at their hotel at 11:15 p.m. which was just enough time for a quick three-hour nap. Day two was another travel day, from Chicago to Houston to San Pedro Sula to Puerto Barrios. They stayed the night, had some breakfast, and boarded a motorboat, their next stop was Livingston, Guatemala.
“It was definitely an interesting adventure.” Tergesen said. “Over 26 grueling hours of flying, driving and the occasional Mexican police stop.”
When Glance arrived at the island where they were residing, the children wore their Sunday best.
“The culture at the island was very laid back and had a huge amount of leadership from the students,” Glance employee Chloe Senn said. “This changed our approach because then we could use students that seemed advanced to help us out with translating and teaching.”
The students on the island were eager to learn and had no distractions. They were determined and engaged in everything.
“This boarding school is also a school that is really big on empowering girls, teaching them boundaries, their rights as women, and how to stand up for themselves. That was really awesome to know that that is their mission and then to be able to teach them new skills that will further their life and career.” Tergesen said.
This school is full of innovation, students had to learn how to independently sustain proper living standards. There are over 1,000 students, which is a lot of mouths to feed. This boarding school needed an effective way to feed all the faculty members and the eager learners of this Livingston school. These students make 16,000 tortillas a day to feed their teachers and classmates three meals a day. They work so closely together to keep the camp running.
“I didn’t expect such a culture shock,” Senn said. “I didn’t expect the community to be so close to each other.”
Day four of this mission trip is where it got juicy. Senn and Tergesen headed to the local crafting shop to grab some school supplies so they could teach these students a few common phrases in English.
“They were all very well engaged, having fun and being happy which was just amazing to see because with such a language barrier it’s definitely not an easy task for them,” Birst said.
It was not an easy task to teach kids English who have spoken an ancient Mayan language, K’iche’, their whole life, but Senn and Tergesen did not let the language barrier stop their mission.
“We went over common phrases, and then moved on to affirmations and value words.” Tergesen said.
The mission began on the fifth day, where they spent their time styling hair by teaching the girls braid styles, how to thread tinsel, and how to use a flat iron. These skills were picked up easily by the kids.
“When we were doing haircutting, the girls started teaching each other.” Senn said.
Glance left their mark in Livingston, Guatemala by leaving new soccer balls, and hairstyling supplies.
“It changed a lot of my perspective on what really matters because you’d witness these kids who have nothing. They had a soccer ball that wasn’t even inflated,” Birst said. “They’re just so happy and they don’t know any different and they just love life every day and that was a good lesson itself.”
This salon made sure they stayed in contact with these students, and some stylists even took the initiative to sponsor a student’s tuition.
“I am sponsoring a girl named Maribell, who was a confident and hardworking student I met during my time there,” Tergesen said. “I am also staying in touch with a student named Bernie who just radiated light in everything he did. He went above and beyond to help me when I was teaching English and I am so thankful for his friendship during that time.”