Witness...

I am sitting at my computer, in the office, in Lima. I just got back from my two weeks of vacation with the other YAVs. We went to Cusco and saw Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley. We went to Puno and stayed on one of the islands on Lake Titicaca. Then we visited Arequipa and Colca Canyon and saw condors fly. Lastly, we flew over the Nazca Lines before we collapsed back in Lima.

On my vacation, I witnessed some amazing acts of giving that I want to share with you.

One Night In Cusco...

It was New Years Eve, and I was walking back to the hostel with a new found friend. We walked through the Plaza de Armas and then to another side plaza, where there was an overhang. Underneath there were lines of people sleeping next to one another, out of the rain. As we started to walk past, my friend said wait as he put his hand in his pocket. One by one, he gave every person there a 50 centimo piece (about the equivalent of 15 cents US). I watched in silent amazement. When he finished, I gave him a hug.

He backed away and said, I am not a saint or anything. You see people begging in the streets and I never give them money. But this, these people, this is real. They wouldn't be sleeping here if they had somewhere else to go. And its not much, my tips from tonight (he worked as a bartender in the hostel where we were staying), but they can buy a piece of fruit with that.

I stayed silent and didn't explain my own struggle with the idea of giving.



Dinner For Four...

We were in Arequipa, eating dinner. Leslie and I had found one corner restaurant with a balcony over looking the plaza with prices we thought were quite just and the view was amazing. Anyway, there we sat and ate and I looked over. At the table next to us was a group of four. Three white 30-somethings, and one Peruvian girl about 8 bent over a salad. The interchange between them was quite odd, so I pointed it out to Leslie. She told me that was the girl who had been selling candy in the street. I hadn't even seen her.

The table must have given her some leftover food. She sat uncomfortably eating every last morsel on the plate. When she was done, she stood up and said thank you. The woman at the table reached in a bag and pulled out some pants, made sure they would fit her, and gave them to her without a second thought.



I don't know if giving money is the answer. I don't know if giving food or clothes is the answer. I don't know if there is just one answer, but what I am starting to realize is that it all is an answer. If all we ever do is our best, using what we have, at any given moment, then that is our answer.

Just something to chew on I guess.
Hope you all are well.
all for me, for now.
katie