Rewards

One thing I’ve learned in doing this project is that the true heroes are the ones striving to make a difference in their own communities. They are the ones with the knowledge and connections to make things happen. They know what’s best for their community, even if they don’t know how to obtain it. More importantly though, local leaders are the ones that local people trust. They have a genuine, long-term interest in their communities. After all, they have to live there.

Relief agencies may come and go. They can provide aid and make life more enjoyable for awhile. But in the end, sustainable progress grows from the community itself. It starts with a change in mentality, a shift toward positive thinking. Ideas grow into actions. Actions grow into changes. Changes in turn, feed more positive thinking.

People have asked me, ‘how did it go?’ ‘How did it feel to drop off the supplies?’ Honestly, I think, it was a little anti-climatic. There were no ceremonies, no speeches. Kids and teachers weren’t falling to their knees saying, ‘thank you, thank you!’ The donations themselves were quiet ordeals. I can’t say I felt much of anything per se, save for the satisfaction of seeing these projects come to completion.

Much more than the supply drop-offs, the real reward of this project was seeing people in action. It was seeing secondary and elementary kids in the States donating piles of their unused stuff. It was schools offering up boxes and boxes of notebooks and printer paper. It was people buying T-shirts and making donations. It was finding out that people actually cared and were willing to act.

I got the same reward seeing all of these things in Oaxaca. Perhaps the greatest thing is seeing how much people can do with so little. How something as simple as free breakfast at school can completely change a child’s outlook. Or how people can take such pride in their land that they refuse to sell it no matter the offer, or how badly they could use the money. For sure, the greatest reward is knowing that there are still heroes out there – everyday people that truly change lives.