Hello! My name is Steven Delain. I was born in Wichita, Kansas, and though my time there was brief, I enjoyed spending the first few years of my life immersed in a community of family and childhood friends—relationships that have lasted a lifetime. At the ripe age of six-years-old, my family made a huge transition when my parents decided to pick up our lives and move to Mexico where we would work as missionaries. My family knew no one who lived there, and we spoke zero Spanish, which, as a kid, made no sense to me.
However, looking back, I realize what a formative season in my life the seven years we spent there was. I enjoyed growing up in a different culture and gleaned a wealth of knowledge from the different perspectives I encountered. Unfortunately, as a kid, I didn’t always respect or understand my parents’ work. Sometimes, I thought we were just living there to live there. Looking back at the sacrifices they made gives me great respect for them and the way they shared the Gospel, raised us, and worked tirelessly to integrate into the Latino culture has taught me how to effectively reach others and what the best practices for international development look like on a personal level.
When I was thirteen, we moved back to the United States to the grand state of Wisconsin so we could live closer to my father’s family. After a mere two years in Wisconsin, we moved to the rival state of Minnesota. My high school years were all spent in Minnesota, where I made a wonderful group of friends, some of whom I am still great friends with.
The snapshot of the next six years of my life consist of six different colleges, three major changes, five states lived in, eleven countries traveled, and an unquantifiable amount of growing and learning. I finally graduated with an International Business major and an Economics minor from “The college for those who have no college” Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis in April of 2018.
Currently, I am one of five lucky summer interns for Healing Waters International. My role here at Healing Waters includes WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) research and assisting with marketing. I will be working on projects to help update content, consolidate data, and research grants while helping develop marketing campaigns.
I am insanely excited and blessed to be a part of this internship program. Not only do I get the chance to use my skills, passions, and education to make a difference in developing communities, but I get to learn from influential community leaders and from the awesome Healing Waters team!
The first part of the internship was a vision trip to the Dominican Republic, and I got the privilege to hear from Dominican community leaders. Through this, I saw the difference that water filtration systems can have on community development in both a physical way, but also in a holistic way where the community has thrived economically and in unity. This has already increased my passion for international and community development.
I am excited to learn from different aspects of Healing Waters, getting a good, well-rounded picture of how a non-profit works. I can’t wait to build relationships in Denver and contribute to ending the global water crisis!