Paraguay 2014, Day 7 – Let This Bubble Pop

All my life, natural disasters have been only a collection of pixels on a TV screen, but today, I was just steps away from the most devastating flood Paraguay has seen in years. Houses are under water; people are confined in their homes; if they opened their front door water would come rushing in. As we walked through what was left of the streets of Santa Ana, it felt like we were floating around in a bubble through their community, our tightly packed group wide eyed and shell-shocked.

Today that bubble was popped. I went hands-on to take a census of a few blocks of recently dislocated locals to report their necessities to the Centro Comunitario de Santa Ana, the local community center.

Instead of meeting distraught victims, I got to know the stories of some of the most radiant, energetic, and loving people I’ve ever met. We went through the cramped dirt paths between the makeshift homes with paper and pencil, filling out forms for every family, not only getting to know their physical needs, but their abundance of optimism and positivity.

When I came back to the church, I was left with a sense that I hadn’t done justice to these people, that I didn’t do anything to make their situations any better. Looking through the photos and videos I took while I was there made me realize I was wrong. Scrolling through my camera, I found the faces and voices of all the people I had met, and rather than gawk at what was missing around them, I realized what our presence added to their lives. We came in, about thirteen of us, to take a census of a foreign country that was facing a natural disaster, taking the time to care and love these people: and that meant the world to them.

For that reason, I am so proud of everyone on my team to let this bubble pop, because from now on, our eyes and hearts are open to see the beauty and love of the Paraguayan people.

Xavier, 16, Rockville High School