Kim McMahill

Life can be tough on an island with few roads.  The Solomon Islands is a country made up of over 900 islands, many of which are very remote and have little modern infrastructure. While visiting a rural training center on the island of Makira, we quickly learned that when the horn blew everyone was expected to run to the beach and help pull incoming boats up the steep sand beach before the next wave came in and flipped the boat. Having no roads, this was how we arrived, along with all other people and goods. After having done this a number of times, we we’re stunned when one canoe was nearly too heavy for the group to pull to safety in time. Once out of harm’s way, we realized the source of the extreme weight was due to two full-grown cows lying with legs bound in the bottom of the canoe. The islanders had also developed an ingenious way to get the cows out of the canoe. Yes, necessity is truly the mother of invention. Seeing how difficult it can be for some people to have f...

We took our first trip to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula nearly twenty years ago.  We visited several Mayan sites, Tulum and Cobá, on that trip. Perched on the cliffs overlooking the Caribbean Sea, the ruins of Tulum were so beautiful it nearly took my breath away, but there were a lot of tourists there. Later in the trip we visited Cobá. Much of this area is still unexcavated, but once you become attuned to what to look the ruins hidden under dirt mounds and covered with jungle start to emerge from their surroundings. At the time, there were very few visitors, and scattered around the dirt parking lot a few vendors sold drinks and handmade crafts. The feeling of having the place all to myself was overwhelming and allowed my mind to wander and visualize what it must have been like in its heyday.  The serenity and solitude of Cobá had a huge impact on me and sparked a lifelong passion for learning about the Mayan Culture. I went back to Cobá about five years later and it had cha...

Travel has the ability to change a person’s perspective on the world.  Experiencing different cultures, seeing in person the impacts of issues you hear about on the news, and making connections or new friends can deeply impact ones views. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been able to see the world, and I will be sharing some of the moments which have made the biggest impact on me in the coming weeks under the recurrent theme of, “Travel with Impact.” I hope you’ll enjoy this segment and remember these words from Mark Twain. Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. - Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain -