Paraguay 2014, Day 9 – The things I take for granted

This past week, we have been working with the church in Santa Ana. The church has been trying to help those in the community who have been affected by the floods by gathering donated clothes and food. In order to assess who needs what, the church is performing a census of all the refugees to see what they need. When we started working with the church they had taken information for about half of the 4,450 people or 750 families that have been affected by the floods.

Along with a student from the Colegio San José, I would go and talk to the families to gather the data. I went into those communities expecting to see all these sad people, but throughout the whole experience I never really saw that in the people we met. I was greeted with smiles and laughing children and was again amazed by how they are able to get through such a horrible situation and continue with their lives.

One specific moment that really moved me during the census was when we got to this house and the only one at the house was this girl who was seemed to be around 12 years old and a little baby. My partners, Enzo and Riley, and I asked if the head of the house was available and to our surprise the girl said she was. It turned out that the girl was only 17 years old and the baby belonged to her.  She said that she lived there with her husband and baby.

This was a very shocking thing for me. It was kind of scary to see a 17 year old, married with a baby, especially because she is my age. Seeing these people living in such harsh conditions made me realize all the things I take for granted, like a working toilet or even drinkable water. It has changed my perspective on all that I have, and made me realize how fortunate I am.

Sarah Bass, 17, Woodrow Wilson Senior High School