So, Why DID We Go??

So, here's the follow up. Most people that know me, know that I have quite a few issues with the "modern world". (Please read this knowing that I am exaggerating for effect and making some OVER-generalizations, but I always like to get my point across!) I don't like electronics. Okay, so that's not totally true. I LOVE blogging, and digital photography and being able to e-mail instead of having my ear stuck to the phone. I love "looking things up" on the internet, going on-line to put holds on library books, ordering from Amazon and having books shipped in 2 days! So, you're saying, what don't you like?

I don't like the kids choosing to play XBox over reading or playing outside on a rare sunny day. Especially if it entails playing LIVE with fake friends, rather then actually talking to the kid next to them. I don't like Webkins - they start out as cute furry animals and turn into an obsession as the kids "freak-out" because if you don't log in daily they will DIE! And I don't like that how you feed them or clothe them or whatever is by playing gambling games, to make money to go and buy them whatever stupid thing they need! (Thankfully Rachel sees my position on this and agrees). I don't like hearing there's nothing to do during non-electronic times (yes, I institute such rules in my house) when we have a whole closet of games, shelves full of books, Legos, a piano, schoolwork, sports equipment, a treehouse! I don't like fights with a 13 year old on why he needs a cel phone when he only usually calls one friend and that lasts 2 minutes. I don't like watching the same 13 year old at the computer doing schoolwork and simultaneously checking his e-mail every 5 minutes! I don't like having to "upgrade" electronics constantly because they are so OLD (what 6 months to a year?) I even don't like myself when I become e-mail obsessed and feel like I have to check every hour that I am home.

Electronics aside, I just really don't like watching my kids involved in our overly-consumeristic society, constantly thinking they need something else to be happy, or drooling over their friends' latest gadgets. Or plotting what they need next with their allowance money. (Hmm, needs are certainly relative, aren't they?)

So, really, one of my number one goals of our CCS trip was to get the kids to see what else might be important. Get them to see that what they need is not really necessary for a happy, productive life. Give them a real reference point for times when Alex is about to have a breakdown because Mom won't let him get XBox live or play games everyday of the week, or have UTube videos of himself on the internet - "but my friends can do it!!!!" My response - Oh well.

Well, did they learn anything from spending a week with kids with real needs - food, clothing, running water, a bath, books, healthcare .... They certainly saw and were involved with these kids, but did they get it???

At the end of our CCS week, I asked the kids to journal something - thoughts, feelings, whatever. Here's what Alex wrote:

This trip to Peru has been a very eye-opening experience for me. The first day that I went to the Lima slums, known as Villa El Salvador, I thought it had the worst living conditions that I had ever seen. Dogs fought and bred rampantly on roadsides that were covered in trash and human feces. The houses were made of plywood or old bricks with tin roofs. If your family didn’t have enough room, you didn’t move. You simply built another floor on top of your existing house. These shoddy shanties probably had little effect when it came to blocking out the elements. Driving through the town, I found it hard to believe that anybody could ever be happy there.
Before heading to work at INABIF for the first time, I expected hungry little children to glower up at me as if my existence was some sin against them. I expected their clothes to be torn and ragged, and their eyes to be bloodshot. I thought that they would all be thin, dirty and unkempt, like the orphans on television or in movies that spent their days on the streets. But this expectation turned out to be false. The kids were wearing normal clothing, and I didn’t see a single one of them looking sad. They were positively hopping with glee at the prospect of playing a game of soccer on a concrete pitch with a ball that looked older than some of the teachers. You’d think that they were little kids in America, with not a care in the world. They didn’t look at the fact that the ball was in its final state of decay. It didn’t matter to them that falling during a game of soccer meant being cut painfully by bits of gravel. Instead of grumbling over what they didn’t have, they rejoiced over what they did have. Unlike kids in America would have been, they were happy to use what they had at hand. Most people that I know would have said, “Geez, we can’t play with this ball! It doesn’t even bounce! And what if we fall on this concrete? We can’t play here!” Instead of complaining and refusing to play soccer on anything but grass, Peruvian children don’t play as rough as American children. And instead of complaining about the bounce of the ball (or lack thereof) Peruvian kids compensate for it. They don’t even complain, saying things like, “Our lives are bad,” or, “I hate my life.” They just go with it, and are generally happier than most American kids ever will be. To me, this proves that the message gained from traveling to Peru was, “Materialistic items don’t make you happier.” In fact, I think that having a lot of stuff just makes you greedier. The kids in Peru had nothing, and yet when they got something, they didn’t horde it for themselves. They shared. They weren’t greedy or miserly with things that they got. They were happy to share it with others. If everybody in the world were like that, then the Earth would be a better place.

And this is what Rachel wrote and shared with me....

This week has been really amazing. I feel like I helped alot. It was kind of sad to see how the kids live. I also discovered the real meaning of life. It is this. If you give happiness to others, you shall receive. You won't get stuff, you will get happiness, a good life, and hopefully if you're kind and loving, passage to heaven. The meaning is not to be rude, arrogant and think you're better then others. That will give you the opposite. I have realized that by being rich, it is harder to get to heaven and by living a humble life, you are closer to God. I know this experience has changed me forever and I will never be the same.


Did they GET it? You decide.