Touching Our Passions

Photo: Maria, a tireless crusader for the poor

Photo: Team Peru Arequipa (sans a few team members)

I spoke with a team member yesterday who had just returned from four hours of "home" visits with Maria - the social worker for the Mission of Alto Cayma. He was visibly moved. He spoke of the severe poverty he had witnessed. He spoke of the challenge that he faced when he was sitting across from a woman who lived with absolutely nothing in a one-room, 3-meter-by-3-meter stone hut.

He told me that he had looked around the room of this woman's home and felt a severe sadness. He told me of the simple items he noticed hanging from her walls - a backpack that advertised an American franchise, a hat that proclaimed the latest promotional project for a large U.S. cable T.V. company, and a filthy t-shirt that was obviously from a North American theme park. He wondered to me aloud if all of these items had been donated by a group similar to ours? He wondered if these "gifts" were the best that "we" had to offer.

I listened to my friend talk about his experience for a few minutes. I could sense that he was merely in need of a sounding board to process the emotions that he was feeling. I could sense that he was trying to come to terms with how he would respond to these new challenges in his life; and I knew at that moment that our work, the real reason that HBI takes teams to Peru, was having the impact that it was suppose to have. I knew that we were making a difference in the world because my young friend was faced with terribly poverty - and he was truly challenged by this experience.