When Sarah Schwaller ’03 was a junior at TCU, her family took a trip to Guatemala for the dedication of Casa de Fe (House of Faith), a Ronald McDonald-style house in Guatemala operated by an organization called Faith in Practice.

Schwaller’s family had long been involved with the medical-mission nonprofit, but that trip was inspirational for the young woman. “I just always knew I would be back.” she says

After graduating, Schwaller went to work for Accenture, a consulting and outsourcing company in Dallas. Less than a year had gone by before she realized, “I can’t do life in a cubicle.”

Schwaller thought back to that junior-year visit to Guatemala and decided to make the return adventure happen. Although she’d studied in Seville, Spain, while a TCU student, she didn’t feel she knew Spanish well enough to communicate professionally in the language, so she signed up for a language-immersion course in Antigua, Guatemala, an inland city bordered by three large volcanoes.

Now three years later, the Spanish colonial city of Antigua is still home. She first got a job working for Common Hope, a child-sponsorship nonprofit, and then about a year ago started working for Faith in Practice as their in-country coordinator.

The organization’s aim is to improve the lives of Guatemalans through short-term medical- and surgical-team visits. Eight teams of medical volunteers make regular visits to rural areas of Guatemala. Schwaller helps coordinate the village clinics and also makes arrangements for patients to come to Antigua for surgery.

Recently, she cuddled a newborn with a cleft palate who was in Antigua to have corrective surgery. “He’s 6 weeks old, and he’s just completely malnourished. They’re going to repair that as soon as he gets to normal weight.”

Schwaller says the experience of living in Antigua has changed her forever.

“I won’t say it’s easy. I miss a lot of things at home — friends and family. And you certainly lose your independence to some degree. It’s not like you can get in your car and go to the grocery store at 9 at night. But it’s a wonderful, simple life. I walk to the market to pick up my vegetables.”