Viva La Carpio

Today we began the Bunk Bed Project in La Carpio. We arrived around 9:00 a.m. and divided up into 3 teams and got to work. My team started in the small work area building the bunk beds while the other two groups delivered the bunk beds and played with the niños in the education center. We worked this way for about an hour and then rotated jobs and my group headed to play with the children.

Around noon, Don Pedro came to walk with us down toward the river to see the poorest section of the city. Don Pedro is the founder of a soccer program that allows 400 youth in the city to play on soccer teams and in a soccer league. While walking along, Pedro and I discussed the impact a sports program can have on children such as teaching them discipline, vocabulary and working together as a team. I reflected later that I am so blessed to be able to understand and communicate in another language and that I was fortunate enough to have the conversation I did with Don Pedro. I served as the translator for the group, but when Pedro and I were just talking I was learning so much about the town and the people within it.

As we descended down the hillside toward the river, it was shocking the living conditions that these people are accustomed to. The houses were merely pieces of tin roof pieced together to form a shelter of sorts on the hillside. There was no running water, no bathrooms—just space covered by tin. There was trash everywhere too, including in the river. Don Pedro explained that the river is so contaminated with trash and parasites but that the children continue to swim in it because of lack of education. The children are often malnourished and left alone during the day too because single moms are out looking for food and work and can’t care for their children so they leave them at home. It was interesting how many children we saw in the neighborhood and very few adults.

It was a humbling walk and a time for reflection about what I have and the gifts I’ve been given and how I might be able to use them in the future. The hope and the aspirations of this town though are really inspiring. You see the dreams of the children painted on the walls of buildings as murals and the perseverance of the people in the development of the city. It really is a ‘magic city’ as the welcome side reads as you enter the city.

It was a good day. Tomorrow we return to La Carpio for the same work and possibly hear testimonies from those who live in the La Carpio. I am looking forward to tomorrow.

I am headed to bed. I am whipped. Buenas noches : )

Amor,
Jessica Lynn