Value of Life

Today was difficult. I don't mean physically- although my arms feel like they could fall off any second now... but emotionally. By far my hardest day yet.

We were working at the housebuild all day swinging cinder blocks and buckets of dirt up and down a hill. but that's beside the point...

That night we went to Caberete, a town with gorgeous restaurants along the beach. We held our debriefing there which brought about many questions in life. We were asked to talk about what we're most passionate about. This was not easy to answer as so many things mean a lot to me. I immediately said friends and family since yes, you guys mean the most to me. However, it also got me thinking about life and how we should be passionate about it. This immediately struck memories of last year when I interviewed a woman who had a shack and her family. She was the happiest person I met and she said it was because of God and her family. It just got me thinking about how we take so much for granted. I have a huge roof over my head and plenty of food and clothes and electronics and a car but how much of it is really needed or worth it to make life all that it can be? The people here have so little yet they are always so content and so appreciative... I just feel like they know who they are and thats something that I, myself struggle with everyday.

Another thing that really interested me is everybody's different intake on passion. One of the students in my group mentioned learning and how you can go to school for years and still not learn half the stuff he's learnt in the past couple of days. He is so right. We take school for granted and complain about getting up early or the teachers who apparently "hate" us... most of the kids here don't even have an opportunity to go to school. That is why we are down here doing what we do best, building schools and helping children to become educated in any way possible so that someday they can live the life that we take for granted... the only difference is- they'll know the true value of life.

At debriefing tonight we were told a story by one of our leaders based on Haiti. The earhquake occurred in Haiti and with no doubt- he was there in a flash. However he was offered a ride home, food, water, accomodations... all because he had a Canadian passport. His passport was the difference between life and death. These kids, these families don't even know what a passport is. Many of them don't even have birth certificates- they remain stateless. It's things like that that keep me coming back for more. When I get these images of children with their big beady eyes glaring up at me and I feel so helpess- I know I'm here for a reason and that is to learn to value my life. Many of us don't even think twice about how lucky we are to be Canadian or the fact that we have a piece of paper with our name written on it. We know our age, our background, our family... but the little things like that don't only define us.

The people here are full of inspiration and talent. They have the potential to be whoever they want, its just a matter of support. I see these kids and can't help but to think about their future, and truth is some of them won't even be around in ten years- that's just the reality of it. I just want to be able to live life the way they do- they know exactly who they are and I envy that... they know what morals they are and their sincerity is remarkable... I can't even begin t explain it. They know what is real and they value the most significant things in life. The people here are my friends, my family, they're my heroes and I will never forget the impact they have on my heart.

Love & Miss you!

Bianca

PS, Salsa timeeeee! I will write you all tomorrow :) xoxo