SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Puring an aid trip to Nicaragua last August, Yellowknifer Kevin Durkee, 15, fitted a pair of glasses on an eight-year-old boy who could hardly see – giving the child the gift of sight was just one aspect of a trip that opened Durkee's own eyes to a world without many of Canada's privileges.

Kevin Durkee, left, with two Nicaraguan children who received shoeboxes full of gifts last August when Durkee visited the country with Samaritan's Purse to deliver aid. - photo courtesy of Kevin Durkee

"He could only read the largest letter on the eye chart," said Durkee.

"We looked for some glasses and we found a pair, he put them on and his mouth dropped – literally. He told the translator that he didn't know trees had individual leaves, he just saw blobs."

Durkee said he and 39 other volunteers on the trip called the eye clinic "the miracle room" – but it was just one aspect of a trip that had Durkee filling many different roles to help out Nicaraguans.

Durkee left Yellowknife on Aug. 6, flying to Houston, Texas, and then straight to Managua, the capitol city of Nicaragua, along with a group of volunteers.

The trip was put together by Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian organization which provides aid to impoverished countries.

In order to go to the nation in Central America Durkee had to fundraise to pay for his trip, mainly the plane ticket. He ended up exceeding the amount he had to raise and gave the extra money to other projects for Samaritan's Purse.

Upon arrival, Durkee saw a country much different than his.

"A big thing there is having advertisements everywhere," said Durkee.

"A house might be a Coca-Cola advertisement on all sides. People are so desperate, you'll see it on everything. You don't see many bare walls."

The corporate sponsorship was mainly in the big cities, and as Durkee left Managua the concrete and brick buildings were replaced with mud houses.

"It was a four and a half hour bus ride," said Durkee of the trip to Matagalpa, where the volunteers were going to be based out of.

"They have standard buses, the whole stick shift and everything. Whenever we'd go down a hill (the bus driver) would throw it in neutral. We're going down these hills in neutral, and you're like 'oh my goodness'," said Durkee.

"We stayed in, I don't know if you'd call it a missionary house. It was just a complex, basically, with flush toilets, which was rare in that region."

He was to quickly adapt from the cold, dry North to a hot, humid climate. Throughout his trip, he would check his sleeping bag and clothes multiple times a day for critters, and actively avoided the rabid monkeys and stray dogs that roamed the villages.

The 40 volunteers were divided into four teams and traded off working in a medical triage at the aforementioned eye clinic, a dental clinic, and various construction projects - building one-room churches that doubled as community centres.

Group members included two dentists, two doctors, a construction specialist, and an eye specialist.

Working in the dental clinic Durkee acted as a dental assistant, often assigned with the job of pulling teeth that were past the point of repair.

"One woman had to have 25 teeth removed," said Durkee.

He said his favourite job during his time in Nicaragua was construction. He said he likes to work with his hands and be able to stand back when the project is completed and see what he has built.

Samaritan's Purse does something called Operation Christmas Child, where they gather shoeboxes full of gifts, donated from all over the world, and distribute them to kids in countries like Nicaragua on aid missions such as Durkee's.

"The kids really enjoyed the shoeboxes," said Durkee.

"They like pens and pencils and colouring stuff just as much as they like toys and candy."

Though Durkee didn't have much proficiency in speaking Spanish, he and the other volunteers managed to communicate through gestures.

"With toothbrushes we'd (mime) how to brush – we went to two cities and they knew what toothbrushes were, but other people (in the villages) didn't."

After a long day, Durkee would return to Matagalpa to eat and rest.

"We ate all the local food. We had rice, beans and plantains every meal," said Durkee with a chuckle.

"They didn't have a lot to give. It was really nice that they gave us the large portions that they did."

Durkee's mother, Mona, said the food took its toll on him, though the real change was in Durkee's mind and spirit.

"When he came home he was at least 10 pounds lighter," said Mona, about her son who returned on Aug. 20.

"After coming back and seeing how little people had there, it really impressed upon him how little he needs. There was a seriousness (in him)."

Durkee wants to do more aid work, but the Grade 11 student doesn't know exactly what he will do or when he said.