Monday, June 25 – Today, we walked the streets of Asunción and noticed a difference in social class. I have witnessed this difference in Washington, DC as well. I see homeless men and women on our city’s streets. Sometimes they are cocooned in blankets with bare feet. Other times, they are in tents, which provide some shelter, but it’s not enough. Paraguay has the same problem, but here homelessness has extraordinarily graphic characteristics. Families are living in a community of makeshift houses. Here, I saw children with bare feet or missing some clothes. You don’t often see homeless children on the streets of DC. I wonder who helps this community? Does anyone? Or do people just walk by them, as they often do in DC?
After our day in the city, we arrived back to the hostel, and Alex told me a story about his buying materials for the trip. He said that he and two other team members bought more water than they could carry. Unexpectedly, a young boys ran up to them and grabbed some water bottles, not to take, but to lend a helping hand. This boy didn’t have on fancy clothes. He had dirty hands – maybe he had been working – and he just helped, not expecting anything in return. To me, this act of kindness goes a long way. It tells me that no matter where a person comes from or what their situation is (rich or poor, dirty or clean, etc.), a good person is a good person, and that’s deep within their hearts.
Alicia T., Washington Latin Public Charter School