Day 10: Poverty Day

Hello family and friends:

It’s Kris and Ana (Krana)! Today, we learned what resources are needed by people in poverty, and what poverty really means. After breakfast, we headed to CECAINI, a school for underprivileged kids living in poverty. We met with Eufemia, the school coordinator, and she spoke to us about her struggle to become a teacher and an important part of this school’s creation. After playing with them and painting their faces, we returned to the hotel and ate lunch. We headed towards the Constanza dump where we met several people who saw it as not only a workplace, but also a home. They taught us what it was like to live in conditions where you never know when your next meal will come, or how long your homes will protect you. When we returned to the hotel, we reflected on their situation and what poverty meant. After our reflections, we thought about the different stages of poverty and what poverty meant in different communities. The dump, for example, had a fire that had been burning for the past thirty years, to help disintegrate the trash that accumulates from Constanza and communities beyond. When we met the people at the dump, they taught us how difficult it was to live in such harsh conditions. These harsh conditions include not having clean water, electricity, shelter, clothes, and more; they were basically living off whatever they found at the dump and any money they could make from selling things they could find at the dump.
This experience opened our eyes to what poverty really is. Poverty comes in many different levels, but the recurring theme is always a lack of resources. We’ve been to several communities where poverty exists, but today’s community lacked the most resources. Although the people in this community are poor in resources, they are rich are in knowledge and compassion. We thank them for giving us a glimpse of what it’s like to live with so few necessities and for welcoming us into their workplace and home. They willingly shared their lives with us so selflessly and we are very grateful for this opportunity.

P.S. Shout out to Dallana for reading the blogs and commenting, much love to you. Also, Hey Sisters (Cris/Yami) I miss you and tell mom I miss her too, see you soon. DON’T BE IN MY ROOM! Anyways remember to pick me up I love you guys.

Love,
Kris and Ana