Matt Barkley has done a lot of missionary work in his life, but on his last trip to Haiti, the USC quarterback did something he'd never done before.
He encountered a young Haitian man sitting in the shade under a tree working on a chalkboard. He was doing calculus.
"I was kind of surprised," Barkley said. "I thought it was just algebra at first, then I look closer and see all of these functions and stuff. He was just doing calculus, looking at a book for school."
Barkley carried on a two-hour conversation with the young man ... in Spanish.
The young Hatian spoke a "very broken English" according to Barkley. He told Barkley in school he learned French, Creole and Spanish.
Barkley isn't fluent in Spanish, but says he can understand it and carry a conversation. Spanish became the easiest language for them to communicate in.
"It was (the longest Spanish conversation I've ever had) in that context where I had no other option but to speak Spanish," Barkley said. "We both knew enough to get by and understand each other. Probably some of the grammar was messed up."
Carrying Spanish conversations wasn't the reason Barkley and 15 of his USC teammates ventured to Haiti. After spring practice wrapped up, the Trojans went to help rebuild the country that was devastated by an earthquake two years ago.
Once they arrived in Haiti, reality hit them.
"We got off (the plane) and we're all juiced and then we started driving through the city and we're like, 'Wow, this is crazy,' " said defensive end Devon Kennard. "The poverty. I can't believe that they actually have to live under those conditions. I can't even imagine.
"The whole bus got quiet."
What they saw once they got there blew them away.
"I haven't even been exposed to anything like that in my life," said safety T.J. McDonald. "It was like this whole room being a road full of trash packed a foot high. There's no trash cans. There's no sanitary toilets or anything like that. Everyone was just using the bathroom wherever they could, throwing trash wherever they could. The living conditions were unsuitable for any human being.
"It's something I'll take with me the rest of my life."
The environment was much different from what they were used to as athletes on one of the top BCS football programs in the country.
They made the most of their time, handing out supplies and building four houses during their five-day trip. For many of the players, it was their first time doing any type of construction work, which presented its own challenges.
"The little details. You have to be right on. You can't be an inch or two off," Kennard said. "We'd have to take something off to fix it. You'd think you're done but then you have something else to do.
"Now I can always say 'I helped build a home before.' It was kind of cool."
Despite the hot and humid conditions, they were inspired by the Haitian kids who were around as they worked.
"We were out there working. It was hot. We had every reason to say we were tired or something like that, but as the kids came up and we [saw] what they were going through, it just helped (us) push through," McDonald said.
"We brought a smile to their face, and I felt like that gave them hope."
It gave the players something to smile about as well recounting the experience.
"It was a great experience. I feel like it left us with a lot, just to grow on and to think about and appreciate," Kennard said. "Doing for someone else, you learn when you're out there how selfish we are as Americans. To go out there and do something for somebody else and help somebody else in need was a great experience."
