Reach Out - Peru [Part 1]

Some schools of thought say that when we serve others, we are served. Imagine using a lit candle to light an unlit one. The original candle loses nothing and both candles benefit from a brighter room.

This is what two weeks in Peru felt like.





Big thanks to Reach Out Volunteers for affording me the opportunity to be in service to a rural community in Misminay, Peru. Less than a few hours from Cusco - our volunteer teams helped a few local families renovate their soot-ridden kitchens. By the week's end, a group of international strangers turned their slightly uncomfortable hellos to embraced farewells - all goose-bumped with gratitude and refusals to say 'goodbye'. By Incan standards - we were now forever linked - promised to meet again in this life or the next. We became each other's hermanos y hermanas.

Pacha Mama, otherwise known as mother earth, has been impressed by our working boots, and by honoring the food, shelter and sustenance she has provided, we are forever humbled by her generosity. Prayer and mediation in reverence to the works of the stars above us is our obligation to our father. For he has blessed us with an endless source of energy, of which can only be harnesses through love. I give thanks.



As we wake each morning, we break bread with our brothers and sisters as our initial act of love for Pacha Mama. Kindness and compassion sets our day before us. The mountains will bring us nausea, dizziness and pounding headaches, yet our mission to serve one another is unwavered. For our time is short and honoring our room is infinite. Relationships grow and legacies are left.

For those whom I had the priviledge of working for and with, my heart give thanks. Lasting impacts have surely been made, as my blood shall never flow the same again. This is love received.

Led by a modern day Inca, his drive to organize, translate, and educate our days among the natives was his service to the neighborhood he grew up in. His name will be forever whispered among the people but perhaps never known by those outside of them. Humility rages as his hand softly laid upon his heart kindly shares that English, Spanish, nor Quechua is his native language, rather the subtle vibrations within chest is.

Plagued with altitude sickness and enduring hikes, I've heard the toughest journeys often lead to the most beautiful destinations. We are beginning to understand.

My expression of emotion is attempted through these words, for this shift in understanding points me to a new list of goals and desires. I am in humbled service.

Gifts of discovery, centuries of knowledge, and joys of group pictures - where else can we shine brighter. Each breath we miss, we are grounded, and each breath we take we are grateful. Laughter and sympathethic presence while sharing our host's tastey meals is our bond and our intrinsic reward through sleepless nights and pain.



Living privileged is a privilege. Do not forget. Continue to share your light for when your wax runs lows, the room shall continue to burn bright.

A big thank you to Reach Out Volunteers and all the volunteers who put others before themselves.