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| A Peruvian Home. photo by Marie Hasnain |
I arrived home this morning and already I am flooded with images, memories and acute awareness of the intense contrasts between the haves and have-nots of this world. I have experienced this adjustment between the "third" and "first" world enough times that one would think I would be somehow better adapted, but the shock and mind-warp is no less. I am filled with a renewed sense of awareness and gratitude for everything that I have . . . the roof over my head; the cleanliness of my environment; my job and the opportunities I have to grow and actualize; being able to drink clean water, eat good food and get adequate nutrition; the freedom to have days of rest and the possibility of retirement; the health of my body; the presence of my parents/family; the ability to live in a place where I am free and where my hard work pays off; where as a woman I can be educated and where I can feel safe and comfortable. None of this can I take for granted. What a curious world we live in, that there can be so many wildly different realities within this one small planet.
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| Patients waiting outside the clinic. photo by Alison Nichol |
I feel privileged to have met the individuals that participated in this trip and honored to have worked beside them. We were all such unique individuals with complementing talents and experiences and united by the common desire to make a difference. We wondered at times whether we received more from the whole experience than the people we had gone to help. We wondered about the impact and sustainability of our work considering the immense need and our own limits of time and resources. Each person contributed tremendously and we became a close and effective team. It was sad when the group split and we each returned home to our separate lives, this very special time we had shared coming to close. By the end of our time together it seemed as if we had all become old friends/family. I am inspired and humbled to know such good people. In our time together in Peru, we were continually reminded of what is truly important in life.
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| The crew. photo by Alison Nichol |
My deepest gratitude and appreciation goes to Rosa for organizing this trip, for bringing this group of extraordinary people together, for supporting the community of Chitapampa by developing the textile project and for returning to Peru every year to continue to work for the people of Peru with such generosity of spirit and good-hearted intention. She is truly an extraordinary individual and I must pause for a moment to wonder how this world would be if we were all just a little more like her.
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| Doctora Rosa Ten. photo taken by her daughter Claudia Paya |
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"One love, one heart, one destiny." -Bob Marley
